During his press conference Tuesday, Dabo Swinney went on a rant after being asked about the perceptions out there nationally about the ACC and Clemson. The Tigers’ head coach blamed the media and went on to discuss how his program should get the benefit of the doubt based on the consistent success of the program.

Clemson offensive lineman Gage Cervenka later commented on the media rhetoric surrounding the Tigers, saying they don’t really pay attention to it but admitting it does sometimes get under their skin.

“You definitely hear it, but I don’t even really care what happens. At the end of the day, all the talking happens on the field,” Cervenka said. “All the media, they don’t really have any outcome in a game. It’s how we play, it’s how we go out there, it’s how we prepare for a week and things like that. So, they can talk all they want. It gets the fuse, it gets people talking – it’s kind of what their job is to do I guess. But it doesn’t really affect me as a player or anything like that. What’s said is said, and I just kind of go on and just play my game.

“So, we really don’t focus on it much, but sometimes it pisses us off because sometimes we feel like we deserve a little bit more respect. But other than that, it’s just a little bit of fuel to the fire if anything, nothing really bad.”

Watch Cervenka’s full interview on TCITV:

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