MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — It did not take Dabo Swinney too long to loosen up the hoard of media that gathered inside Sun Life Stadium for the Capital One Orange Bowl Media Day.

“I thought we were going to be out on the field, so this is good,” the Clemson head coach said.

Originally the players and coaches for No. 1 Clemson and No. 4 Oklahoma were scheduled to meet on the field on Tuesday, but the grounds crew was not done preparing the field so the event was moved inside.

“It’s nice and air conditioned in here, and looks like we’re getting closer to game time. It’s been a good week so far,” Swinney said.

Swinney has tried to make it as normal of a week as much as he can. But practicing in 85-degree weather the last three days and then participating in an event as off the beaten path as media days can be is anything but normal.

Clemson, who will play Oklahoma on Thursday at 4 p.m., also ate dinner at Fogo De Chao earlier in the week in South Beach, had a beach outing on Monday with jet skis and the works, and on Tuesday went to a charity outing at Dave & Buster’s Hollywood.

Thanks to events such as Tuesday’s Media Day, this has not been a normal week in terms of preparation for head coach Dabo Swinney and No. 1 Clemson.

But as media day proved with all the crazy and silly questions asked to the coaches and the players, this week’s national semifinal game is far from a normal game, no matter how hard Swinney and Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops try to present it to be.

“I think we’ve tried to create a normal game week from a preparation standpoint and kind of a mentality as far as how these guys get themselves ready to play. We’ve tried to do that, so from that standpoint, today is Thursday to us,” Swinney said. “It’s a team Thursday, and that just kind of helps our guys mentally kind of stay on the same cycle as far as preparation, but all the rest of it, this isn’t our normal game week.

“Normally on a Thursday we might have about three media guys roaming around, so this is a little different.”

On Tuesday there were hundreds of media present and each one had its own question to ask. Most questions ranged from “How do you respond to Samaje Perine’s comments?” to “What do you think about Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield?” to “How can you describe Oklahoma’s running backs?” to more off the wall questions like “What is your favorite video game?” or “What is in your iPod?” and things of that nature.

“It feels like I’m out with my family at a beach resort,” Clemson running back Wayne Gallman said. “You’ve really got to take in times like this because you really don’t get times like this. That’s the fun part about it is having this experience with all my friends, my teammates. I’m glad we got a chance to do it.”

Swinney has told his players to embrace media day and all of the week’s activities.

“We have a formula that we believe in as far as how we prepare, both at Clemson prior to coming down here, and then while we’re here,” Swinney said. “We try to make sure that we have a good itinerary and good balance so that these guys can enjoy the process, as well, and enjoy being a part of this playoff. I want them to enjoy it.

“I don’t want them to look back and say, man, I wish I had enjoyed that when I had that opportunity because this is such a small moment in their life. This season, these four or five years that they have in college is such a small moment. So we try to be very purposeful in making sure these guys are having some fun along the way, too. But when we go to work, we work hard. But as far as embracing it, we do that, but we really have just kind of prepared like we have for all the other games.”