The Big Lead

Dabo Swinney, Clemson show us their true level after loss to South Carolina

By Sam Westmoreland

Nov 16, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney (right) reacts to side judge Rick Santilli on the sidelines against the Pittsburgh Panthers during the fourth quarter at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Nov 16, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney (right) reacts to side judge Rick Santilli on the sidelines against the Pittsburgh Panthers during the fourth quarter at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
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The Clemson Tigers lost to their rival, the South Carolina Gamecocks in their season finale on Saturday, in a 17-14 thriller that also perfectly summed up everything wrong with the Tigers' football program under head coach Dabo Swinney right now.

The Tigers were fine on offense, if unspectacular; quarterback Cade Clubnik threw for 282 yards, and rushed for another 62, including a pair of rushing touchdowns that gave Clemson their only points of the game. They hit on a couple of big plays, but for the most part, the offense could best be described as workmanlike.

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On the other side, though, the Gamecocks were powered by the dynamic playmaking of star quarterback LaNorris Sellers. The sophomore quarterback tormented the Tigers' defense all game, racking up 166 yards on 16 carries and scoring both of South Carolina's touchdowns on runs of 20 yards or more.

On the winning score, Sellers is flushed from the pocket on third-and-16, and winds his way around multiple Clemson defenders en route to a spectacular touchdown run. The Tigers had done a good job baking the Gamecocks up on the previous two plays, but in the end, they just didn't have the athletes to slow Sellers on the game-winning score.

A singular play that perfectly sums up Clemson football in 2024: good, but lacking the top-tier, gamebreaking athletes to compete at the highest level.

This has been a recurring theme at Clemson, essentially since Trevor Lawrence and company headed to the NFL. Swinney's recruiting has still been solid, but a combination of players not developing, and Swinney's stubborn refusal to engage with the transfer portal has seen their position at the top of the sport slip.

Make no mistake: the Tigers are still good. They'll finish the season 9-3, likely third in the ACC when the dust fully settles, and will likely find themselves still ranked in the top 20 when all is said and done. It's the kind of season many programs would kill for.

But it's far from the heights of Swinney's tenure, when the Tigers were the class of the ACC, and winning and contending for national titles virtually every season.

It's been five years since Clemson made the playoff field, and five years since they lost fewer than 2 games in a season. They've sat either 10th or 11th in recruiting rankings every season since 2021. Again, a perfectly fine place for a program to be, but is it what the Tigers want to be going forward? A good, but not great team who contends for the playoffs and maybe makes the field?

It's not game over for Swinney and the Tigers yet; they have a hardy system in place, and there is still talent on the roster, even if it's not the game-breaking playmakers of the Deshaun Watson-Trevor Lawrence glory days.

That talent can be bolstered if Dabo finally breaks down and uses all the tools in his toolbox, namely the transfer portal.

While transferring in a whole team doesn't have a high success rate; for every Indiana and Colorado success story, theres a UCF, Florida State, or Cal who continue to struggle; you can find success by looking to fill holes in your roster. Like, say, the glaring hole at wide receiver that the Tigers have had for two seasons running?

If Dabo doesn't want to change and embrace the new landscape of college football, that's fine. Maybe he'll figure it out and put it all together. Never mind that next season's recruiting class is looking to be the worst the Tigers have had in at least a decade, and if there was ever a time for Dabo to learn to change, now would be it.

If the Tigers are happy being an 8-10 win program, ranked in the top 20 and regularly (but not constantly) making the playoff, and seldom sniffing another title, then that's fine. Like I said, lots of teams would be thrilled by that kind of consistent good play.

But if they want more, either Dabo has to change, or Clemson has to make one. As things stand, we're seeing Clemson's new level; a good, but never great team.

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