Dabo not shopping for that SEC grind wore out Bama

CLEMSON, S.C. — Coach Dabo Swinney is not shopping for that Alabama was worn out from the grind of a extra rigorous schedule and wasn’t as well-rested as Clemson a 12 months in the past within the School Soccer Playoff Nationwide Championship Sport.

Clemson routed Alabama 44-16, with Swinney’s Tigers scoring the final 30 factors of the sport to win their second nationwide title within the final three years, each coming over Alabama.

“Hear, the SEC is a superb convention, however I do not assume they have been as deep the previous couple of years. I feel they’ve had two or three actually good groups after which it is form of been hit and miss from there. It is an superior league, for positive, and I do know folks say that Alabama was drained as a result of they went by the grind and needed to play all these groups,” Swinney advised ESPN, discussing a story he has heard largely in media circles. “Nicely, they gained by a mean of 33.1 factors per sport [going into the playoff], so that they must be well-rested.

“My factor on that’s, ‘Are you critical? They’re drained?’ Then you definately take a look at Clemson, and we gained 12 video games by 20-plus. Who actually challenged Alabama within the SEC? They did not get challenged by anyone till the Georgia sport [for the SEC championship].”

The ACC does not take a backseat to any convention, Dabo Swinney says. AP Photograph/Chuck Burton

Alabama and Clemson have been each 2-Zero within the common season a 12 months in the past towards groups ending within the remaining Related Press Prime 25 ballot. Counting the 35-28 SEC championship sport win over Georgia, the Crimson Tide have been Three-Zero. Each groups have dominated their convention foes over the previous three seasons. Alabama is 26-1 towards SEC groups and Clemson 25-2 towards ACC groups throughout that span.

Swinney stated he has monumental respect for Alabama and what Nick Saban has completed there by successful 5 of the final 10 nationwide championships, however Swinney can be rising weary of individuals diminishing what Clemson has completed based mostly purely on convention affiliation.

“Individuals get amnesia,” Swinney stated. “Loads of of us make a whole lot of daring claims early within the 12 months after which they neglect, and there is a whole lot of excuses when it does not go that means. 5, six or seven years in the past, the rhetoric was that an ACC workforce just isn’t going to win a nationwide championship as a result of they do not play anyone through the season, so then they get to the postseason and are simply not ready for the massive, unhealthy boys.

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“Nicely, now, they’ve flipped it round, and the one cause we’re successful is as a result of we do not play anyone within the ACC. … You do not simply come out of a smooth convention and have not performed anyone and swiftly exit and beat Notre Dame and Alabama. I imply, give me a break. Now that occurs in different conferences. I’ve seen that, those that get propped up, after which I watch the tape and go, ‘They ain’t performed what we have performed.'”

Clemson beat Notre Dame and Alabama within the School Soccer Playoff final season by a mixed 55 factors, and Swinney is 13-5 towards SEC groups because the begin of the 2012 season. Having coached and performed within the SEC, he has tried to keep away from the “my convention is healthier than your convention” debate.

“On the finish of the day, I am by no means going to be the man operating round with the flag saying, ‘We’re the perfect convention on this planet, the best convention,'” Swinney stated. “I’ve by no means completed that and by no means will try this. All I do is rise up and say, ‘Hold on. We do not take a backseat to anyone.’ The SEC is the very same means. If I have been over there, I would be saying the identical factor.”

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For the second straight season, Clemson will play two nonconference video games towards SEC faculties in 2019 — Texas A&M and state rival South Carolina.

“I maintain listening to that Alabama was worn down by this gantlet they went by,” Swinney stated. “I am like, ‘What sport did they get challenged in?’ And the response is, ‘They performed within the SEC.’ Nicely, we performed Alabama, Texas A&M and South Carolina, three SEC groups, and one in all our hardest video games was Syracuse. Our quarterback received damage in that sport, and we discovered a option to win. That [Clemson] workforce final 12 months was a dominant workforce, and it is simply fascinating to me to see all of the stuff on the market.”

Alabama and Clemson have confronted off every of the final 4 years within the School Soccer Playoff and have break up the conferences. Swinney disagrees with the notion that it will someway be unhealthy for the game in the event that they have been to fulfill once more for the nationwide title.

“I feel it is good for faculty soccer that you simply get the 2 finest groups there,” Swinney stated. “If it occurs to be Clemson and Alabama three out of the final 4 years, is not that what we would like, the 2 finest groups? Lots of people have alternatives to get into the combo. However on the finish of the day, you have to earn it. That is simply the way in which it’s. Take your hat off to what they’ve completed at Alabama and what these guys have completed right here.

“I do not sit round and fear about it. I am by no means going to apologize for attempting to be the perfect that we might be. That is what I used to be employed to do.”