CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — It's a first for Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, facing an opponent who knows how he thinks, prepares and plans for each game on the the 10th-ranked Tigers schedule.
But Swinney is just as familiar with the habits of his one-time receiver and long-time assistant, Virginia coach Tony Elliott.
“When you have that type of relationship, he knows exactly how I think,” Swinney said with a smile. “I know how he thinks, too. Don’t think he’s one step ahead.”
Not yet, anyway.
No. 10 Clemson (5-1, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) face the Cavaliers (4-2, 2-1) on Saturday for the first time since Elliott took over there three seasons ago.
Swinney has served as a friend and mentor for Elliot t from the time they met in 2003. Elliott was a fifth-year receiver at Clemson and Swinney was the newly hired receivers coach under Tommy Bowden.
Swinney hired Elliott as an offensive assistant in 2011 and Elliott rose to offensive coordinator and main play caller for national title teams in 2016 and 2018. That's a lot of talks, meetings and successful game planning the two have shared over the years.
Elliott has steadily built a program devasted at the end of his first season when three team members were shot and killed on campus. Two students, including a fourth player, were wounded that day in November 2022.
The Cavaliers have steadily found some footing this season. Elliott looking to go 3-1 in the ACC for the first time since 2019 when Virginia won the defunct Coastal Division and lost to Clemson in the league championship game.
Part of that continuing process for winning, Elliott said, was ignoring the texts and calls from Clemson friends this week to focus on his team.
“I have a responsibility to this football program to be laser focused,” Elliott said. “And that's one of the things that I learned from where I came from (in Clemson) is just how to block out the noise.”
He knows there will be some hurt feelings from his old pals. “This is one of those weeks where some people are mad at me right now,” Elliott said. “But I promise you, I love you. I just need to focus.”
Virginia starts one of the roughest stretches of the season, with four of its next five games against ranked opponents. After returning home next week to play North Carolina, the Cavaliers go to No. 20 Pittsburgh and No. 12 Notre Dame. They close the run at home against No. 22 SMU.
The Tigers have won five straight games led by a revived offense under offensive coordinator Garrett Riley and quarterback Cade Klubnik. Clemson is second in the ACC with 41 points and 482 yards per game. The team averaged 26.8 points and 402 yards a game in 2023.
Klubnik has thrown for 1,528 yards and 17 touchdowns against just two interceptions. He said the team stayed focused despite early struggles againsgt Wake Forest in what was a 49-14 victory.
“When stuff might not be going our way, everybody’s calm-minded and ready to go to the next one. That’s a new mindset and expectation for sure," Klubnik said.
Clemson's offense might face one of its biggest challenges in Virginia safety Jonas Sanker, who was named ACC defensive back of the week after his team's last two games. Sanker also had the Cavaliers first fumble-return touchdown since 2019 with his 40-yard romp to the end zone in a win over Boston College.
Clemson's game with Virginia continues a run where Swinney attempts to stay perfect against four straight opponents. Swinney moved to 16-0 against Wake Forest last week. He's 5-0 since taking over against Virginia. Swinney is 8-0 against Louisville, who Clemson faces on Nov. 2, and 6-0 against Virginia Tech, where the Tigers play on Nov. 9.
Elliott is not the only former Clemson player in the spotlight this week. ACC player of the year and current Tigers running back coach C.J. Spiller will have his name installed in Memorial Stadium’s ring of honor on Saturday. Spiller is a College Football Hall of Famer who holds the NCAA mark with seven kickoff return TDs. His 7,588 all-purpose yards remain the ACC record and are third in the NCAA.
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No. 10 Clemson looking for 6th straight win as Virginia and familiar face Tony Elliott pay a visit
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney celebrates after his team beat Florida State 29-13 in a NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Colin Hackley)
No. 10 Clemson looking for 6th straight win as Virginia and familiar face Tony Elliott pay a visit
Syria’s military says Israel wounded two civilians and damaged a military post a strike early Thursday in the coastal city of Latakia, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the Lebanese border.
Israel regularly targets military sites in Syria linked to Iran and to Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group and has escalated its campaign against Hezbollah in recent weeks, after a year of near-daily exchanges of cross-border fire.
Lebanon says more than 2,300 people have been killed in the past year and 77% of public schools are out of service, either due to their use as shelters or their location in areas directly affected by the war.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish combatants from civilians. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people.
Israel’s military says it has allowed 50 trucks of humanitarian aid into northern Gaza on Wednesday, after the United States warned it to boost aid efforts or risk losing weapons funding. The region has suffered heavy destruction and has been completely encircled by Israeli forces for nearly a year.
Here's the latest:
CAIRO -- Iran’s foreign minister has paid a rare visit to Egypt to discuss regional tensions linked to Israel’s war with Iran-allied groups in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
Abbas Araghchi met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi and other top officials on Thursday to discuss ways of de-escalating tensions, according to an Egyptian statement.
Egypt was the first Arab country to make peace with Israel and is a close U.S. ally. Araghchi visited Jordan, another close U.S. ally, on Wednesday.
Israel has vowed to respond to an Iranian ballistic missile attack earlier this month, raising fears of a regionwide war that could draw in the U.S. and its allies.
Egypt and Jordan have repeatedly called for a cease-fire in Gaza, and Egypt has been a key mediator between Israel and Hamas.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it has killed a local Hezbollah commander in a southern Lebanese town near the border.
The military said Thursday that an airstrike on Bint Jbeil killed Hussein Awada, who it said was in charge of firing projectiles into Israel from areas near the town.
Israeli strikes in recent weeks have killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and most of his senior commanders.
Also on Thursday, the Israeli military warned people to stay away from two buildings in the eastern villages of Saraaine and Tamnine, in the Bekaa Valley, where Israel has carried out scores of airstrikes over the past two weeks.
TEHRAN, Iran — The chief of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Israel on Thursday with more missile barrages if it strikes Iran.
“Do not repeat your mistake — if you misbehave, if you strike anything of ours either in the region or in Iran, we will again hit you painfully,” said Gen. Hossein Salami in a funeral ceremony for Iranian Guard commander Abbas Nilforoushan, who was killed alongside the head of the Hezbollah militant group in Beirut in September.
Salami said a missile barrage by Iran on Israel earlier in October in retaliation of killing Nasrallah and Nilforoushan was the “tiniest” action by Iran. He said an air defense battery deployed to Israel by the U.S. will not prevent Iranian retaliation.
“We do know about your weakness, and you know too,” said Salami.
Earlier this month, Iran launched some 180 missiles at Israel in retaliation for the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, killed in Iran in July, as well as Nilforoushan and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who were killed in Israel strikes on Beirut in September.
Iran is the main backer of Hezbollah and supports militant groups opposed to Israel across the region including Hamas.
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s military says Israel carried out a strike early Thursday in the coastal city of Latakia, wounding two civilians and damaging a military post.
The military statement that was carried by state media did not give further details.
Israel regularly targets military sites in Syria linked to Iran and to Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group. Those strikes have become more frequent after exchanges of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border began in October 2023, with Hezbollah attacking Israeli posts in support of the Palestinians and its ally, Hamas.
The exchanges intensified over the past three weeks, and on Oct. 1, Israel began a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Long-range American B-2 stealth bombers launched airstrikes early Thursday morning targeting underground bunkers used by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, officials said.
It wasn’t immediately clear what damage was done in the strikes.
However, there are no previous reports of the B-2 Spirit being used in the strikes targeting the Houthis, who have been attacking ships for months in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel reported airstrikes around Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, which the group has held since 2014. They also reported strikes around the Houthi stronghold of Saada. They offered no immediate information on damage or casualties.
United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement that the B-2 bombers targeted “five hardened underground weapons storage locations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.”
The strike also appeared to be an indirect warning to Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor, which has targeted Israel with ballistic missile attacks twice over the past year. The nuclear-capable B-2, which first saw action in 1999 in the Kosovo War, is rarely used by the U.S. military in combat as each aircraft is worth some $1 billion.
In this photo released by U.S. Air National Guard, a U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber takes off from a Royal Australian Air Force base in Amberley, Australia, Sept. 11, 2024. U.S. long-range B-2 stealth bombers launched airstrikes early Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, targeting underground bunkers used by Yemen's Houthi rebels, officials said. (Staff Sgt. Whitney Erhart/U.S. Air National Guard via AP)
Damage to a home struck by a rocket fired from Lebanon in the town of Majd al-Krum , northern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A member of Israeli security forces surveys damage to a home struck by a rocket fired from Lebanon in the town of Majd al-Krum, northern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli security forces survey damage to a home struck by a rocket fired from Lebanon in the town of Majd al-Krum, northern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
The cross atop of Our Lady of Hadath Church appears in front of Beirut's Dahiyeh suburb, background, that remains in darkness after Israeli airstrikes, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
