Clemson Tigers Head Coach Owns Disappointing Start Following Top 25 Exit

In just three weeks of college football, the Clemson Tigers have seen their ranking go from No. 4 to unranked, but head coach Dabo Swinney isn’t letting a preseason number get to his head. 

The Clemson head coach spoke about the team continuing to fall short to begin the year, which a 24-21 loss to Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia, was the most recent icing on the cake. Swinney still believes in his team, but knows that the Tigers have not been playing their best football. 

“We are not where we expected to be, and we have got to own that,” Swinney said. “I have got to own that, but, again, it’s not all bad either. Ultimately, results are what count; we all know that, but we’ve got a long season ahead. There are a lot of good things, and give the opponent credit.”

Clemson does have to give credit to both of its opponents that it lost to, LSU and Georgia Tech, but it still needs to find that important win. LSU and the Yellow Jackets are ranked No. 3 and No. 18, respectively, but the Tigers have been unable to grab wins against top-25 opponents over the last several years.  

With that No. 4 ranking haunting the team from the beginning of the season, Swinney says that its opponents were the better teams when the clock struck zeroes. 

“We have not performed to our capabilities,” he said. “Again, how about let’s give LSU some credit? How about you give Georgia Tech some credit? We’re not entitled to win just because people predict us to be great and have high expectations. Everybody’s got good coaches and good players, so there’s nothing to square up.

Preseason expectation is just that. It doesn't matter,” he said. “It’s just like they say, you stink in the preseason, it’s all about what you do.”

The good news for Clemson is that the team still has a chance to make the postseason, barely. The Tigers will need to win out in ACC play and potentially use a win at South Carolina to help the team with an at-large bid. However, the at-large seems highly unlikely for a two-loss ACC team, so going and winning in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the end of the season will be the team’s best goal. 

This is what happened to Clemson last season. The team took a loss to a team that kicked the Tigers in the teeth. Although the team only had one loss in ACC play, it needed help in the last week to secure a berth in the ACC Championship. 

As the famous quote goes, and the rest is history. But once again, Clemson will need help, and win out, if it wants to get back to the postseason. 

“There’s no room for error,” Swinney said. We are uphill and the wind is at our face, that’s for sure. We've got to do it the hard way if we’re going to do it. We ain’t going to do it the easy way, but we’re not out of it. . . as long as we stay together and as long as we keep competing, anything can happen.”

For now, it’s about focusing on next week, when the Tigers will face Syracuse at home to bounce back. In the locker room, Swinney will make sure the outside noise stays away from the team due to the high standards that the team has each season. 

The Clemson head coach knows his fanbase and knows what needs to be done. 

I know the world we live in,” Swinney said. “I know the world that we’ve created at Clemson with high expectations and excellence. I don’t have my head in the sand there, and I know that there’s a ton of negativity and all that stuff that comes with it. We can’t do anything about that. We just got to stay together and go play and see if we can win a game.” 

The time between this weekend and Monday will be a lot for this team, seeing a 1-2 record after predictions of national championships were made throughout July and August. Now, it’s all about practice on Monday to get out of the hole. 

“We all have some soul searching to do between now and Monday, and get back to work.