Father’s Day football: Which teams call Clemson’s Dabo Swinney daddy?

Father’s Day is a time to celebrate dads, but in college football, a few coaches have earned the title in a different way.

Over the last 17 seasons, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has built one of the sport’s most successful programs, collecting two national championships, numerous ACC titles and hundreds of victories along the way. He’s also developed a habit of turning certain opponents into regular entries in the win column.

Some programs have consistently given Clemson trouble during Swinney’s tenure. Others have spent years trying to solve the Tigers without much success. Whether it’s longtime rivals, conference foes or non-conference opponents, several teams on Clemson’s 2025 schedule have found themselves on the wrong side of the matchup more often than not.

With Father’s Day serving as the inspiration for this lighthearted look, we’re examining which teams might jokingly refer to Swinney as “Daddy” based on the results. From one-sided series to lengthy winning streaks, the numbers tell the story of just how dominant Clemson has been against some of the opponents standing in the Tigers’ way this season.

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As the 2025 campaign approaches, here’s a look at Clemson’s all-time series history against every team on its schedule and which programs have felt Dabo Swinney’s presence the most over the years.

The ACC as a whole

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney may have the case to be the entire ACC’s “daddy” in his tenure at Clemson. The only three programs who don’t truly fit the mold are Duke where Swinney’s 3-2, Stanford where he’s 1-0 and Pitt where he’s 3-2, SMU where he’s 1-1 and Cal who he has yet to play, but the rest of the ACC. He’s their father.

Swinney is 15-1 against Boston College, 11-6 against Florida State (dominant against a rival), 12-6 against Georgia Tech, 9-1 against Louisville, 5-2 against Miami, 12-3 against NC State, 7-1 against UNC, 10-2 against Syracuse, 6-0 against Virginia, 7-0 against Virginia Tech, and 16-0 against Wake Forest. He’s 110-22 against these teams, 83% win rate.

ACC, Dabo Swinney is your daddy!

South Carolina Gamecocks

While 10-7 might not scream domination, Swinney has won 9 of the last 11. Since 2014, Swinney has dominated this rivalry. He has made Clemson the only truly relevant team in South Carolina

Auburn Tigers

In his four games against Auburn, Dabo has won three of them. He has elevated this program to new heights as he dismantled Auburn teams that at times, were supposed to be “far better” than Clemson.

Ohio State Buckeyes

Ohio State is an interesting one, because many will say the last time the Buckeyes played the Tigers, they broke Swinney and Clemson. We can call that the son growing up and finally getting one over on dad. Dabo Swinney is one of the main reasons we’re not talking about Ohio State as a Nick Saban level Alabama program with the run they had.

For a program that considers itself college football royalty, Ohio State spent years running into the same problem: Dabo Swinney. Before the Buckeyes finally broke through with a win in the 2020 College Football Playoff semifinal, Swinney had won each of his first three meetings against Ohio State, including a 31-0 rout in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl and a comeback victory in the 2019 Fiesta Bowl semifinal. The Buckeyes eventually got their revenge, but Dabo still owns a 3-1 record against one of the sport’s biggest brands.

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This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: Clemson football Father’s Day: These teams have been Dabo Swinney’s sons