Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney warns of ‘tough, physical’ Troy

Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney knows it’s been a while since his team last played the Troy Trojans, but he hasn’t forgotten about the two previous meetings with the Tigers’ Week 2 opponent.

The last meeting between the schools was the year Clemson won its first national championship under Swinney. Before the Tigers beat Alabama on the final play of that year’s title game, they first had to survive a close contest with Troy in Week 2.

The Trojans fought to a 10-10 tie in the first half and trailed by only a field goal at intermission before Clemson put some distance on the scoreboard in the second half. The Tigers won, 30-24, on an afternoon when Troy put up 386 yards of total offense.

Six years earlier, Clemson opened its 2011 season in Memorial Stadium and actually trailed the Trojans 16-13 at halftime.

“This is our third time to play them. The last time was our national championship team in ’16,” he said at his Tuesday press conference. “In 2011, we played them and that was our first ACC championship year, and we were down at half. Everybody was booing and saying some bad names to me going off the field, so not good.”

When the Trojans visit Death Valley again Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, ACC Network), they’ll feature a running back near the top of the nation in rushing yards after Week 1. Tae Meadows, listed as a 5-foot-10, 200-pound junior out of Roanoke, Alabama, rushed for 186 yards in Troy’s season-opening 38-20 win over Nicholls State on Saturday.

Troy quarterback Goose Crowder, who started four games a year ago and threw for 542 yards before being missing the rest of the season, was 14-of-24 for 144 yards and three touchdown passes in the win over Nicholls. He rushed seven times for 43 yards and a touchdown.

“They have had some great, great, great football players come through that program — and great coaches,” Swinney said. “A lot of great coaches have come through Troy, and so I just have a ton of respect for the university, the program.”

Troy coach Gerad Parker is in his second season after previously serving as offensive coordinator at Notre Dame. His last visit to Clemson was when the Tigers upset then-No. 12 Notre Dame on Nov. 4, 2023 — five days after “Tyler from Spartanburg” provoked a viral response from Swinney, who later told a national television audience: “If Clemson’s a stock, you better buy all you can freakin’ buy right now.”

Clemson was unranked at the time following a 4-4 start to the season. Unlike then, the Tigers are No. 8 in this week’s top 25 polls after their 17-10 loss to LSU on Saturday.

They’ll take on a Troy program that finished 4-8 in Parker’s first season as head coach. A year before that, the Trojans were 11-2 and beat Appalachian State for the Sun Belt championship .

“Coach Parker, he’s done a nice job there,” Swinney said. “I’ve talked to him a few times. I don’t really know him well. He was an interim (head coach) at Purdue at one point and that’s where I first kind of communicated with him some, but he’s had a great background, a great track record and is doing a heck of a job there for them.”

Here’s what else Swinney had to say about Clemson’s Week 2 opponent, the Troy Trojans.

Dabo Swinney has ‘ton of respect’ for Troy football

During his opening remarks, Swinney said of the Trojans:

“This is a school I’ve got a ton of respect for growing up in Alabama, going all the way back to coach Larry Blakeney. Rick Rhoades, who was a head coach and won a national championship there and was an offensive line coach when I was at Alabama and ironically enough, Rick Rhoades became the head coach at Pelham High School, which was my high school.

“When I think of Troy, I think about a university that’s got some amazing tradition. They’ve won national championships and then as they advanced and grew their football program, they have invested in facilities. Troy’s got great support. It’s a great community and a great university. They have had some great, great, great football players come through that program — and great coaches. Had a lot of great coaches that have come through Troy.”

Dabo Swinney on what stands out about Troy

“They’re different when you think of Troy as far as style of play. In years past, when you think of Troy, they’re four and five wide and they’re flying and slinging the ball over the field. That ain’t what you see when you turn the tape on with these dudes. They’ll probably have more personnel groupings than anybody we’ll play… Multiple tight ends, a million formations and shifts and motions. I mean, this is a team that runs the football.

“It’s an old-school approach, so they’ve gone from that extreme to all the way over here. So it’s a challenge. This is a great that from a defensive standpoint, you’d better want to tackle. If you don’t want to tackle in this game, you’d better pull a hamstring. You might not want to be in this one because it’s going to be a very physical football game and there just is no other way. That’s just how they play the game.”

Swinney on how ‘tough, physical’ Troy challenges opponents’ discipline

The Tigers will have to be on their toes to be up to the challenge of stopping the Trojans’ run game and the different looks and sets they present, Swinney said.

“It’s creating bunch sets, condensed sets to run the ball, try to create some gaps. Shifts, motions to try to challenge your discipline with your gap integrity, your eyes; how you fit things up; play-action off of all of the runs. And (they have) a big ol’ bruising back… They’re just a tough, physical football team. They play hard, so a lot of challenges there. I look forward to seeing our guys step up to that challenge against these guys.

“And on the other side, they’re similar as far as their philosophy. They force you to have to really communicate well because they’re multiple with their fronts, especially with their three-down stuff and how you ID who’s who and where they’re coming from. So we’ve got to be disciplined there and do a nice job.”

“They’ve got guys from all over the place. We do have one game tape, but they’ve got some guys that can run. Some tough, physical guys. Got a couple of guys coming off the edge that really catch your eye. But again, it all comes back to who we are, doing our job, and doing the things that we need to do to win a game.”

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