The Clemson Tigers season has not been what their fan base, players, or head coach Dabo Swinney was hoping for at 4-4 now through nine weeks, and headed into Week 10, they're taking on the No. 12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish at home.
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Appearing on a radio show, Dabo Swinney had numerous comments about the team and matchup. Jon Blau of The Post and Courier reported multiple updates with Swinney's comments.
https://twitter.com/Jon_Blau/status/1719144182885794049
To start, Swinney named Notre Dame as the most complete team. Of course, Clemson played against No. 4 Florida State earlier this season.
As mentioned, the Tigers are 4-4 this season. Swinney attributes their lack of success to a lack of confidence. He said that a win over Florida State or in Week 1 against Duke would've changed the team's trajectory.
https://twitter.com/Jon_Blau/status/1719145482654531929
"You start pressing, you try to do too much, everybody's terrible, fire all the coaches, all this negative stuff," Swinney said.
Swinney also mentioned that all coaches have bad years now and then, citing Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban and former Fighting Irish head coach Knute Rockne, who passed away in March 1931.
https://twitter.com/Jon_Blau/status/1719146137091707104
"If you coach this game long enough, you're gonna have a year where it's kinda crazy ... I figure I got at least 15 left. We'll look on this down the road and we'll be like 'Yeah, that sucked," the Tigers head coach said.
To this point, Tigers quarterback Cade Klubnik has completed 63 percent of his passes for 1,929 yards, 13 touchdowns, five interceptions, and 13 turnover-worthy plays, per Pro Football Focus.
Now 4-4 with Klubnik's subpar play, he was asked about the prospect of playing backup Hunter Helms.
https://twitter.com/Jon_Blau/status/1719148186697105847
Again, Klubnik hasn't played poorly, and the Tigers are still two wins away from being bowl-eligible.
"Not that it couldn't happen ... but we haven't had a situation where we felt, hey, we need to sit this guy down," Swinney said regarding playing Helms over Klubnik.
Then, during the show, a caller came in with a red-hot question for the 53-year-old coach.
https://twitter.com/Jon_Blau/status/1719148880061685929
"Why are we paying you $11.5 million to make 4-4," the caller asked.
Swinney responded fiercely, saying, "You can have all your opinions you want. I don't know how old you are, don't care. We won 11 games last year and you're part of the problem."
On the subject of his salary, Swinney added, "I started at the lowest paid business in this frickin' business and I'm not gonna let some smart ass kid get on this phone and create this stuff."
https://twitter.com/Jon_Blau/status/1719149556854649104
https://twitter.com/Jon_Blau/status/1719150016470671607
After those feisty responses, Swinney, the Tigers head coach since 2009, settled in and calmed down.
He cited this season as a "reset."
"There's gonna be a lot more winning ... We might win another championship next year, it might be six years like the last decade .. but I guarantee you, it won't be 35 years."
https://twitter.com/Jon_Blau/status/1719154150745800785
He finished talking about the youth along the offensive line and mentioned a few freshman he liked on the squad in general, including Collin Sadler, Olsen Patt-Henry, and Jay Haynes.
https://twitter.com/Jon_Blau/status/1719156603063054397
