Dabo Swinney fully believes his 10th-ranked Clemson (5-1, 4-0) team has a challenge on its hands when former assistant Tony Elliott brings his Virginia Cavaliers (4-2, 2-1) to town for a noon matchup in Death Valley.

With Elliott having spent more than a decade on Swinney’s coaching staff at Clemson, Swinney is more than familiar with his former offensive coordinator and when he watches film on this year’s Cavaliers, he sees a well-coached team that is playing well in all three phases.

“The biggest compliment that you can give any team, any coach, is all three phases they play very physical. They play hard. They play fast in all three areas,” Swinney said. “It doesn’t matter what the score is. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first quarter or the fourth quarter. You see that consistency in their effort. This is a really, really tough-minded group. That comes from what Tony’s staff has been able to build and recruit and develop and nurture as they build their culture there.”

While Swinney believes Virginia is a well-rounded team, it’s sophomore quarterback Anthony Colandrea that really stands out to the longtime head coach.

Colandrea is as dynamic as any quarterback the Tigers have faced to this point in the season, with Swinney comparing him to Stanford’s Ashton Daniels, who had a lot of success running the ball against the Tigers’ defense, particularly in the first half. Daniels would finish the contest with 87 yards on the ground and Swinney knows his defense must be better against Colandrea.

“Everything starts with this quarterback,” Swinney said. “I mean, he’s a good player. He’s a problem. He really is a problem. He’s a guy kind of like the kid from Stanford that we saw. I mean, this guy can really, really create. Some of his best plays come off of busted plays, or come off of scramble plays. He puts a lot of strain on you.”

On top of his 1,490 passing yards, Colandrea has also added 321 yards via his legs, good for second on the team behind running back Kobe Pace. Colandrea is a threat to take off at any given point, so setting the edge will be a point of emphasis, as Clemson can not afford to leave open running lanes that would allow the quarterback to escape.

“You have to really squeeze him,” Swinney said. “They are a big zone-read, swap-zone and counter. They do a lot of QB1 stuff where he just reading it. Sometimes there’s plays where really the read is to give it, but he’ll pull it anyway. And he’s just better than the guy that’s there. On the chalkboard, it looks good. You’re in a good spot. But he’s just better than that guy and he runs around. They get him on the edge some. Again, if you don’t do a good job of squeezing him, he’s around you and he’s gone. I mean, it’s 20 yards. So, he’s just one of those guys that creates a lot of problems.”

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