Clemson gets focus back on Fighting Irish

Clemson has begun preparations for its College Football Playoff semifinal against Notre Dame at the Cotton Bowl.

The Tigers (13-0, CFP No. 2) had taken a week-and-a-half break — aside from several All-Americans crisscrossing the country for various college football awards — since winning the Atlantic Coast Conference title with a 4210 victory over Pitt. But to the sounds of “Santa Claus is Coming To Town,” Clemson reconvened Wednesday at its indoor training facility to start getting ready for the Fighting Irish (12-0, CFP No. 3) on Dec. 29.

No. 1 Alabama (13-0, CFP No. 1) takes on No. 4 Oklahoma (12-1, CFP No. 4) in the other semifinal at the Orange Bowl.

The Cotton and Orange winners advance to the national title game in Santa Clara, California, on Jan. 7.

“The energy was really good,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “The guys were eager to get out there and get going.”

Despite Clemson’s power-packed offense and defense (the Tigers are fifth nationally in overall offense and fourth in the country on defense), the Tigers honed in on the details of what it will take to advance to their third national title game in four seasons .

JETS, GIANTS ENDZONE CHANGE

The Jets and Giants won’t be found in the end zones at MetLife Stadium this weekend.

The teams announced Wednesday that because of the timing of their games and a forecast for rain, the stadium will feature neutral end zones with nine diagonal slash marks on the green turf rather than the traditional Jets and Giants names in team colors for the home team.

The Jets host Houston on Saturday at 4:30 p.m., and the Giants take on Tennessee at 1 p.m. Sunday. The stadium operations team will have 12 hours to complete a building changeover.

This will mark the second time neutral end zones will be used at MetLife Stadium since it opened in 2010. The first time was on Dec. 17-18, 2016, when the Jets hosted Miami for a Saturday night game and the Giants played Detroit the next day.