Clemson HC Dabo Swinney Goes Tone Deaf After Loss to LSU

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Transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt made the first mistake of the game on Saturday night for LSU, throwing an interception that led to a Clemson field goal early in the first quarter.

But it was the overall play of Clemson's offense, led first by starting quarterback Christopher Vizzina and then Tait Reynolds, that proved incompetent in the Tigers' 51-10 loss to LSU. 

Vizzina went 10 of 16 passing for 83 yards and an interception before being replaced by Reynolds, who went 4 of 6 passing for 22 yards. The running game added just 40 yards and one touchdown on 26 attempts.

During his postgame news conference, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney made a tone-deaf comment when talking about the resources LSU has to build a better roster than Clemson, saying he needed to focus on the "football stuff" rather than NIL funding.

"We didn't do football stuff well enough," Swinney said, via ESPN. "I'm not sitting around judging other people on what their resources are or what they can do. 

"It is what it is. It's our job to be the best we can be and we were not that tonight with what we have. It's my job to get us better."

Swinney cannot hide behind that excuse. Not after bragging about choosing not to bring in an experienced quarterback via the transfer portal after Tigers athletic director Graham Neff gave his blessing for such a move.

"We weren't going to go get a shiny object (transfer) at quarterback," Swinney said during the ACC Kickoff media event in July. "If it doesn't work out, we're going to be raked over the coals."

The match has struck the tumbleweed fire starters under a lump of charcoal. Clemson and Swinney appeared blindsided by the performance of its offense. 

Frankly, it wasn't a shock to the rest of the nation.

Swinney was out of his depth when coaching against Lane Kiffin, who has used and maybe attempted to abuse the system in his team's favor to give LSU the best chance of winning.

Clemson won't even try, and its coach won't do his job to make the team better.

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