By Will Vandervort.

Jameis Winston’s suspension for the first half of Saturday’s ACC showdown between top-ranked Florida State and No. 22 Clemson will not affect the Tigers’ plans. That’s what Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney told the media following Wednesday’s practice.

“It does not change anything for us. We have to be ready to defend what they do,” he said. “They are a lot bigger than one player. They really are.”

Winston, who won the Heisman Trophy last year while leading the Seminoles to a third national championship, was suspended for the first half on Saturday by Florida State University earlier on Wednesday. The suspension came down after Winston got up on a table at the FSU Student Union on Tuesday and yelled profanities that could be considered offensive to women.

Swinney understood the situation FSU head coach Jimbo Fisher was in after news of Winston’s actions broke Tuesday afternoon on Twitter.

“Obviously, it is disappointing to them,” Swinney said. “When we played Georgia, I did not have three starters – Corey Crawford, Garry Peters and David Beasley – because I suspended them. They are three senior starters and then Sam Cooper gets hurt in warm ups. That’s just the way it is.

“Certainly you want to have your best player on the field, but they are a great team with or without him.”

Florida State (2-0) will start backup quarterback Sean McGuire, a sophomore who came in with Winston. In his career, he has thrown 26 passes, while completing 16 for 144 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He was 3 for 5 for 28 yards against The Citadel last week.

“He is obviously a guy they think highly of,” Swinney said. “He got some experience last year because Coker got hurt and had a season-ending injury last year. You are not the second team guy at Florida State if you are not a really good player.

“People make too much of that stuff… They have good players. Obviously, we don’t have a ton of film on him but he is a guy they recruited to be a great player just like guys recruited to be great here.”

Swinney made a couple of good points why it doesn’t matter if Winston plays or not and Florida State as a team matters the most and not one player. Swinney had to suspend former wide receiver Sammy Watkins prior to the start of the 2012 season due to a drug arrest.

Clemson opened the season that year against Auburn, and won the game despite Watkins’ absence, 29-19.

“I remember we sat Sammy Watkins for the Auburn game and we won,” the Clemson coach said. “I sat Martavis Bryant, and Sammy Watkins got hurt on the second play of the LSU game, and that was probably the best defense I have seen since I have been here, and guess what? We won. We won because our program is bigger than anyone player and so is Florida State’s.”