TALLAHASSEE, Fl. (WTXL) — On Sunday night, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney blamed Florida State's administration for "forfeiting" Saturday's scheduled match-up between the Tigers and the Seminoles.
Swinney went on to say that quote "this game was not canceled because of COVID. COVID was an excuse to cancel the game."
Swinney insisted during the teleconference that all testing standards were met by Clemson. The player that tested positive was symptomatic, but had tested negative earlier in the week. Swinney standing by his decision to travel the player Sunday night.
"The bottom line is, we more than met the standard to play, and they made the decision not to play," he said. "You can say whatever you want to. I don't know what their reasoning is."
Florida State head coach Mike Norvell talked about how strict they've been with his players on ESPN after the game was canceled Saturday.
He said during their bye week, the players stayed in Tallahassee. Players and coaches have missed practices and games because they displayed COVID symptoms.
He said it was disappointing to not play, but they'll continue to move forward.
"We'll continue to build, continue to do things to the best of our ability and to tell them to understand the disappointment, but adversity will show up through the course of every season but it'll also show up through the course of life," he said. "How you respond to it is what defines you."
Both Clemson and Florida State have an open date December 12th. Swinney said Sunday that if they were to play, he would want Florida State to travel to them, or reimburse them for the cost to travel to Tallahssee. Clemson's Athletic Director said Saturday the trip was around $300,000.
