Clemson football head coach Dabo Swinney entered Frank Howard Field at Memorial Stadium pointing upward. He walked in convinced his Tigers can rebound, especially after Swinney's epic rant before facing Syracuse.
Now many fans have become the opposite of Swinney's pregame entrance: Pointing the index finger down. Because that's the direction Clemson is going in after hitting a new low Saturday.
Swinney's Tigers took a 34-21 loss at the hands of the Orange. It now marks the first-time ever a Swinney-led team started 1-3 overall.
Clemson got roasted during the game — with the criticism and calls to get fired growing in Death Valley.
Performances getting ‘worse' for Dabo Swinney, Clemson
National media ragged on Swinney and the Tigers, starting with Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated.
“Dabo now 1-3, and every performance has been arguably worse than the previous one,” Forde posted on the social media site X, formerly Twitter.
ESPN college football senior writer Dan Wetzel called out the “intensity” on the side of Clemson.
“Clemson couldn’t match the passion and intensity of Syracuse today. I don’t recall that ever being the case with a Dabo Swinney team,” Wetzel posted. “Tigers headed to 1-3 (losers of five of last seven). Press conference will be interesting.”
Fellow ESPN colleague Bob Wischusen, who called the game, even asked a burning question.
Even past Swinney nemesis Nick Saban critiqued the state of Clemson. The legendary college football coach said on ESPN College GameDay “Dabo needs to look at what he needs to do in his program to be continually successful…the game has changed — you need to change with it.”
