Since 2011, Clemson has won 28 of its 30 games inside the friendly confines of Death Valley. Built inside those numbers include a 13-game home winning streak from the beginning of 2011 through the end of the 2012 seasons, and currently an 11-game home winning streak that began with a win over Georgia Tech on November 14, 2013.
Clemson is 41-6 under Dabo Swinney in Death Valley since he took over halfway through the 2008 season. The 11th-ranked Tigers will try to keep all of that going next Saturday when they host sixth-ranked Notre Dame at 8 p.m. on ABC.
This will be the Irish’s first trip to Clemson since 1977.
“We tried to build a culture that eliminates all that stuff that people like to talk about,” Swinney said during his Sunday teleconference with the media.
That stuff was Clemson’s previous 1-8 record on ESPN Thursday night games before he turned it around to a 5-1 record under his watch. The other things, like what uniforms they will wear, the kickoff time and so on were also distractions he and the coaching staff worked hard on eliminating from the locker room.
“We tried to eliminate that stuff from the equation and let’s be dialed in on preparing with purpose and effort with technique, and All-In Commitment,” Swinney said. “Everybody buying in and understanding what we have to do to win consistently.
“It starts with winning at home. Our guys have taken great pride in that. There is no question about it. Death Valley has become a very difficult place for people to come in and win.”
Swinney admits that his team can be beaten at home, especially when they play great teams like Notre Dame. But he also knows if they just make sure Clemson does not beat itself then it will always have a chance to win.
“Our guys have played a lot of great teams, but they have done a great job of being consistent week in and week out. That’s what I’m most proud of with our program,” he said.
Clemson (3-0) will try to eliminate all the distractions of GameDay coming to Clemson next Saturday, and all the pregame hype that comes along with it.
“As a competitor, player and coach, you want to have the opportunity to compete at the highest level, at least I know I do and our players do,” Swinney said. “There are 140 something Division I schools out there, and GameDay chooses to come to your place, that is a huge positive. I don’t see a negative in it.
“It is great. It is great exposure of our university and certainly our program. Everyone wants to have an opportunity to play in games like this. Not just these types of game with GameDay and nationally ranked teams competing, but you are talking about Notre Dame. This is the winningest program in the history of football. So it is an awesome opportunity.”
Clemson is 2-1 when it hosts ESPN’s College GameDay. The Tigers beat Georgia Tech in 2006 and Georgia in 2013, before falling to FSU on its way to a national championship in 2013. Clemson has not lost a home game since that loss to the Seminoles.
“The message is not any different than it was for App, Wofford and Louisville. It’s about Clemson. It is about us,” Swinney said. “That’s probably what you guys don’t want to hear, but that it is the way it is. We don’t really change what we do. We believe in how we prepare, and we don’t all of sudden start practicing different because we are playing Notre Dame. We practice the same. We have formula we apply each and every week regardless.”