Dabo Swinney gives harsh reality about Clemson’s future after CFP loss

CLEMSON, S.C. — The Clemson Tigers season ended following a first round road playoffs loss to Texas on Saturday, Dec. 21st. The no.12 Tigers loss 38-24 to the no. 5 Longhorns.

Despite the lopsided defeat, the Tigers had the best game of all the first round matchups. They found themselves in a 21-7 hole midway through the second quarter after scoring the game’s first touchdown and going up 7-0. The Tigers’ defense gave up 21 points in the second quarter and their offense just couldn’t get anything going in the first half.

Clemson’s offense got going in the second half and dug themselves out of 28-7 halftime deficit, and were within one score, 31-24, in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, the Tigers came up short and couldn’t find any points in the final quarter.

The Tigers won the ACC title and made it back to the college football playoffs for the first time since 2020, but head coach Dabo Swinney gave a harsh analysis about his time after the playoffs’ loss.

“We’ve got to improve everywhere if we want to get to the top … Good enough to get the playoff, good enough to win the league, not good enough to win it all,” said Swinney.

This is what Clemson fans and many college football fans has been saying about this program for the last few years. The Tigers have had many drop-offs on both sides of the ball in recent years with the recent changes to recruiting, NIL and the transfer portal. Also, losing respected coordinators like Brent Venables and Tony Elliot hasn’t helped their cause much either, but still this is Clemson. The Tigers once had a chokehold on not just the Atlantic Coast Conference, but the entire college football world.

Before Georgia’s Kirby Smart rose from the ashes, Swinney was the guy behind only legendary coach Nick Saban. The Tigers regularly landed in top-10 recruiting classes in the nation from 2015-21, but they have barely cracked the top-20 since then. The 2025 class is currently 26th overall, according to 247Sports. This will be lowest ranked class since 2010 if this stands.

Swinney still has time with the early signing period just passing in early December and big names still being available in the recruiting portal. No one knows how much will change from now until February, the official national signing day, but the Swinney have said on many occasions that he is sticking to his traditional roots. He prefers developing high school players and not selling his soul or putting his coaching morals in jeopardy to offer kids seven figure NIL deals to come play for him.

How long will he continue to stick with his old ways? Nobody knows, but Swinney’s message seem to be singing a different tune following Saturday’s loss. It is clear that he maybe leaning towards swallowing some of his pride to get his team better. College football have become a mirror to the NFL’s free agency period in the offseason. Today’s youth want to get paid, want to play early and resist tough coaching.

There is hope for Clemson though. Freshman wide receiver T.J. Moore easily had his best game of the season with nine receptions, 116 receiving yards and one touchdown. He did majority of his damage in the second half when the Tigers needed it most.

Freshman running back Jarvis Green also showed flashes of his playmaking ability as well. Cade Klubnik will more than likely return back for his senior season with young weapons that now have a season of college football and post season experience under their belt.