CLEMSON, S.C. — In the aftermath of Clemson’s double-overtime loss at N.C. State, Dabo Swinney took questions at his Tuesday news conference with a backdrop that he hasn’t dealt with in a while.
The 19th-ranked Tigers have lost two games before October for the first time in seven years and they have slid outside the top 10 of the national rankings for the first time since 2015. Clemson was ranked ninth when it took the field in Raleigh and when the last pass fell incomplete, the fans at Carter-Finley Stadium stormed the field at Carter-Finley Stadium.
“That’s what it means to beat Clemson. That’s what’s been built here because we’ve always responded,” Swinney said.
“This is the same thing. This is an opportunity for us to re-instill some things, grow some young people up and teach. Sometimes there are lessons that, when you lose, you can’t teach when you win. This is a unique opportunity for us as leaders to respond.”
Swinney noted that in spite of the ugly performance by the offense in three of the four games, the Tigers were a handful of plays away from still having its playoff hopes intact.
“Nobody wants to hear it, but the reality is we are two or three less mistakes from being 4-0. We wouldn’t be that much better of a team, but y’all would be asking me different questions,” Swinney said.
“We lost to Georgia on a pick-six. We went on the road and lost in double overtime and, man, stunk in up in so many ways but still had a chance to win the game. It ain’t that far from the outhouse to the penthouse, and it ain’t that far from the penthouse to the outhouse.”