Dabo Swinney adamant Clemson 'has never been better'

Dabo Swinney doesn't think there's anything to worry about regarding his Clemson Tigers football program.

Sure, Kirby Smart and Georgia has seemingly overtaken Alabama and Nick Saban on college football's throne, and Lincoln Riley seems to be building a juggernaut at USC. That's not even to mention Jim Harbaugh finally building a championship contender at Michigan and Ohio State always being a constant.

In fact, Clemson hasn't been in the College Football Playoff for three seasons now, and the Tigers' 2016 and 2018 championships seem further and further away.

That doesn't bother Swinney, though.

"People, they need stories and it's a story if Clemson went to six playoffs in a row and then didn't make it. What's wrong with them?" Swinney explained, per ESPN's Andrea Adelson. "There's nothing wrong with Clemson. There's nothing wrong with our program. In fact, I would argue, honestly, our program has never been better."

To Swinney's point, it is telling that "bad seasons" at Clemson are still great by most program's standards.

Clemson did win 11 games last season as well as the ACC championship, but the Tigers also lost to Notre Dame, South Carolina and then No. 6 Tennessee in the Orange Bowl. The Tigers were 10-3 in 2021 and 10-2 in 2020. They made the College Football Playoff in 2019 but lost to the championship game to Joe Burrow and his perfect LSU team.

That's still a tremendous run by all accounts. Even last season, there is no shame in losing to the Fighting Irish as well as two of the hottest programs in the SEC at the time.

Swinney also feels his team has the pieces to compete for championships again moving forward.

Quarterback Cade Klubnik is a former 5-star and No. 1 quarterback recruit in his class, per the 247Sports composite, and showed flashes of potential as a freshman. Swinney also hired Lincoln Riley's brother, Garrett Riley, to be his new offensive coordinator moving forward. The younger Riley brother helped lead TCU to the national championship game last season and was a key reason Horned Frogs quarterback Max Duggan was a Heisman Trophy finalist. 

Clemson is also returning running back Will Shipley, who ran for 1,182 yards and 15 touchdowns last season.

"This is a team that will have a chance, and that's all you can ask for," Swinney said. "If you've got a chance and you have the right work ethic and the right spirit to you, then you can live with the result that comes with it. I don't judge our teams by championships. I've never done that. That's a miserable way to go about your life. For me, it's more about who are they? What's the commitment? What's the chemistry? What's our leadership? I loved last year's team. We won the league. We got better, but we didn't quite get where we wanted to go. We've worked hard, and I do think this team this year will have shot."