What Dabo Swinney said about Clemson’s bowl game loss, possibility of staff changes
Clemson finished 7-6 on the season with a 22-10 loss Saturday to Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium.
“The season is over,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “Now it’s about resetting. ... For us as a team, we’ll decompress on the season — we’ve already done a lot of that — and put our eyes on what’s next.”
Here’s what else Swinney had to say after the loss:
About the possibility of staff changes
“It’s really just more about the big picture of our issues from the season. I know what’s real and I know what’s not. I don’t read what everyone else writes. I know what’s real. I have a good perspective when it comes to things that are in our control and what we’ve got to do better.
“We’ve got great people. I love all the people on my staff, but you evaluate everything. That’s part of our business, and it’s a part of the end to a season. I don’t make emotional decisions, but first and foremost it starts with, what happened? Is it personnel, is it scheme, is it bad calls? There are a lot of things we’ve got to evaluate. I know we got seven wins, but we’re a lot closer than people think. ...
“I’ll evaluate everything. I’ll make good decisions based on what my perspective is. I’ll change what I need to change, stay the course on what I believe we need to stay the course on. It’s never as good as you think. It’s never as bad as you think.”
On the season and how it went
“Regardless of the result, I’m really proud of this football team. We did a poor job of winning close games this year. We just did. We had some close games, some opportunities to win games early and we didn’t get it done. We were a team that disappointed, lost confidence. You’re sitting there 3-5 and looking at a losing season and kind of a gauntlet ahead. Regardless of this result, I’m proud of this team’s fight, their heart, their will to get up and keep competing. ...
“Sometimes in life you can give it your very, very best, and you don’t get what you work for. But that’s part of life. You keep going. You stay in the fight. This season didn’t go the way we wanted, but it’ll turn. We’re closer than you think. ...
“I know everyone wants me to win football games, but for me, it’s how I win ... I want to glorify God, be a great husband and father and help young men through this great game. That’s my calling ... and that’s never gonna change.”
About the bowl game loss
— “Big picture of the game offensively is drops. We took a couple of sacks we shouldn’t have taken. For whatever reason we couldn’t hang onto the ball. Critical drops at critical times. That kills drives. ... The drops — I quit counting at seven. I know there were at least seven, maybe eight.”
— “It was 6-3 in the fourth quarter, and you’ve got every opportunity to go win the game. Defensively, just really poor. We played really good in the first 29 minutes of the game. Just poor critical awareness from some situational stuff. One minute to go and they’ve got no timeouts and we’re just giving up the outside throw. Just poor awareness of what we need to do in that situation and they get a field goal.”
— “On offense, I stopped counting the drops after seven.”
— “They had 269 yards in the second half. We didn’t deserve to win the game. The critical stops we didn’t get them. It’s 6-3, third and 9 and it’s a 73-yard touchdown. We’re like Keystone Cops out there, just banging into each other ... it’s hard to watch. ... That’s kind of been the story of our defense all year. We’ve just been really poor pass defense. We’ve been a pretty good third down defense, but we were horrendous today: 11 of 19, you’re not going to win many games.”
— “Really disappointed in the miscommunication on the opening punt. It’s just shouldn’t happen. I’ll take ownership of that. That’s not something we called.”
— On senior QB Cade Klubnik, after his final start in the Pinstripe Bowl: “He’s a warrior. He shows up and competes every day. And he’s gonna be a great pro. He’s just scratching the surface of what he’ll be, and I can’t wait to watch it.”
This story was originally published December 27, 2025 at 4:58 PM.
