Swinney on injuries, Justyn Ross, Notre Dame, CFP

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CLEMSON -- Sunday evening Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney addressed members of the media in a teleconference, this time to look ahead to the Tigers' Saturday opponent for the ACC Championship.

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No. 3-ranked Clemson (9-1, 8-1) is a 10.5-point favorite over the second-ranked Irish (10-0, 9-0). The two teams will meet at 4 p.m. on December 19 in a game televised by ABC.

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The following is an edited transcript of Swinney's Sunday evening teleconference.

Q: How did Trevor Lawrence handle being out of the last game vs. Notre Dame? And the value of having him there in South Bend?

SWINNEY: "I thought he was great for D.J. Uiagalelei. He was a calming influence on the sideline. He was an encouraging voice. He is an inspirational guy. It was great to have him there. He's a smart guy. He sees the game from a quarterback's perspective. He won't be here when we go back to Notre Dame in 2022, so I wanted him to have a chance to make that trip with us. I'm glad he was able to go with us."

Q: What was the message to your team last week ahead of a week off?

SWINNEY: "We have been in the championship game seven times. We never had an open date, but we treated it like an open date. This is our 20th week coming up. That is a long time. We have managed a lot. We had finals going on, so we had to navigate around that. We practiced Monday, Wednesday and Thursday with meetings on Tuesday. We wanted to get a good foundation to our plan for Notre Dame. We also wanted to get some rest and get healthy. We had a bunch of tests on Friday. We're back in here today with more testing. We have meetings this evening and then we will start a normal game-week routine starting tomorrow. We had a great week."

Q: How did Jake Venables' surgery go yesterday? Status on Justyn Ross?

SWINNEY: "Jake is definitely going to be out. He had a plate put in. He had nine screws in there. He is pretty sore. He'll come back stronger than ever but is definitely out.

"It was a great trip for Justyn. We are still waiting on a couple of bits of information from the doctor. There are two big boxes that have to be checked for him. I think they were very pleased with what they saw. They measured his movements before and after surgery and were very pleased with the healing of the area. It's not 100-percent but ahead of what they expected. He's in a pretty good place. It was very positive. He is in good spirits. Justyn looks great in practice. He just doesn't get hit and isn't in any competitive situations. But he looks great. Hopefully he will get a full release in the near future."

Q: Win or lose, do you feel that these are two of the best teams in the country?

SWINNEY: "Yes. No question in my mind that these are two of the best teams in the country."

Q: Is it more important for your offense to be less one-dimensional than it was in South Bend?

SWINNEY: "I think efficient is a better word. We have to do a better job (rushing the football). They were at 5.1 and we were at 1.0 (yards-per-carry). As far as balance, you do what you do best and what gives you the best chance to win. We have to take care of the ball. That's first and foremost. We had three turnovers to their one. And they got 10 points off of our turnovers. If we can be more efficient, we will be better on third down."

Q: Do you have a timetable for when you have an availability for Justyn Ross?

SWINNEY: "I don't have any availability (update) for Justyn. I believe he will play again but it won't be this year (this season). Our goal would be to get him back for spring practice if he comes back. He could still go pro. He still has to make that decision."

Q: What is the key matchup this coming Saturday?

SWINNEY: "Up front. The trenches. We got our butts kicked in the first game. Just that simple."

Q: With the defensive players you have back, what would be your expectations on defense this time around?

SWINNEY: "I hope we fit the run better and not let them run the stretch for 65 yards on the first play. Ian Book had a field day against us. I hope we can contain him better. They're one of the best scramble teams out there. They coach that, too. It's not like they're out there playing street ball. Hopefully we can not give up the big plays we did last time. We have to play better. We need to make competitive plays."

Q: The SEC commissioner has spoken again about the ACC helping Notre Dame and Clemson with open dates ahead of this weekend. How frustrating is it for you to hear that line of thinking?

SWINNEY: "If the ACC were trying to protect us, why would we even play this game this weekend? If six wins gets you in the playoffs, shouldn't nine wins get you there? 10? We want to crown a worthy champion. It's going to be an awesome game. I would have loved to have played this past weekend. I had no problem with that, but that wasn't my decision. We wanted to play when we were down in Tallahassee. I had no control over that. We have played 10 games. Notre Dame has. We're excited to play for a championship and go from there."

Q: You expect Jamie Skalski to be back this week?

SWINNEY: "Hope so. He had a good week. We will see where he is tomorrow."

Q: When will Justyn Ross' next doctor's appointment be?

SWINNEY: "I don't know that. I am sure it will be sometime after the first of the year."

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