The Game Will Go On: Both head coaches ready for Cheez-It Bowl to be played

Swinney and Campbell meet with the media Tuesday morning.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Dec 28 11:06:48 GMT-05:00 2021

ORLANDO – As bowl games across the country are canceled due to ongoing COVID issues, both Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Iowa St.’s Matt Campbell say their teams are in good shape and expect Wednesday’s Cheez-It Bowl to kick off on time.

The contest is slated for a 5:45 p.m. kickoff on ESPN in Orlando’s Camping World Stadium. The contest will be the first all-time meeting between the Tigers and Cyclones. Clemson has won four of its last five games against Big 12 opponents, including postseason victories against Oklahoma in 2014 and 2015 in Clemson’s last two contests against Big 12 foes.

At 9-3, No. 19 Clemson will enter the Cheez-It Bowl in search of its 11th consecutive 10-win season. A victory would tie Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney (10-7 career bowl record) with Bobby Bowden for the most bowl victories in conference history, as 11 of Bowden’s 21 career bowl wins came during Florida State’s membership in the ACC.

Swinney said he’s watched all of the cancellations and hurts for the seniors who don’t get a chance to play another game.

“Super blessed, thankful,” Swinney said of being able to play. “Your heart hurts for all of these people. It's an enormous amount of preparation that goes into getting ready for a football game. But when you have this amount of time and all the things that you have to balance and plan for and do, it's a lot, and to not be able to play.

“And then those seniors, you know, I know for our guys, we've got a lot of guys that are going to wear that Paw for one last time, and it's important to them. It's a big deal. You've poured so much into something. Our sixth-year seniors have had 700-something practices at Clemson, 69 games, and they are fighting to have one more. I mean, I think that's a really cool thing. So you hurt for them, but we are thankful and blessed and grateful that we've able to make it through this season without a lot of issues from a COVID standpoint. Our guys have done a great job.”

Campbell said the Cyclones haven’t had any COVID issues.

“Thankful and grateful we get the opportunity to play,” Campbell said. “Your heart hurts for the teams and certainly the young 18- to 22-year-olds that put the time and effort to prepare, to train, and go play in that game. Whether it's three days out, four days out, five days out that, that game doesn't go, that's really hard, especially for the seniors, and let alone your fan bases who maybe some of those fan bases are already out there and traveled to get to those games or those universities.

“You see the time and the effort that so many people have put into making this function go off; that to not have those experiences occur, especially this late in the game, I think that's really hard.

“Fortunately, from our end, we have been in a really great situation from the COVID standpoint. Our kids have done a great job. We hadn't had any issues this season, and as of right now, we don't have any issues.”

Swinney said the Tigers will be missing two players – he confirmed wide receiver EJ Williams and TigerNet reported the other to be cornerback Nate Wiggins.

“We have had two guys that are out from a COVID standpoint and then another one that's quarantined, a protocol guy. But outside of that, we've been in good shape,” Swinney said.

Swinney then said that the Tigers are used to playing without depth at the wide receiver spot.

“Well, we've had seven scholarship receivers out the last two games. We're beyond that now,” Swinney said. “We just roll with it. We're experienced at not having guys. Nothing you can do. Get the next guys ready. Excited about that.”