Disappointment Again For Clemson. So What's Next?

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ATLANTA - Where does Clemson go from here?

The 14th-ranked Tigers were blown out 34-3 by top-ranked Georgia inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday in a game that led Clemson fans to stream for the exits early in the fourth quarter. They couldn’t stand watching a stagnant offense that gained just 188 yards on the afternoon anymore.

It’s a familiar feeling, though.

Disappointment has become a common emotion for Tiger fans after failing to get double-digit wins in 2023 for the first time since 2010. The shine is starting to wear off on coach Dabo Swinney even though he is one of only three active coaches in the country with national titles to their names.

Clemson head coach is going to hear the noise from fans this week after the oss to Georgia

ATLANTA - Head coach Dabo Swinney of the Clemson Tigers claps before the game during the Aflac Kickoff Game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Mercedes Benz Stadium on August 31, 2024. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)

Swinney cut his teeth as an offensive genius, but the Tiger offenses post-Trevor Lawrence have been sub-par at best. They haven’t finished in the top half of the ACC in yards per play since DJ Uiagalelei took over at quarterback in 2021, and current starter Cade Klubnik isn’t providing a spark either. That, despite both of them being highly-touted studs coming out of high school. Maybe, just maybe, Clemson’s success was more due to generational quarterbacks like Lawrence and Deshaun Watson rather than Swinney’s own leadership.

He has been more reluctant than any other coach in the country to embrace the transfer portal, has been slow to build a competitive NIL program and has fans - like "Tyler from Spartanburg" - wondering if there is a method to Swinney’s madness.

That’s just what it is, though. Madness.

There’s no way to succeed in this day and age without rolling with the times. Swinney seems to be fighting against them.

Former Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher. (Photo by Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

He’s like former Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher, whose stubbornness led him to hold on to the idea of playing old-school, smash mouth football instead of embracing what the game has become. Fisher also won a national title with a generational talent at quarterback when he led Florida State to glory in 2013 with Jameis Winston taking the snaps.

Where is Fisher now? He’s living his best buyout life rather than roaming the sidelines.

Swinney better watch out, because he could join Fisher next season if he’s not careful about his next steps as the leader of the Clemson program.