For nine years, Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney have gone head to head, and for the last eight they’ve split the games evenly.
The ninth game between the two has a very different setting, with Fisher in a completely different conference. Saturday’s game between A&M and No. 2 Clemson present different challenges for the coaches on both sides of the ball.
For Fisher, the idea of playing his former ACC opponent in his second game as the head coach of an SEC school was both surreal and, in his words, “fitting.”
“I had no idea [A&M would play Clemson],” Fisher said. “It was kind of ironic when they [told me] after I accepted the job. I said ‘Really? That’s ironic.’ For so many years, whoever won that game, won the [ACC].”
In 2015, the newly redeveloped Kyle Field opened, making the home of Aggie Football the biggest stadium in the state of Texas and the fourth largest in college football, with an official seating capacity of 102,733. Clemson has never played in front of a crowd that surpassed the 100,000 mark.
Heading into this week, Swinney said his program is taking a high-tech approach as they prepare to play in front of the 12th Man for the first time in 14 years. According to Swinney, the staff is using Virtual Reality to help players have an idea of what it is like to play in a specific environment.
“They’re going to have a hard time preparing for Kyle Field,” Swinney said. “None of these guys have ever been there so they won’t have anything [to compare it to].”
Swinney said video personnel within the program typically take for the VR simulations during or after a game, however this is not the case with A&M since the last time the Tigers were in Aggieland, the year was 2004 — long before the development of current VR technology.
“We just don’t know a lot about Texas A&M,” Swinney said. “Unfortunately, I think the unknown is a competitive advantage for them and hopefully our experience can be a competitive advantage for us.”
Meanwhile, as the Aggies prepare to take on one of the best teams in the country, Fisher said he is excited to see what his new team can do against a well-rounded Clemson team.
“I think that it’s a great opportunity to find out [what your team is like],” Fisher said. “Clemson is as good as anyone in college football in the last few years.”
Despite the extra challenge of facing a nationally-ranked opponent, Fisher said his approach to preparing his team for Saturday isn’t changing and never will.
“It is another game,” Fisher said. “It is to us. One win, one loss, whatever happens. You have to approach it that way. Your opponent doesn’t matter.”
