00:00But when you look at Clemson and Davo as a whole, you think of the two national championships that he won.
00:05He finally took in transfer talent this year.
00:09A lot of people expect Clemson to be that dark horse to possibly win a national championship.
00:15Does Clemson have what it takes offensively and defensively to win a title?
00:20And is Davo still an elite head coach?
00:23Oh, he's still elite.
00:24To me, the moves that he has made, to me, has proven that he has still got the instincts, the motivation, the desire to be a top coach.
00:34He's got Clemson.
00:35To me, I was there, you remember, in 2020 when they played the National Championship and lost.
00:39I was on that staff as an analyst.
00:41They were loaded, but so was LSU that year.
00:45I think Clemson's more along that line now.
00:48And I think it goes back to the defense, especially defensive line.
00:51The strength that they are there, back to the championship teams that they had there, that's where they've gotten stronger.
00:57And then Cade Kubelik, you've got to see, Cade is clearly one of the top quarterbacks in the country.
01:02Phenomenal year last year after the opening game with Georgia.
01:05So they've kind of got that great quarterback, strong talent across the board, and a great defense.
01:13Yeah, when you talk about Davo Sweeney and you just talk about dominance, right,
01:17his overall record at Clemson, taking over for your brother, Tommy Bowden, right, 180-47.
01:24That's a 793 winning percentage.
01:26But more importantly, Coach, you look at basically for a decade.
01:30Since 2015, the Clemson Tigers own a 70-5 home record.
01:36That's a 933 winning percentage.
01:39They basically win every game at home.
01:41They did lose two games last year.
01:43Can Clemson step up against LSU week number one, playing in Death Valley?
01:49You know, both schools label their stadiums Death Valley, but I think Clemson is going to have the tougher one to play in this year.
01:56And I definitely think that's going to give them the home field advantage because of how well they play at home.
02:01Again, it's an incredible atmosphere.
02:04When they come down that hill after touching that rock there at the top of the hill, it's phenomenal excitement that comes through.
02:10But the biggest thing is they are loaded.
02:12But Davo Swinney did a couple things that you've got to do.
02:15If you're going to be a great coach and coach from decade to decade, you've got to be able to change and adapt.
02:21And remember, Davo was not going to get in the portal.
02:23He was not going to play the portal game.
02:25But he said, you know what, if I'm going to last in the future of college football, I've got to accept the fact I've got to get some because I'm going to lose some.
02:32He made those decisions.
02:33He strengthened his football team.
02:35And I think he's making the move that the great coaches do.
02:38If you're going to coach from decade to decade, you've got to be able to change and adapt.
02:43And I think he's doing that, as well as bringing in Tom Allen, the defensive coordinator for Penn State, brought in a top defensive coordinator.
02:50Because Davo knows he's kind of an offensive coach, fools with the offense.
02:54He has got to have a great coordinator on defense, like a Brent Bittables that he had when he won two championships.
03:00I think he feels like he's got that now.
03:02Yeah, Tom Allen, basically a better coordinator than he was head coach, right, from his days at Indiana, moved on last year, taking over for Manny Diaz and Penn State, a dominant defense, coached up Abdul Carter and the crew.
03:15And you talk about a Clemson defense coach that allowed 160 rushing yards on the ground per game.
03:21That is a cause of concern, especially when you look at the playoff loss to Texas.
03:26They rushed for over 200 yards.
03:28You look at the loss to Louisville in the regular season.
03:31Louisville averaged 7.1 yards per carry.
03:35If Clemson is going to make a national championship run, it's got to start with the front seven defensively.
03:41You're talking about a team that won nine FBS games by an average margin of victory of 18.8 points per game.
03:48But if they're going to get back to the playoff, that defense needs to get better.
03:53Well, if the spring was any kind of indication, their defense is back to where they want it to be.
03:58And it starts with the front seven.
04:00If you're going to be a championship team, you've got to stop the run.
04:03Even if teams like to pass a lot, if you stop the run, they're passing in pure passing situations, long yardage, when they don't want to pass the ball.
04:12And so that's what you've got to have.
04:14And I really think that's where it starts.
04:15That's where Clemson will look like the Clemson of old.
04:19And that's in their opening game.
04:21That's going to give, like, LSU the most difficult there.
04:23But I do believe looking at their roster and watching them throughout the spring,
04:28talking to the people that I still know and worked with at Clemson a few years back,
04:33that they feel very, very good about the defense, the quarterback, and the strength of this football team.
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