FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Clemson and Oklahoma both completed the last pregame press conference on Wednesday before Thursday’s Capital One Orange Bowl. There were some interesting things to discuss.
Here is what we heard:
Head coach Dabo Swinney doesn’t need any special tricks to remind his players that this Oklahoma team has nothing to do with last year’s team.
“Jedi mind tricks? Is that Star Wars? Okay. No Jedi mind tricks. You got one for me? I’m open to all suggestions,” Swinney joked.
The main topic of discussion regarded the recent suspension of wide receiver Deon Cain, tight end Jay Jay McCullough, and kicker Ammon Lakip.
“You know, when you don’t do the right things, there’s consequences. It’s just really that simple. It’s not a very complicated matter at all, just got 115 guys, and 112 of them did what’s right and three of them didn’t. So they don’t have the opportunity they forfeit the opportunity and the privilege to be a part of the game,” Swinney said. “At the end of the day, there’s consequences for your actions, and we just we always reinforce that and instill that in our program and always will. It doesn’t matter who they are or how big the game is. If you don’t do what’s right, you ain’t playing.”
Swinney said that those players are not bad guys, they just made bad decisions that cost them the opportunity to play in the post season. However, he has been really pleased with the demeanor of the remainder of his team.
“I really hate it for them. They’re the ones that really have to deal with the consequences because they’re missing out on a great opportunity. So it’s really not anything else much to add to that, other than the fact that I’m really proud of our team, really proud of how these guys have handled themselves. Again, it’s unfortunate that three guys get the headlines, but the headlines aren’t about all the other good things that the other 112 guys are doing,” Swinney said.
Swinney said that Charone Peake was starting before Cain was suspended and now Trevion Thompson will back up Peake. Swinney is not worried about that position. He is also confident in kicker Greg Huegel.
“Both of those guys would have played a lot anyway, but Charone Peake is the starter, so really no change. All those guys are backup,” Swinney said.
Swinney also addressed the futures of the three suspended players within Clemson’s football program.
“Those guys have all forfeited their opportunity to be with us for any postseason play. Ammon is a senior so he’s graduated already, and Jay Jay is not a senior but he’ll have an opportunity to come back to school next week and he’s got a chance to graduate by the summer, and then he’ll have an opportunity to move on if he wants to play somewhere else next year, he’ll have that opportunity to do that, but he won’t be back with us at Clemson. Deon will have the opportunity to come back to school and rejoin the team at some point if he grows up and does what he needs to do,” Swinney said.
Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops said that the suspensions won’t change Oklahoma’s game plan.
“It won’t change anything we do, no. I’m sure they’ll have another excellent player in there running routes,” Stoops said.
Stoops is more focused on stopping Deshaun Watson.
“We’ve got to do a great job on the quarterback run game, and then contain him. When he pulls the ball down, when he’s trying to throw it, he can make some great plays when he pulls the ball down and runs, as well,” Stoops said.
With the game quickly approaching, Swinney knows that Clemson will have great crowd support.
“I expect we’ll have a great crowd. I’d be shocked if we don’t. Wherever we go, we have a great crowd,” Swinney said.
Stoops also knows that Clemson will have a great crowd, but he is not worried about the noise with his team.
“You know, just you pipe in noise and music into practice just like we do any time we’re going on an away game. We’re used to that. We played in front of 105,000 at Tennessee. You know what I like, for whatever reason, too, the back half of the year, our best games have been on the road. I’m kind of glad we’re all the way down here. I think we’ve really been the most focused and played maybe the best when we’ve been on the road,” Stoops said.