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You can tell, from the moment he sits down, that Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney is not happy and he’d rather be anywhere else than the long walk from Clemson’s locker room to the press room hot seat.
Those of y’all that get that joke, please do enjoy it.
We’re not saying that he’s on the hot seat job-wise, but for the next little bit, Swinney’s program is going to be on the hot seat and so is Coach Dabo.
Duke partisans will celebrate and be delighted obviously but from Clemson’s perspective, this is not supposed to happen. Clemson isn’t supposed to lose to teams like Duke. The atmosphere in Clemson is funereal tonight; tomorrow, cold anger will set in, and it will focus on the coach first.
The look on his face is just priceless. This man is not just pissed, he’s humiliated. He knows he’s going to hear about this for weeks, months, possibly years.
He congratulates Duke, as sportsmanship requires, before going on to say that he’s never been part of a game like that.
We’re not entirely sure what he meant by that, but whatever, Dabo.
The reality is that Duke didn’t just upset a major ACC and national power, but did so in a way that could derail both Clemson’s ACC and national aspirations.
The Tigers will be 2-1 on September 16th after wins over Charleston Southern and Florida Atlantic, and then will get Florida State. And after that comes Syracuse, Wake Forest, Miami, NC State and Notre Dame.
There’s plenty of time to set things right, but a season that looked immensely promising suddenly looks less certain. The Tigers are going to have a tough time putting the Duke loss behind them, and based on his pained expression, Swinney fully understands that.
Bonus video: check out this video of Clemson fans reacting to the loss in Durham. To borrow from Cameron: Ahhhhhh........seeeeya!
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