AUBURN, Ala. (AP) -Clemson coach Dabo Swinney hasn’t seen his team rise to the occasion yet this season.
The Tigers simply haven’t had to with two games against lightweight opponents. That will change Saturday night at No. 16 Auburn in a contest that shapes up as a measuring stick for both teams.
“We’ve had two tests and passed them,” Swinney said. “We did OK on the first one and did better on the second one. Now we are going up a level. I like this team. I like the character of our football team, I really do. Hopefully that character will reveal itself Saturday night.”
Both are 2-0, but Auburn has survived a Southeastern Conference road test at Mississippi State. Clemson, meanwhile, has hammered on North Texas and Presbyterian College.
These old rivals first played in 1899, but haven’t faced each other in the regular season since 1971. Auburn won the last 13 meetings and is 19-4 at home in the series.
A pair of big-play offenses means the game is unlikely to be hardly as old-fashioned as this one-time rivalry.
Auburn brings a fast-paced attack led by dual-threat quarterback Cam Newton, who is the SEC’s No. 2 rusher and also has thrown five touchdown passes. Auburn slowed down the pace against the Bulldogs and produced only 17 points.
The task of containing Newton hasn’t cost Clemson defensive coordinator Kevin Steele his sense of humor.
“I’ve been working so hard,” he said, “I passed myself coming into work today.”
Clemson counters with sophomore Kyle Parker, whose big-game presence has already been felt in Auburn – albeit in baseball. He hit a three-run homer to help Clemson’s baseball team win the decisive game of an NCAA regional in June across the street from Jordan-Hare Stadium.
If Parker had the required attempts, he’d lead the Atlantic Coast Conference and rank fifth nationally in pass efficiency.
“The poise that comes with that position as you look at him just looks natural,” Auburn coach Gene Chizik said. “It’s hard to get guys disrupted and break rhythm when guys are that natural at what they do. It’s just hard to get them out of rhythm.
“We’ve got to be able to try and do that. If he sits back there and just pats the ball and has his choice, it’ll be a long night.”
Both teams have been good at hounding opposing quarterbacks. Clemson has racked up eight sacks and Auburn seven, but the 6-foot-6, 250-pound Newton has been adept at gaining yards on both scrambles and designed runs.
“It ought to look like we have 12 players on the ball,” Swinney said. “One guy is going to have a hard time with this quarterback. So if we are consistently getting 1-on-1 matchups it’s going to be difficult.”
Both teams have multiple runners but haven’t necessarily settled on go-to guys to replace departed stars C.J. Spiller (Clemson) and Ben Tate (Auburn).
Auburn freshman Michael Dyer, the team’s top-rated recruit, could be poised to take that role after racking up 38 yards on the Tigers’ clock-consuming final drive in the 17-14 win over Mississippi State.
“He’s ready for his role to expand, there’s no question about it,” Chizik said. “As coaches we believe in him and trust in him that if that’s what his role becomes this week then he can handle it.”
Clemson’s Andre Ellington and Jamie Harper are both averaging about 9 yards a carry.
Chizik said Clemson’s physical style and approach remind him of SEC teams. His players agree, but say Clemson’s somewhat harder to gauge because the team hasn’t had a competitive game yet.
“It might be a little bit of a mystery, but at the same time you can look on paper and see that they are a really good team,” said receiver Kodi Burns, who ran for the decisive touchdown in overtime of a 23-20 win over Clemson in the 2007 Chick-fil-A Bowl. “They look really good on film. They pretty much look like an SEC defense out there. Even though the competition they played the first two games wasn’t anything compared to the SEC, they are an SEC team in our mind and they can beat us.”
If Clemson resembles an SEC-style team, that might have something to do with Swinney’s background. He played and coached at Auburn’s chief rival, Alabama.
“It’s something as a child you grew up following Alabama-Auburn and being a part of 13 games as a player or a coach,” Swinney said. “It’s fun. I love football in this region of our country. It’s a great matchup for our fans. Both fan bases. Should be a heck of a ball game.”
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