The Clemson Tigers and head coach Dabo Swinney have just a 2-2 record to start the 2023 college football season after establishing themselves as one of the top programs in college football for much of the previous decade. And it sounds like college football expert Paul Finebaum thinks the glory days are over for Swinney and his Tigers.
During an appearance on ESPN this week, Paul Finebaum made it clear that he thinks that Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers are on a downward trend and that their best days are behind them.
“It feels like, you know, I hate to just be too melodramatic after a game that was really fantastic. And it came, I mean, it came down to a kick. So, Dabo Swinney had his team prepared. They really had — I thought it was a really good game. But it just, you can’t ignore it, you know. Two conference losses in September. I mean, I remember three seasons would go by without a conference loss for them. But you also have to remember: the Florida State before us today is not the Florida State that Clemson and the rest of the ACC was facing five or six years ago. They’ve re-elevated,” Finebaum said.
“You know, the one thing they did not need was Florida State getting good, and they are. And it just puts more pressure on them. You know, all the mistakes that Dabo made early on with the portal, he’s paying for it right now. He’s paying, he’s paying big time. And I think the narrative, if we go — you know, obviously, we’re going to go onto another Playoff without Dabo Swinney. You’re going to see a national narrative of… If you take Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence out of Dabo’s repertoire, what does he have? And the answer is: not very much.”
We’ll have to see whether or not Swinney and the Tigers can prove Finebaum wrong, but it’s not exactly looking great for Clemson.
