Posted on 01/05/2017 3:00:50 PM PST by blam
PETE IACOBELLI
January 3, 2017
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — No long stretches of games. More depth on defense. All in all, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney believes he has a fresher, steadier group heading into this year's national championship game with No. 1 Alabama.
Swinney said his Tigers were impacted in 2015 by 10 consecutive weeks of grueling football from late September until the Atlantic Coast Conference title game in early December. On top of that, Swinney's defense was chock full of front line stars, yet had little experienced depth behind them.
That's not the case this time around, at least not in Swinney's eyes when No. 3 Clemson (13-1) looks to take down the Crimson Tide (14-0) on Monday night in Tampa, Florida.
"I feel like we have more juice" than when the Tigers faced Alabama a season ago, Swinney said Tuesday.
Clemson's certainly playing with more confidence.
The Tigers turned an expected tight game with No. 2 Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl into a 31-0 runaway , the third shutout of the season for a defense that lost six starters with college eligibility left to the NFL draft.
"We were top heavy, especially defensively. We were one deep on the line and that took a toll on us," Swinney said. "The biggest difference in our team was we kind of had more competitive depth. We were going to have more guys functionally ready to play winning football."
That's apparent on the defensive line where Clemson has lost seven starters over the last two years, yet is permitting just 123 yards rushing per game this season.
Younger players like defensive end Clelin Ferrell, Austin Bryant and Albert Huggins spent last season finding their way and getting little playing time behind dominant starters Shaq Lawson and Kevin Dodd
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(Excerpt) Read more at collegefootball.ap.org ...
My money is on the Alabama defense.
(The outcome of the game could depend on how much they score)
If the offense shows-up, we could even win.
- Roll Tide -
Roll Tide!
Either way, oughta be a good'un !
prolly best i don't have a spare $100 .. lol
Forget the juice; just don’t try and touch the Tide’s junk.
My daughter goes to Bama. Roll Tide!
I am an Auburn fan pulling for Bama here. Looks to me like this one is shaping up to be a real dog fight. Good luck to the Tide.
I thought "juicing" was illegal. The NCAA has a ban on steroids.
Go get em tigers. Supporter since 1978!
Go Tigers
You guys have a great team. I was extremely impressed by Baker Mayfield. We are four or five players from having a really good team, particularly at the QB position.
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