Dabo Swinney: In series of 10 games, “We’d Win 5, They’d Win 5”
By Peter Smith
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has been on a damage control since their lopsided loss to Florida State. First, he was talking about what fans had to look forward to the rest of this season, which is quite a bit. As frustrated as the overwhelming loss to Florida State is, Swinney is taking them places they have never really gone before; certainly not under Tommy Bowden. They lost a big game, but they also beat Georgia and had kept every game since then out of reach of opponents.
Swinney then was put in the awkward position of making the argument that the 51-14 score was not indicative of the gap between the two programs, not only for critics but also for his players and future recruits. He is probably right as when games get lopsided, they can get out of hand quickly. However, Swinney trying to make the argument that in a series of 10 games, they would each win 5 feels like a stretch. For all the talent the Clemson Tigers have, which is a good amount, the Seminoles just seemed to have every bit of it and then some.
The two big advantages that should have worked in the favor of the Tigers including Tajh Boyd’s experience and home field advantage proved utterly worthless last Saturday night. Boyd looked like a redshirt freshman while Jameis Winston looked like the senior quarterback making one big push for a championship. They were simply outgunned by a loaded Florida State team. Could Clemson beat Florida State? Absolutely. 5 out of 10? Swinney tried to make that argument, but it is an extremely tough sell to anyone but the most die-hard Tiger fans and should have probably just left it alone and moved on to Maryland. Swinney is doing a lot of good things with the Clemson program and could take them a very long way, but he just needs to worry about finishing the season strong and letting the play on the field do his recruiting for him as opposed to trying to argue it at the podium. Coming back and beating the Seminoles next year would not hurt them either.