ATLANTA – During the College Football Playoff head coaches press conference Thursday at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney was asked if the “R.O.Y. Bus” will be able to roll to the Fiesta Bowl even though the Tigers are the betting favorite.

Clemson (13-0) is currently a two-point favorite over Ohio State (13-0) in the CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl, which will take place Dec. 28 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

“Yeah, the ROY Bus is fueled up, for sure,” Swinney said. “It’s been easy this year. I really haven’t had to do a whole lot. Pretty well stated on that, I think, on the record on all that stuff.”

Although Clemson may be favored in this matchup, Swinney has harped on the disrespect he feels there has been for his team this season, blaming the media for not giving the Tigers their due despite the consistent success they have had on the biggest stages in recent years.

So, it has been easy for Swinney to gas up the “ROY Bus” or “Rest of Y’all Bus” this season with the criticism for his squad aplenty.

“I think as a coach, you take free fuel any time you can get it,” Swinney said. “We got a good football team. We’ve earned our opportunity to get here. I’m proud of them.”

Clemson has won two of the last three national championships, but it has been surprisingly easy for Swinney to play the disrespect card.

Swinney does all he can to make sure his players keep a chip on their shoulder and understand their past accomplishments — such as five straight ACC titles and five consecutive CFP appearances – won’t help them as they try to reach the pinnacle again this year.

“Every year you start over,” he said. “We remind ourselves of that all the time. You got to earn it every single year.”

Swinney says he does not care that Clemson is the No. 3 seed in the CFP and not No. 1. He is simply happy that “little ol’ Clemson,” as he likes to call it, will get a chance to prove itself in the playoff.

“At this point it doesn’t matter if you’re one, two, three or four, you’re going to play a great team. The margin for error is very small,” Swinney said.

“We just wanted to be here, to have that opportunity. We are what we are right now — we’re a team with a chance. Hopefully we can take advantage of that opportunity.”

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