Dabo Swinney has frequently reminded his supporters that it is more difficult to stay at the top of the college football world than it is to get to the top of the college football world.
Turns out Swinney — who has guided Clemson to six trips to the College Football Playoff and won two national titles — might be on to something.
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No. 9 Clemson lost to Duke 28-7 in stunning fashion Monday night, a bizarre game that ended with fans at Wallace Wade Stadium storming the field after the Blue Devils registered their first win against an AP top-10 opponent in 34 years.
Swinney and his Tigers entered the night as double-digit favorites. They’ll head back to Clemson with plenty of questions. Chief among them: Is this … it? Was this the night Clemson’s run as a national power officially ended? Must we recalibrate our expectations for this program?
Clemson has lost:
– Three of its last four games
– Four of its last seven
– And three of those losses were by three scores.— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) September 5, 2023
Sure, the Tigers took several steps back in 2021 and 2022 once star quarterback Trevor Lawrence left for the NFL, along with a dominant group of receivers and the most prolific running back in ACC history, Travis Etienne. Recreating the magic of the 2018 team that went 15-0 and skunked Alabama in the national championship game during Lawrence’s freshman year was always going to be difficult. But this was still a program with national championship — or at least College Football Playoff — DNA.
And Swinney, known for his loyalty, made quite the statement this offseason when he did the unthinkable and fired offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter, a Clemson alum who had been on staff since the 2015 season, and hired Garrett Riley away from TCU.
Now, what evidence do we have that things will be better? Not much after Monday night’s debacle.
At first glance, Clemson’s final offensive numbers don’t look bad. The Tigers topped 200 yards rushing and passing — something they accomplished only once last season in ACC play. But they averaged only 5.1 yards per snap (compared to the 5.6 they averaged last season under Streeter and former quarterback DJ Uiagalelei).
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Oh, and they scored only seven points.
Riley, the 33-year-old guru, has made a name for himself thanks to his ability to routinely scheme players open. He took a group of under-recruited prospects at TCU and turned them into a College Football Playoff team in 2022. He won the Broyles Award, given to the top assistant coach in college football, for his wizardry.
And yet Clemson — which boasts a roster with 56 former blue-chip recruits, including a five-star quarterback in Cade Klubnik — couldn’t do much of anything offensively Monday night. Klubnik’s decision-making was concerning — too often throwing into coverage on a night when he looked overwhelmed. The offensive line again struggled. The Tigers’ expected go-up-and-get-it wide receivers — junior Beaux Collins and sophomore Adam Randall — were all but invisible. Collins, who had one catch for 9 yards at halftime, finished with five for 50. Randall had one catch on two targets for 8 yards.
And the miscues. Oof. Where to start?
Clemson made four trips to the red zone and came away with just seven points. Twice, the Tigers fumbled inside the 10-yard line: once on first-and-goal from the Duke 7 midway through the third quarter and again on first-and-goal from the Duke 1 to open the fourth.
Kicker Robert Gunn III had two field goals blocked — one from 41 yards and another chip shot from 23 yards — the result of low kicks. And the defense missed too many tackles, including a critical error from linebacker Barrett Carter that Duke quarterback Riley Leonard turned into a 44-yard rushing touchdown on third down.
🤷 MAMA THERE GOES THAT MAN❕@Rileyleonard13_ pic.twitter.com/0XI9chHf07
— Duke Football (@DukeFOOTBALL) September 5, 2023
“In all my years of football, I’ve never been a part of a game like that. Ever,” Swinney said. “I’ve been beat. I’ve had my butt kicked. … That’s one of the strangest games I’ve ever been a part of.”
In Swinney’s defense, it is still Week 1. And while the 53-year-old has been a lightning rod for fans of college football, he has always had a unique way of rallying his players.
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The Tigers likely will no longer be favored to beat Florida State at home on Sept. 23 after the Seminoles put on a clinic against LSU on Sunday night. And when asked if he still sees a path forward to the Playoff, Swinney said the only thing he is concerned about is beating Charleston Southern on Saturday at Death Valley.
But he also acknowledged his fans and their disappointment.
“I hope they’ll hang in there with us,” he said. “We’ve got to stay together.”
As Clemson returns home after a late night in Durham, it stands to reason that Swinney will be under more scrutiny than at any other point in his career — save for the 2010 season when he went 6-7 in his second full season as head coach. Among the most glaring issues is the lack of big-play potential from the offense. The wide receivers, once a strength of the program, lack speed and the ability to get open. This has to concern Swinney, a former wide receiver himself. And his refusal to use the transfer portal to bolster his roster will continue to be debated.
Perhaps Clemson will prove us wrong and win out the rest of the way. Swinney probably has a Hall of Fame resume, regardless.
But at least for now, the Tigers no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt, and it is fair to question their status among the sport’s elite. They’ve slipped too much in recent years, with Monday serving as a jarring exclamation point.
“It’s a gut-wrenching thing, man. It really is,” Swinney said. “You work so hard. … I love this team. I love this staff. I know a lot of people are probably gonna quit on us and give up on us and throw us away. But man — I ain’t quitting.”
(Photo of Dabo Swinney: Ken Ruinard / USA Today)