Swinney wishes "lugubrious" Notre Dame fans, Mascot and Team Safe Travel

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney left the talking to his team in the week building up to Saturday nights matchup with Notre Dame taking toing the company line that he doesn't care what analyst or pundints think.  All of that changed Saturday night when the head coach fired back at all of those who doubted this team.

Drawing the direct ire of the coach was one Aaron Taylor of CBS Sports. Taylor works for the CBS Sports Network and serves as a game and studio analyst. Taylor was drafted out of Notre Dame, and he won the Lombardi Award and was a unanimous first-team All-America selection in 1993 as an offensive tackle.

The networks college football analyst said that the Tigers would not be prepared for the No. 6 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Tiger fan base would be left feeling "lugubrious" meaning, "to look or sound sad and dismal" according to Webster's.

"I don't know who Aaron Taylor is, but I guess he is analyst or commentator," Swinney said. "The comment was we were not going to be ready. Clemson wouldn't be ready, and our crowd was going to be lugubrious when the game was over. I don't know how to spell that. I'm hooked on phonics. I just sound it out. Lugubrious. But I did look it up and lugubrious means to look sad and disappointed."

"So I want to wish Notre Dame and their lugubrious crowd safe travels back to South Bend. And we will show up in 2020. We look forward to that trip. So I appreciate the education that we got this week - the vocab lesson. The first thing our players said to me when they came to the locker room was 'man that leprechaun was a little lugubrious looking'."

With all of the nation watching and the majority of the national media not giving the Tiger a chance in the game, Swinney said he doesn't understand the lack of respect the Tiger have been given in recent years.

"In the last 38 years, if you did it based on the media and you did a poll on who has had the most wins between Notre Dame and Clemson the last 38 years, everybody would say Notre Dame. They would be wrong. It is Clemson," Swinney said. "Clemson has had more wins, more bowl wins, more top 25 finishes, more 10 wins season, so my message to the team is just be Clemson. Just be who you are. Don't buy the lie."

For the Tigers it would appear that they finally received the respect that they have been seeking.

The Tigers moved up to No. 6 in both the Coaches as well as the AP Poll released on Sunday now the job is to keep focused when the target is squarely on their back as one of the favorites but for this group of Tigers lugubrious is something they aren't feeling at all today.