Swinney on external factors: 'That cannot be the fire. The fire must come from within.'

On any new injuries:

“We are in a good spot. We will put out an available list on Saturday and get ready to play.”

On the tight ends:

“You’ve got a great group. Davis (Allen) is a pro. He’s unbelievably committed. Brinny (Jake Bringingstoo) is a special young talent that gets better and better every practice-- every week. Just so much more focused and knowledgable and polished. Sage (Ennis) hasn’t had as much opportunity, but Sage is a great guy in that room that we think has a bright future for us. We’ve got a good group. Really proud of those guys and how they’ve performed.”

On the night game in Death Valley:

“Absolutely. To me, every time we walk into that stadium, it’s special. I never take it for granted. I know y’all get tired of me saying it, but every game is the biggest game of the year. It’s not the biggest game of the year because it’s another ranked opponent-- it’s a night game-- all that stuff is great, but if none of that was there, it’d still be the biggest game of the year. If we are gonna achieve our goals we want to stay in control of our destiny. That’s the best way to do it. As I’ve said many times that’s fuel for the fire, but external factors-- that cannot be the fire. The fire has to come from within. If that’s the stuff that really motivates you, then you are never going to be consistent. I think that’s what we have tried to do, year in and year out, and I think that we’ve done a great job of that. It's not that we win every game, but we are consistent year in and year out because we have a certain mentality. If you don’t have that mindset and now I’m super motivated because of ranking-- time of play-- GameDay all that stuff-- it just leads to inconsistency.”

On decision-making in the potential storm that’s coming:

“I wouldn’t have kicked any long field goals when we played Notre Dame back in 2015, that was a slosh-fest. FOoting, wind, those are all things that you don’t have any control over, and you have to make decisions-- that’s why analytics are good, but analytics don’t know if it’s raining, or a 30 MPH wind, or what the condition of the field is. You always have to make those types of decisions in the moment.”

On the communication in the secondary:

“Been a really good week at practice. I’m pleased with how they responded. Hopefully, that will show up on Saturday night.”

On the TE helping the WR:

“I just think the more playmakers you have, the better. It breeds confidence when everyone on the field can make a play. I think we’ve got guys that can make plays at every position. Whoever is on the field, we feel like they can make plays. We’ve really made some progress there in confidence. When you’ve got big, tall, athletic, tight ends, it opens things up for those guys outside as well.”