Is Dabo Swinney Correct About the 'Horrible, Terrible Era' of Clemson Football?

Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney knows the margins are small when the perception your program is down a bit.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney talks during the Clemson football Media Outing & Open House at the Allen N. Reeves Football Complex in Clemson, S.C. Tuesday, July 16, 2024. / Ken Ruinard / Staff / USA TODAY NETWORK

The margins are small when trying to win a national championship.

That’s the point Clemson Tigers coach Dabo Swinney was trying to get across on Tuesday when he spoke to the local media.

Without a national championship in its recent past, few would complain about Clemson’s last three seasons. The Tigers had a 30-10 record, won an ACC title and won two bowl games.

But when one juxtaposes that against Clemson’s elite stretch from 2015-20, the recent past gets scrutinized. In that span the Tigers lost seven games, won six straight ACC titles, reached the College Football Playoff each season, reached four CFP championship games and won two national titles.

So, yes, in that context, a .750 winning percentage in a three-year span is, indeed, a step down.

Swinney gets it.

“We’ve been good, we've been good these, these last three years in this so-called horrible, terrible era of Clemson football,” he said with a chuckle. “You know, we've been good. We haven't been great.”

To prove his point, Swinney came to the press conference armed with one particular number. He said the Tigers are in the 94th percentile in the country in wins in the past three seasons.

“We've won more games in the last three years than 126 of the 134 division one teams winning 30 games,” he said.

But, again, there is the lack of national championships, or even making the CFP in that span. Plus last season’s 9-4 record was Clemson’s worst since 2010 when the Tigers went 6-7 in Swinney’s second full season.

Last year snapped a 12-season streak of winning at least 10 games.

Swinney is happy to give the last three years a grade, but even that grade, he says, isn’t good enough.

“I think we'd all say that's good,” he said. “That's an A. But to get an A-plus, we got to be great. And when we've been great, we've been really elite in executing our plan to win.”

There are plenty of ways to bridge that gap from good to great, he said. Just one area is one-score games, an area that Swinney said the Tigers excelled in during their long stretch of elite success.

He said in the last three seasons the Tigers have been just 11-7 in those games.

“For us to go good to great, you know, we've got to win the close game,” Swinney said. “You know, it's as simple as that.”