Dabo Swinney has often said that it’s easy to be “All In” when it’s going well.
Right now, things are exactly going well for his Clemson Tigers.
Clemson (2-2, 1-1 ACC) is coming off a 27-21 heartbreaking double-overtime loss to NC State that has all but put the team’s playoff hopes to bed.
The loss snapped Clemson’s 36-game winning streak against unranked opponents, the second-longest in school history. Clemson’s most recent defeat against an unranked team came in 2017 at Syracuse.
During his Zoom conference call on Sunday evening, Swinney was asked whether he expects his fans to stay “All In” or for some of them to jump off the bandwagon.
“There will be a bunch that jumped off the bandwagon, but I wouldn’t say they were ‘All In’ anyway,” Swinney said Sunday. “The type of winning we’ve had for a long time, everybody likes a winner. There will be some that will certainly judge us in this moment and again that’s just a product of all the success we’ve had here for a long, long time.
“We all understand that we’re not playing anywhere near our capabilities or to the standard that we have set here. Nobody accepts that. We also have the right perspective. We know where we are. We know what we got to do. We know where we’re going. Again, you got to take the good with the bad.”
Swinney is disappointed, he doesn’t need to outwardly say so. You can tell by the tone in his voice and the conviction in his words.
His team is disappointed. Everyone associated with the program is disappointed. Clemson has set a standard, one that its failed to meet through four games this season and everyone knows it.
Swinney looked at the positives that the program has accomplished under his direction, but he’s also faced the reality of Clemson’s current situation.
“It’s been a ton of good around here, man. I think we got the winningest road record in the country and we’ve won a lot of games on the road, a lot of great moments,” Swinney said. “That one didn’t go well. Again, a hard-fought double-overtime game. Had a chance until the end, on a night where we just really was terrible in so many areas, but man, our guys kept fighting. As long as you have that, you can get better and we’ll do that. The majority of our fans, they’re ‘All In,’ there’s no doubt about that and again, the season ain’t over in September. Got a long way to go.”
Clemson will look to get back on track this week, as the Tigers try to climb back in contention one game at a time.
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