Clemson’s Dabo Swinney said he felt a “pain that’s hard to describe” following his team’s 34-21 home loss to Syracuse on Saturday that dropped the Tigers to 1-3, his worst start as the team’s head coach.
“This is a bad, bad feeling. Terrible,” Swinney said. “This is what we do. This is our passion. We work incredibly hard to get results that we want to get, and when we don’t get them, it’s a pain that’s hard to describe. But it comes with the territory. So we got to flush it. That’s all we can do. There’s no hope for a better yesterday.”
Clemson closed as a 17.5-point favorite at ESPN BET but suffered its largest home loss against an unranked opponent since 2001, when the Tigers fell by 35 to North Carolina.
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With losses to LSU, Georgia Tech and now Syracuse, Clemson has dropped three of its first four games for the first time under Swinney. It’s also the first time the program has started 1-3 since 2004.
Swinney conceded that he was emotional on the field after the game during the school’s alma mater.
“Disappointed, painful, hurt,” he said. “I’m human. I’m not a cyborg. This is my life. I’ve been here 23 years. I love this place. I give this place the best I’ve got every single day.
“I’ve invested my life here, and when I don’t get the job done, I’m responsible. I feel the pain. Not just my pain; I feel everybody’s pain. That comes with my job, and I don’t run from that.”
Clemson fell to 1-3 after Saturday’s loss to Syracuse, marking Dabo Swinney’s worst start as the Tigers’ head coach. Ken Ruinard/Greenville News-USA Today Network via Imagn Images
Clemson finished with 503 yards, its most in a loss since 2016.
It’s a stunning start for Clemson, which returned the most production in the FBS (80%) this season. Quarterback Cade Klubnik has his top three receivers back from last year’s ACC championship team, and the defense was expected to be one of best fronts in the country.
“We just can’t seem to put it all together when we need it,” Swinney said.
The Tigers have a bye week before traveling to North Carolina on Oct. 4. Swinney said it comes at a good time because the team is “beat up emotionally and physically.”
“There’s no quit in me, and I didn’t see any quit in our team or our staff,” he said. “We’ll get back to work. We have to reset our goals and what we still can do. We can’t sit around and dwell on missed opportunities.
“It’s basically an eight-game season for us at this point. We’ve just got to fight our tails off to find a way to win a game, create some momentum.”