Dabo Swinney and Clemson football Are The Most Confusing Team in CFB

Clemson football and Dabo Swinney are the weirdest team in CFB, and it’s not a contest. 

Dabo Swinney has definitely had an interesting season so far with the Clemson Tigers. The Tigers lost by 21 to Duke to start the year, lost to #4 Florida State by one possession, lost to Miami in double overtime, and beat top 15 Notre Dame last Saturday. That sounds more like a North Carolina or Louisville stat than a Clemson football stat, but after all that madness the Tigers still sit at 5-4.

Dabo has slid off the rails in the last couple of weeks, and that is putting it nicely. After falling to NC State 2 weeks ago and falling to 4-4 Dabo received a call from “Tyler from Spartanville” on his radio show and went on a 6-minute rant on the caller.

Did Tyler deserve a 6-minute rant from the championship head coach? No, no he did not.

Dabo offered Tyler to apply for the Tigers head coaching job and several baffling quotes, my favorite one has to be this one:

"“I’m not gonna sit here and let you, I don’t care how much money I make. You’re not gonna talk to me like I’m 12-years old..”"

Dabo said exactly what an angry head coach who just fell to 4-4 would say. Swinney seemed to be off the rails, and it was even in question if the Tigers would even go to a bowl game after these back-to-back losses and wild radio call.

Take a look at the wild rant here:

Clearly, something is wrong with the Tigers this season, and the few previous seasons have been a slow downward trajectory. His critics say he needs to use the transfer portal more often and let his coordinators take more control.

The Tigers are used to having great playmakers at wide receiver, and they just have not had that in the past few seasons. Players like Tee Higgins, Hunter Renfrow, and Mike Williams, are famous for how electric they were with Clemson football, and even proved it in the NFL. Dabo has not had that type of player in the past few seasons. It is not for a lack of talent either. The Tigers always have a great recruiting class, but Dabo has to use the recruiting and transfer portal together if he wants to evolve with college football.

Dabo also has to let his coordinators call the plays and have more of a say in what they run. Garrett Riley didn’t all of a sudden be bad at calling an offense. Dabo needs to let go of his reign over the offense and let Riley take more control. I don’t think it was pure luck that TCU went to the national championship last year. Riley left in the offseason and look at them now, TCU might not even make a bowl game.

Dabo has to evolve with college football or be left behind. Or at least that is what I thought until last Saturday.

The Tigers defeated previously ranked #12 Notre Dame 31-23, and Dabo and Clemson football did everything the old-school way and won.

Notre Dame outgained them in the rushing and passing game, only had a -1 turnover margin, and still lost by 8 points. Tigers QB Cade Klubnik went 13/26 for 109 yards, 1 TD, and 1 interception. That is a bad QB line, but since Clemson football ran the ball 43 times it worked out for the Tigers. The Tigers had 43 carries for 176 yards, which isn’t even good in retrospect, but since they shut down the Irish’s offense in the 1st half, they didn’t need a lot of good offense.

This Notre Dame win was a fluke in my opinion, and if Dabo wants to get back to the CFB Playoff he needs to start looking at himself in the mirror. That all starts with the transfer portal and in-game coaching with his coordinators.

Personally, I think “Tyler from Spartanville” lit a fire under Dabo and that is why the Tigers bullied Notre Dame this weekend. Just look at this stat below:

Clemson’s overall record before the radio call with “Tyler From Spartanville” is as follows:

Clemson at Duke: 28 – 7 Loss

Clemson vs Charleston Southern: Win, 66-17

Clemson vs FAU: Win, 48-14

Clemson vs #4 Florida State:  Loss, 31-24

Clemson at Syracuse: Win, 31-14

Clemson vs Wake Forest: Win, 17-12

Clemson at Miami: Loss, 28-20

Clemson at NC State: Loss 24-17

4-4 Overall record, 2-4 ACC record.

Clemson’s overall after the radio call with “Tyler from Spartanville”

Clemson vs #15 Notre Dame: Win, 31-23

Dabo and the Tigers are still the oddest team in CFB

Dabo and the Tigers will still be the weirdest team in college football for this week, and they will likely lay an egg against Georgia Tech this upcoming Saturday.

That just seems to be the logical thing for Dabo and Clemson to do next in the 2023 college football season.