Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney has opened up on his scheduling practices.
For the second straight year, the Clemson Tigers opened up against LSU to begin their season, and for the second straight year, Clemson has begun in an 0-1 hole.
Clemson was absolutely annihilated in Baton Rouge to the tune of a 51-10 drubbing last Saturday, and now, everyone is questioning Dabo Swinney's decision to schedule LSU in a home-and-home for back-to-back season openers.
And let's remember: Clemson was also hammered by Georgia, 34-3 in its season opener back in 2024.
Swinney has long preferred opening with tough non-conference games to build character, but he is now admitting it may no longer be feasible.
“That’s kind of been a philosophy for a long time,” Swinney said. “I mean, obviously we’ve had a bad stretch here. But in our history, we’ve been pretty good, but we’ve had a bad run. … So yeah, we could probably do a little better from a scheduling standpoint.”
To be fair, Clemson scheduled these matchups with LSU all the way back in 2018. That was back when Swinney was ruling the sport. No one could have expected Clemson to fall this far between then and now.
Regardless, Swinney feels that the challenging Week 1 matchups don't make sense anymore.
“I’d say it’s probably different now than when I first got the job,” Swinney said. “It was a big thing with me. I went to [former Clemson Athletic Director] Terry Don [Phillips] and I’m like, ‘Look, we need to play 10 all-in games every year. Let’s find us as big as we can get outside of the conference.’ Because I just felt like you need to expose yourself to that, so if you get to postseason, you’re prepared for those type of things."
Things have certainly changed since Swinney's first full season as Clemson coach in 2009.
“But now, honestly, you have so many new people every year and teams and things like that, I think every coach would probably prefer – like, most of these teams, they usually play somebody that they should beat," Swinney added. "You can create good morale and get a chance to play a lot of people and all that type of stuff. And then maybe you play that type of game, Game 2 or something."
The Tigers are rumored to be opening the 2027 campaign against North Carolina State, a fellow ACC opponent that is very beatable. That being said, it's still a bit more challenging than beginning your season against a lower-tier non-conference foe.
Clearly, Swinney needs to be much more prudent when it comes to scheduling moving forward, especially considering Clemson is no longer a juggernaut.
You also have to wonder how much longer Swinney will actually be around at Clemson for any of this to remain relevant.
