For the first time since 2010, the Clemson Tigers are 4-4, but Paul Finebaum isn’t feeling sorry for them. The SEC Network analyst offered commentary on Clemson’s recent decline on Sunday.
“Dabo Swinney and Clemson are the saddest story in college football this year,” Finebaum remarked. “No one outside of that area code is feeling sorry for themselves. This coach has openly defied the conventions of the modern day.
He has made innumerable errors, and they are now coming to light. Can you get it back? is, in my opinion, the true question for Dabo Swinney and Clemson. It’s not like it’s easy to get these back. For twenty-five years, Nebraska has been a wilderness state. There have been other initiatives.
Following their Saturday loss to NC State, Clemson has fallen to all-time lows. The tides shifted swiftly. Clemson made it to their first College Football Playoff in 2015, but they were defeated by Alabama in the national semifinal. After taking the Crimson Tide to task a year later, Clemson cemented its position as the best team in college football history.
After defeating Alabama once more, the Tigers claimed another championship in 2018. The following two years, the team made it to the College Football Playoffs, extending its winning streak to six games. Nevertheless, Clemson was absent from the limited four positions during the 2021–22 season. Last season, the Tigers experienced the same fate.
There will be no exemption in the 2023 campaign. What then changed? It was strangely not Swinney. It was the setting he was in. NIL was introduced to the NCAA in 2021. It was no coincidence that Swinney’s empire started to crumble at the same time.
Swinney has been vocally critical of NIL without hesitation. Not all changes have been accepted by Swinney. The 53-year-old head coach, who prefers to go the more conventional path of signing players straight out of high school, has also expressed disapproval of the transfer portal.
Finebaum thinks that until Clemson modifies its mindset, it will end up as just another cautionary story.
Finebaum remarked, “He had such a recruiting base.” “I’m not saying that’s gone completely insane, but that’s where he was winning. He’s still doing a good job at recruiting, but it’s getting harder. Additionally, I believe you should be worried.
I’m not sure when I’ve witnessed someone who was at the pinnacle of their profession decline so precipitously, so fast, and not actually be in their seventies or anything, where you simply hit that age and it’s a crash and burn. It’s unbelievable to witness what has happened to this guy—I believe he’s just 50—and it feels like it happened suddenly.
Clemson will need to fight through four games and tough opposition in order to make it to a bowl game. The squad will play No. 12 Notre Dame on Saturday at 12:00 ET on ESPN.
