Briningstool: 'We're Not the Underdog'

Don’t tell Jake Briningstool that No. 14 Clemson is a significant underdog heading into its week one matchup against top-ranked Georgia in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Just under two weeks ahead of opening the season against the Dawgs, the Tigers are 13.5 point underdogs, according to FanDuel . Although, according to Briningstool, it’s business as usual, with Clemson preparing for a faceless opponent.

“I don’t think the fact that it’s the number one team puts anymore pressure on us or makes us focus even more,” Briningstool said on Monday. “I just think we got to focus on us and focus on Clemson and let’s go out there and do it.”

With fall camp having wrapped up last week, the Tigers have now fully turned their attention towards Georgia for what will be one of the most anticipated week one matchups of the 2024 season.

“Anytime you transition out of camp and into the first game it is kind of nice to start looking at a different team, different players,” Briningstool said. “Camp is really competitive with each other. We’re pretty much doing a lot of good-on-good.”

Now that the attention has turned towards the Bulldogs, who have won two national titles in the past three years, Briningstool insists that it’s imperative Clemson keep the focus inward and trying to go out and execute what they do best.

“A lot of competitive work with the same guys we’ve got here,” he said. “We say iron sharpens iron all the time. I think that’s been the biggest thing throughout camp and now shifting our focus towards game one, I think the biggest thing is we play Clemson every week. We just got to find a way to execute and do what we do really well. Just go out there and do what we do.”

Georgia and Clemson last met in 2021 in Charlotte, with the Dawgs winning 10-3. It was a defensive slugfest that was decided by a pick-six. It’s a series that Georgia has owned historically, with the Bulldogs holding a 43-18-4 advantage all-time.

However, despite the Tigers looking for their first win in the series since 2013 and their first win against Georgia away from home since 1986, don’t tell Briningstool that Clemson is an underdog. He’s not buying into that mentality and neither is the rest of the team.

“We’re not the underdog,” Briningstool said. “We’re just laying low right now. We’ll be ready.”

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