Though Clemson University officials are in discussions with emergency management personnel, the Atlantic Coast Conference and Georgia Southern officials in preparation for Hurricane Florence and how it could affect game operations on Saturday, Dabo Swinney thinks the Tigers are going to play.

However, Clemson’s head football coach also admitted during Wednesday’s ACC Coaches Teleconference that he has not been involved in any of those discussions.

The second-ranked Tigers are scheduled to host Georgia Southern Saturday at Death Valley in Clemson. The game is scheduled to kick off at 3:30 p.m.

“I do think we are going to play on Saturday, but I have not been involved in those discussions,” Swinney said. “Hey, I just coach the football team. They tell me when to show up and that is when we are going to be there. We are going to be ready to play.

“I don’t get involved in all of that stuff. I stay in my lane. People that make those decisions are much more informed than me on ‘the why’ if they do have to move it and all that is going on. Regardless of when we play, my job is to have the team ready.”

Clemson Athletics posted on Twitter this morning that an updated status, in regard to Saturday’s game, is expected to be communicated later on Wednesday. As for how the football program will handle the rest of the week should the game be postponed or canceled, it should not affect the program.

“Like I said, I don’t think the game will be postponed. I think we are going to play the game. So, I have not really put much thought into it,” Swinney said. “Beyond that, if the game-time changes then we have a plan in place for all game times. That is something that we do every week so we just kind tweak our itinerary a little bit.

“As far as postponing and all of that, I don’t think that is going to happen, but if some reason it did then we will move on to the next game. Kind of business as usual and you just would not have a game on Saturday. I guess the guys would get a day off and then we would crank it back up on Sunday and get ready for the next opponent.”

With Hurricane Florence bearing down on the Carolinas, Swinney did address the possibility the storm could cause some of the players on the team to become distracted for obvious reasons.

“I think from our preparation standpoint there are no distractions,” he said. “We will have the same practice today. We will have the same practice tomorrow. The same practice on Friday. That is not going to change.

“The only big distraction is some of the guys on our team are having to deal with stuff back home. That is a major concern. We are doing everything we can to help the five, six or seven guys we got that are being impacted to the point where people are going to have to leave and all of that stuff. We are trying to help minimize any distraction there, as far as our prayers, our worries and things like that. Even still, even if people get out, you still have to deal with what this possible impact could be.

“As from a football standpoint. Where we are, it’s really not changing anything. If we did not have our indoor facility or something, that would be different, but we are able to get our practices in and be prepared.”