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Associated Press

Clemson’s Brandon Maye, right, and DeAndre McDaniel, behind, tackle Boston College’s Jeff Smith (6) in the first quarter of the Tigers’ win Saturday in Boston. The Tigers had Florida State’s War Chant piped in through their loud speakers at Wednesday’s practice in hopes of being prepared for the crowd noise they’re sure to face this Saturday when they square off with the Seminoles.

CLEMSON — It was apparent from the sounds coming from the practice fields behind the Jervey Athletic Center on Wednesday night that the Clemson Tigers are expecting a loud and boisterous crowd at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla.

During different points of practice, Clemson interim coach Dabo Swinney had the Seminoles’ War Chant pumped through the loud speakers as he attempts to get the Tigers ready for what they will encounter from 24th-ranked Florida State’s sellout crowd Saturday.

“It’s one of those things we have to get ready for. It is a loud stadium down there, so we are trying to make sure we got the right operation with our timing, motions and cadence and things like that,” Swinney said.

The Tigers (4-4, 2-3 ACC), usually just pump in generic crowd noise to get ready for a road game, but Swinney wanted to change things up this week being that Doak Campbell Stadium is one of the loudest venues Clemson plays in outside of its own Memorial Stadium.

“I get tired of the static noise and the whistle and all that, so we piped in a little War Chant and Seminole music. It was good,” Swinney said.

Korn’s poppin'. Swinney said redshirt freshman quarterback Willy Korn looked his best in practice since he injured his throwing shoulder nearly three weeks ago against Georgia Tech.

“He looked good today,” the Clemson coach said. “He probably had his best day throwing the ball since he got hurt. He threw the ball with some pretty good zip. He did not throw the deep ball, but his short and intermediate passes were nice and crisp, so that was good to see.”

Swinney is expecting to play Korn at some point in Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. game, but he isn’t sure when. As for what the biggest difference is between Korn and starting quarterback Cullen Harper – Swinney narrowed it down to maturity and arm strength.

“Cullen just has a stronger arm right now,” he said. “Cullen has a big, big, big arm. Willy doesn’t have quite that type of arm, but he has a good enough arm to do everything that he needs to do. He is just a redshirt freshman too, and Cullen is a fifth-year senior, so there’s a difference with maturity.”

Swinney says Harper is his starter, but he hopes Korn can continue to create competition, especially if Harper continues making the same mistakes he made in the Boston College game when he threw three interceptions. All three were forced.

“Hopefully, he will perform like he is capable of the rest of the way. If not, we will throw the next guy in there,” Swinney said.

Stock on the rise. Clemson linebacker DeAndre McDaniel is slowly getting back in the good graces of the coaching staff after having such a poor start to the 2008 season. The strongside linebacker is getting back in that position thanks to his play on the field.

The sophomore recorded a season-high nine tackles against Boston College, including one that forced a fumble late in the game that led to Mark Buchholz’s second field goal of the afternoon. McDaniel started that game, and ended up playing 65 snaps, his second highest total of the season.

“He is a contact player, and he is in a position to where he can fly around and they have freed him up to where he can cut it loose,” Swinney said. “He is playing a lot more. I can see where you will see more plays coming from him. He is starting to get really comfortable. He is a safety by nature, by trade, but he has a linebacker’s mentality.”

Missed assignment. The blocked punt, which led directly to a Boston College touchdown last week, was due to a missed assignment. Swinney said two guys were trying to block the same guy. The left guard went the wrong way and turned the Eagles’ player loose where he went untouched up the gap.

Punting chores. Swinney says he doesn’t expect to name the starting punter until Friday night because the competition between freshman Dawson Zimmerman and senior Jimmy Maners is too close to decide at this point.

Maners punted all four times last week for the Tigers, recording a 34.5 yard average, including one downed inside the 20.