Dabo fires back at NC State coach: ‘The investigation needs to be on his side and not ours’

N.C. State coach Dave Doeren asked for an investigation into why Clemson had a laptop on its sideline Saturday in Raleigh.

Tigers coach Dabo Swinney responded to Doeren’s remarks during his Tuesday press conference and said he did some investigating himself.

“I did investigate. I did. I followed instructions to do some investigation, and I did. It turns out there was just a major crisis going on. There was a young guy trying to help a team in need, and I think, trying to be helpful in the situation, they were trying to get in touch with Amazon,” Swinney joked. “We had a crisis. We were in dire need of towels, alright. We were trying to get one of them drones to come in and drop some towels on the sideline and it just didn’t work out.”

Swinney was referencing Wolfpack defensive end Bradley Chubb’s tactic of stealing Tigers quarterback Kelly Bryant’s towels throughout Clemson’s 38-31 win.

“We need some towels and at least 15 bucks,” Swinney added later. “I want to launch an investigation, too. What do they do with those towels? Is it a towel wall of fame?”

Swinney then turned serious, stating that he did not like the integrity of Clemson’s program being questioned.

Doeren was asked about the officiating in his postgame press conference and responded, “I wish it was a lot better… And I’d like to know why there was a laptop on Clemson’s sideline that people were looking at too. I’d like that to be investigated.”

Clemson said after the game that the laptop was for its social media team. The ACC was satisfied with the explanation it got and cleared the Tigers of any wrongdoing.

“It’s disappointing, because that was kind of a challenge to our integrity,” Swinney said.

Swinney also referenced his unhappiness with some sideline behavior from N.C. State’s coaching staff over the past few years.

Two years ago when Clemson played in Raleigh a Wolfpack staff member shoved Deshaun Watson on N.C. State’s sideline.

Clemson safety K’Von Wallace was pushed out of bounds after his game-sealing interception at the end of Saturday’s game, and someone on the N.C. State sideline tried to swipe the ball out of his hands after the play as Wallace was celebrating the win.

“What if he breaks a finger?” Swinney said. “I think the investigation needs to be managing his (Doeren’s) sideline and not worrying about ours.”

This story was originally published November 7, 2017 at 12:20 PM with the headline "Dabo fires back at NC State coach: ‘The investigation needs to be on his side and not ours’."