What Dabo Swinney said about Clemson’s home loss to SMU, Bryant Wesco injury
Clemson’s journey into unfamiliar territory under coach Dabo Swinney added another chapter Saturday with a 35-24 home loss to SMU.
The Tigers 3-4 (2-3 ACC) have now lost five straight home games against power conference teams dating back to October 2024 and are 1-3 at home this season.
Here’s what Swinney had to say about the game in his postgame press conference.
— Says he feels like he’s living the 2010 season all over again. “Just another disappointing day here at home. It hurts. There ain’t no quit in this bunch. We’re going to fight our butts off. It’s not been the season any of us wanted. We just can’t get out of our own way, but that’s football.”
— Swinney says WR Bryant Wesco Jr. (who landed on his head/neck area on a punt return) is hurt and he doesn’t have details, but describes it as “very serious.” Says he’s praying for Wesco and his family. “They took him to the hospital to check him out. It’s a very serious deal.”
— Swinney says OL Collin Sadler (who was carted off the field in an air cast in the fourth quarter) has a leg injury, but an initial X-ray came back negative on Sadler’s leg. “So that’s a positive. ... It’s not broken or any of that stuff.”
— On QB Christopher Vizzina: “I thought he got better and better as the game went on.” Says the offense didn’t help him outside of that. “We had zero run game, which was incredibly disappointing.” Also mentions bad sacks they gave up.
— “Cade (Klubnik) tried. He truly did everything he could to give himself a chance. He just couldn’t push off.” Will Klubnik be back in two weeks against Duke? “I hope so. He’s got a much better chance to be ready. I would expect that but I don’t know.”
— “We didn’t deserve to win the game. It’s a simple as that.”
— On the defense: “At the end of the day, we had four timeouts and it’s a five-point game. We just couldn’t get the ball back. ... We needed a stop, and we couldn’t get it.”
— What changes does Swinney feel like he needs to make to get the most out of this season? “We’ve just gotta get back to work.” Says all they can do is watch the film, evaluate and see what personnel changes, etc. need to be made going forward.
— On losing five straight home games to power conference teams dating back to last year: “Jarring. Yeah, jarring. But it is what it is.” Says there’s nothing to do but move on and try to win the next one — you can’t change those results, he says.
— On fans being disappointed: “We’ll be back. We’ll win more championships. We may not this year, but we’ll win more championships.” Says he understands fans’ anger. “I’m disappointed, too.” Says there’s no quit in him, and he’s confident something “good” will come out of this.
This story was originally published October 18, 2025 at 8:14 PM.
