Syracuse loss leaves Dabo stunned and emotional. What’s next for Clemson?
Clemson football had just dropped to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in the ACC. Syracuse was celebrating a 34-21 upset win over the Tigers in the visitors’ tunnel. Memorial Stadium was 45% full, at best. And Clemson coach Dabo Swinney was spent.
So spent that, as he locked arms and sang Clemson’s alma mater with the team, the ESPN2 broadcast captured Swinney visibly emotional, holding back tears.
The student section he faced was mostly empty.
It was a surreal scene — and one that spoke to just how unexpected and jarring Clemson’s start to the 2025 season has been to everyone, including its head coach.
In four weeks, the Tigers have gone from the country’s preseason No. 4 team to completely eliminated from College Football Playoff at-large consideration, and all but eliminated from ACC championship game contention.
The offense, despite returning a star quarterback and its best wide receiver trio in years, cannot find a rhythm. The defense, despite new leadership and three starters as projected first-round NFL Draft picks, is still getting gashed.
And Swinney is just as stunned as you are.
“It’s incredibly frustrating,” he said postgame. “We just cannot seem to get on the same page and play complementary football. … We kind of work against each other.”
Swinney, 55, is someone who’s rarely at a loss for words. Just four days earlier, he went on a passionate rant defending his record and the state of Clemson’s program, calling out portions of the fan base for not being “all in” and reminding people he could “go coach somewhere else.” He spoke that day for almost 15 minutes straight.
But he didn’t have the same fire Saturday. There wasn’t much to defend.
A somber Dabo postgame press conference
Instead, Swinney framed Clemson as a locker room that is “beaten up emotionally and physically” after hearing all offseason how great they were going to be, embracing those expectations themselves and then doing the exact opposite.
As for Swinney’s own postgame emotion?
“I mean, I’m human,” he said. “I’m not a cyborg. This is my life, man. I’ve been here 23 years. I love this place. … There’s never been a day that I haven’t given Clemson every ounce of everything I have. I’ve invested my life here. And when I don’t get the job done, I feel the pain. It’s not just my pain. It’s everybody’s pain.”
With every loss, it’s becoming harder and harder to square how a Clemson team that brought back so many talented players — and has invested so much money in its coaching staff and its roster — has fallen so flat on its face to start the 2025 season.
As a refresher: After going 10-4, winning the ACC championship and returning to the College Football Playoff in 2024, Clemson brought back every starter with remaining eligibility, added a new defensive coordinator and was active in the transfer portal.
The Tigers’ firepower included quarterback Cade Klubnik, who many were projecting as a Heisman Trophy favorite and the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft after a career-best season. An elite wide receiver trio of Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco Jr. and T.J. Moore. Three projected NFL first-round draft picks on defense (DT Peter Woods, DE T.J. Parker and CB Avieon Terrell). A transfer star edge rusher that the Tigers landed over big-time SEC suitors (Purdue’s Will Heldt).
Clemson players earned 11 of the 27 spots on the preseason All-ACC team (40%).
And that’s not to mention a star-studded coaching staff featuring Swinney (a two-time national champion coach who is making $11.25 million this year), offensive coordinator Garrett Riley ($1.75 million) and new DC Tom Allen ($1.9 million).
Through four games, a Clemson team that dozens picked as their preseason national champion hasn’t played a full four quarters of complementary football — not once.
It has squandered a halftime lead to LSU and a fourth-quarter lead to Georgia Tech. It needed one of the biggest comebacks in program history (16 points) to beat Troy, a Sun Belt team. And it got blitzed from the jump by coach Fran Brown and Syracuse.
So much for playing like a “desperate team” as Swinney had hoped for.
Can the 2025 season be saved? Or fixed?
The Tigers, who entered Saturday’s game as a 17.5-point betting favorite, trailed by many as 20 points; allowed Syracuse’s offense to rack up 264 total yards and four scores on its first four possessions; only scored on one of its eight second-half offensive possessions; and, once again, had critical mistakes and questionable game management in key moments, including right before halftime.
It’s an indictment on players and coaches. Because of it, Clemson is a 1-3 team that has lost four straight games to power conference teams and six of its last nine.
That’s not a national or league title contender. That’s a team that needs to find a way to rally and win five of its last eight games in order to even reach bowl eligibility. One of those games (home vs. FCS Furman) is a cupcake and an easy win.
Past that, who knows?
Clemson’s poor start is sounding a number of alarm bells, too.
Former players are publicly questioning the team’s toughness. Swinney hinted earlier this week Clemson hasn’t been doing the little things that “winning requires,” such as keeping the locker room clean and making sure everyone shows up to treatment on time. Since it’s now played four games, Clemson is at a point where players could decide to opt out, redshirt and/or declare intent to transfer.
That’s all accentuated by the fact Clemson fans are paying more than ever for season tickets, IPTAY booster club memberships, parking and other amenities — and the university is paying more than ever for both coach and player salaries.
It’s an uncomfortable and unideal position, and one Swinney and multiple Clemson players pledged to fix on Saturday. There’s plenty of talent on the roster and meat left on the bone for the Tigers to say, finish 8-4 or even win out their remaining schedule and finish 9-3. But little on the field has shown Clemson’s ready to do that.
Moving forward, Swinney said the one silver lining of Saturday’s loss to Syracuse is that he watched his team fight to the last player even thought they were down two scores the entire second half.
“I do hope that y’all noticed that ... and there’s a lot to be said for that,” he said. “They love Clemson, and they love each other. And that’s what will get us through this.”
Next Clemson football game
Who: Clemson (1-3, 0-2 ACC) at UNC (2-2, 0-0 ACC)
When: Saturday, Oct. 4 (time TBA)
Where: Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, NC
Channel: TBA
This story was originally published September 21, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
