Clemson holds Saturday practice in hotel ballroom due to bad weather
With rain and wind in New Orleans curtailing outdoor practice activities, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was forced to call an audible as the Tigers prepared to face LSU in Monday's national championship game.
While the LSU team worked out in the New Orleans Saints' indoor facility, Swinney chose to have his team practice on Saturday in their hotel's ballroom.
"We might have had the best practice we had all year," Swinney said Sunday at the coaches' final pregame news conference. "It was a lot of fun, it was great energy. Both these teams are ready to play. You can only practice so much. It was a great practice. It was a great day."
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Shaking off suggestions that LSU received preferential treatment because of the proximity of its Baton Rouge campus to the game in New Orleans, Swinney said his team could also have used the Saints' practice facility, but chose not to.
"It's just crazy how people put these narratives out there right away. We had the same exact opportunity to go there, but we were going to have to change our schedule and just didn't want to do that," he said.