NEW ORLEANS — Clemson flew to New Orleans. LSU road buses to The Big Easy.
The top-ranked Tigers will have a home state advantage Monday night when they face Clemson in the Superdome. If Clemson is to win a second national championship, it will have to overcome the challenge of playing LSU in a venue that is expected to be dominated by fans wearing purple and gold.
"This is definitely a road game," Swinney said.
"It just worked out that way, and I mean, you don't know these things in advance, but I think it's really cool for LSU. How cool is that, for them to be able to just hop on a bus and ride up the road 40 minutes or so. It would be like us playing for the National Championship in Greenville, literally.
"It's going to be wild. It's going to be like -- we could have just played in Baton Rouge, but the weather might have been bad. It's going to be like a road game. I know our fans will show up and they'll be passionate just like they are everywhere we go on the road. But it'll be an awesome, awesome atmosphere. I mean, this is two great teams, two undefeated teams. Again, they're playing right here at home, and it's exciting. It's exciting to know you're at this point."
It may turn out to be a road game for Clemson, but it's a home game for running back Travis Etienne. He is a native of Jennings, Louisiana and he will be looking to do what Jackson Carman did at the Fiesta Bowl - win bragging rights over the home state school