What Dabo Swinney said after Clemson’s loss to LSU to start new season
No. 4 Clemson opened the 2025 season with a tough 17-10 home loss to No. 9 LSU on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Here’s what Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said about the defeat.
>> “It was a heavyweight fight as far as a football game. It was just a couple plays they made. We had plenty of opportunities to win the game. ... It was two top 10 teams on the field tonight battling it out. It was tied in the fourth quarter.
“Give credit to LSU. They just made a couple more plays, and we made a couple more critical errors ... in games like this, that’s what it’s going to come down to.”
>> Swinney said he’s happy the Tigers play tough openers like LSU: “I wouldn’t change it. You could go play whoever and win by 42 and everybody feels good ... but there were some things that we got on exposed on tonight we’ll get better from.
“... I don’t think the moment was too big. ... They all sting. I hate to lose, period. I don’t regret playing games like this. I love playing games like this. I really do.. I think we’ll get better from it. Nothing has changed as far as our opportunity. There’s nothing off the table for this team.”
>> “I really believe this is going to be one heck of football team when it’s all said and done. I really do. It’s a long season ahead. We’ve got to be resilient and lock in and focus on what we can control.”
>> On the players: “They’re sick. This is not the outcome we worked for. We’ve got a lot to fix, a lot we can improve on.”
>> On QB Cade Klubnik’s performance vs. LSU: “Gotta be better. Just gotta better. He’d be the first one to tell you that.”
>> Swinney’s biggest frustration with the offense tonight? He replies immediately: “That we didn’t get the run game going.” He says there were a lot of missed opportunities early. Tigers ran 20 times for 31 yards — that’s 1.6 yards per carry, long of 7. “Plenty of opportunities, and we missed our opportunities. We didn’t run the ball effectively at all.”
>> “Regardless if we win or lose the game, we’ve got to go win next week. Nothing has changed. Now we’ve played a game, a hard-fought game. There are a lot of good things on tape and a lot we can learn from”.
>> “I really thought we did a lot of great things defensively. Just too many costly penalties. ... Those are plays that can haunt you.”
>> “(The offense) fought to the last play. I don’t think we handled their pressure very well. That’s nowhere near what we’re capable of offensively.”
>> Starting WR Antonio Williams (hamstring, per the ABC broadcast) and safety Khalil Barnes (unknown) both exited the game with injuries and couldn’t come back, Swinney said. He didn’t have an immediate status update for either player.
This story was originally published August 31, 2025 at 12:36 AM.
