Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has clearly been working on his “Spurrier Speak.”
Following Wednesday’s practice, Swinney was asked about Steve Spurrier’s comments earlier in the week where he expressed confusion over LSU’s and Clemson’s shared nickname for their home fields, “Death Valley.”
“Most of our guys have never been to Death Valley. That is the Death Valley, isn’t it? Or is there another one? There’s two of them? That’s right, there’s two Death Valleys.”
Swinney correctly clarified that Clemson’s Memorial Stadium was known as Death Valley before LSU’s Tiger Stadium was. As a bonus, he got in a great dig at South Carolina’s acronym, USC.
“But I can see where he might have a little bit of confusion. Our guys have never been to USC. California is a long way from here. I can see where there can be a little bit of confusion there with two Death Valleys and two USCs, but there’s only one real one [USC].”
The reporters present ate it up. Swinney even ended with a compliment for Spurrier: “That’s classic Spurrier. Hey, when he’s winning, you say anything you want. He’s one of the best. He’s had more lines than anybody ever will. They got a heckuva football team, I’ll tell you that.”
Swinney has cooled his jets considerably since his “They aren’t Clemson and they aren’t ever going to be Clemson” rant last December. Precedent dictates that when you can trade witty barbs with the Head Ball Coach as opposed to all-out attacking him, you’ll gain his respect.
