Clemson has won 14 of 15 road games. Texas A&M presents a unique challenge
Clemson is playing on the road in a tough environment with College GameDay set to make an appearance this weekend at Texas A&M.
For some programs, this would be a once every couple of years occurrence. For Clemson, it has become the norm.
This will be Clemson’s sixth road game dating to the start of last season. College GameDay will have been in town for three of the six games. All six matchups have been played at night.
“This is kind of what we’ve become used to at Clemson now,” co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said. “It’s kind of our normal, going on the road in a hostile environment against a very talented team. So this will be a great challenge for our team and offense early in the year.”
Clemson has had an incredible amount of success in road games over the past few years.
The Tigers are 14-1 in their past 15 road games dating to 2014, including wins last season at Louisville and at Virginia Tech with College GameDay in town.
Clemson’s only road loss the past three years came last season at Syracuse when starting quarterback Kelly Bryant was banged up and missed the second half.
Tigers coach Dabo Swinney believes the key to playing well on the road is to focus on what you can control.
“The same things that win at home win on the road. Those things don’t change. You’re never going to be great at anything if you allow the external factors, the thing that you have no control over, to dictate your performance week in and week out,” Swinney said. “The fans don’t play. They can yell and be loud and that’s great, but what does that have to do with you doing your job?”
This weekend’s game will be a unique challenge in that Kyle Field holds more than 100,000 fans. Clemson has never played in front of 100,000 fans. The largest crowd the Tigers have played in front of is 92,476 at Georgia in 2014. Clemson is 4-9 all-time playing in front of at least 85,000 fans, including 1-6 on the road.
Swinney is eager to see how his club handles the environment.
“For our team, what I’m looking for is to see our team go on the road and stay focused and display our experience that we have and adjust to the adversity that’s in the game, because there’s going to be adversity,” Swinney said. “This is a huge game for both teams. There will be a ton of energy. It’s GameDay. It’s all that stuff. And. man. that’s fun. I want to see our team embrace that, and win or lose this is the type of game that I think makes you better and gives you a chance to grow your team as you go through the season. It’s exciting to be in these games and really looking forward to it.”
Defensive end Austin Bryant added that whether the Tigers are playing in front of 100,000 fans or on a practice field they will show up ready to go.
“We can play anywhere. We can play on Jervey Meadows if you want to. That’s just something we’ve instilled around here,” the All-American said. “It doesn’t matter where we play or who we play — just spot the ball. It’s definitely fun to play on the road.”
This story was originally published September 6, 2018 at 7:45 AM.