In what was a make-or-break game for Clemson football‘s 2025 season at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, the Tigers and their defense completely fell apart. Syracuse scored 10 points before Clemson even possessed the ball en route to a 34-21 win over the Tigers, who fell to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in ACC play.
It’s the first time since 2004 that Clemson has lost three of four games to open a season. The Tigers are now 3-6 in their last nine games against Power Four opponents, and they’ve lost five of their last seven beginning with last year’s 17-14 loss to South Carolina.
With Saturday’s setback, Clemson lost any credible hopes of reaching the College Football Playoff, which were already a long shot.
The Tigers are a team in search of answers and none seemingly in sight. While Clemson’s offense finished with over 500 yards, they turned the ball over twice and went 1-of-5 on fourth-down attempts. The defense, under the direction of first-year coordinator Tom Allen, had few answers for Syracuse.
The Orange (3-1, 1-0) racked up 433 yards of total offense and scored on each of their first four drives. Quarterback Steve Angeli had two touchdown passes, and tailback Will Nixon had a nine-yard touchdown run as Syracuse built a 24-14 lead at halftime.
Syracuse, an upstart program under second-year coach Fran Brown, essentially put the game away in the third quarter by taking advantage of an Adam Randall fumble that its offense turned into an 18-yard touchdown one play later. The Orange held a 34-14 lead after 45 minutes en route to beating Clemson for only the second time since joining the ACC in 2013.
After the game, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney met with the media to discuss his team’s latest setback, just four days after he passionately defended himself and his program amid growing frustration from the Tigers’ fan base.
Syracuse demolishes Clemson: Dabo Swinney reflects on Tigers’ loss
After dispensing with congratulations to the Tigers’ opponent, Swinney said in his opening remarks:
“Obviously an incredibly disappointing outcome and start to our season. There’s just no other way to say it. I’ve been in a lot of painful locker rooms. That was up there near the top. My heart just hurts for our team and our fans. I thoughts our fans showed up today and did a good job, and we just didn’t get it done. It’s incredibly frustrating. We just cannot seem to get on the same page and play complimentary football. We can’t seem to get it all together. We kind of work against each other. In the first half, the D was probably as poor as I’ve seen. It was really poor. Very disappointing to give up 24 points and get in a big hole.
“Offense, we had really good rhythm and was rolling, and we couldn’t get the ball. We had very limited possessions, so a really frustrating first half. Obviously the surprise onside, they got three points off of that. In the second half, again, just too big hole, but the defense was awesome. They shut them down to three points and obviously (Syracuse) got a touchdown off a fumble late in the game, but I was really proud of — that was not a pleasant locker room at halftime, and then they responded.
“I thought they did a heck of a job in the second half, but again we just can’t seem to put it together. Offensively, a ton of yards, but you don’t get style points. We got a ton of yards, but the name of the game is finishing in the end zone, through the uprights and we just didn’t do that. That’s the biggest disappointment is the slow start, the lack of complimentary football when we need to work with each other.
“Obviously we had some missed opportunities in the third quarter. We missed T.J. (Moore) for maybe a touchdown but certainly a huge, huge play, and then we had a fourth down that I thought was a great call and was there, and the guard pulled a little wide. If he pulls tight like he’s coached to do there and we cover it up, Cade might score. So just some missed opportunities there to either tie it or take the lead when we had that chance and we just didn’t get it done.”
Dabo Swinney on disappointment of Clemson’s 1-3 start
“It’s incredibly disappointing, and it’s my job to get us to be better, and this is not the start to our season that any of us envisioned. Not what we work for and man, I just hurt for the guys. But I am thankful, and I do hope y’all noticed, how hard those kids fought to the last play. And there’s a lot to be said for that. They love Clemson and they love each other, and that’s what’ll get us through this. The open date’s coming at a good time. We’re beat up emotionally and physically, but we’ll rally and we’ll get back to work.
“There’s certainly no quit in me, and I didn’t see any quit in our team or our staff down the stretch. We’ll get back to work and we’ll have to reset our goals on what we still can do. We can’t sit around and dwell on missed opportunity. We’ve got to lock in on what we can do. That’s what I’ll do. That’s what our team will do and see if we can win a game and battle back. Still a long season ahead… We’ve just got to fight our tails off to find a way to win a game and create some momentum. We haven’t really had any momentum to this point.”
Dabo Swinney talks about the surprise onside kick by Syracuse
“We talked about it in the huddle: be ready for the surprise onside, don’t leave early, and you’ve got to see it over your head. That’s the frustrating thing about it is we literally said don’t be surprised for a surprise right here, and they executed it. Proud of our defense for holding them to three but (Syracuse) still stole a possession from us to where we couldn’t get the ball.”
Did Dabo Swinney consider benching Cade Klubnik for backup QB Christopher Vizzina?
Klubnik led Clemson on three scoring drives but threw an interception and failed to make the correct read on a crucial fourth down attempt late in the third quarter when Randall was open with plenty of running room ahead of him. Klubnik threw the ball 60 times and was 37-of-60 for 363 yards and three touchdowns.
Asked if he considered bringing up Vizzina, Swinney said:
“No, we didn’t. I thought Cade competed his butt off. Certainly he missed a couple of plays, but he made some good ones, too. Made a lot of good ones. I thought he was good in the first half, just couldn’t really get the ball. No, we did not think about that.”
‘I’m human’: Dabo Swinney talks about being emotional postgame
Asked what was going through his mind at the end of the game when ESPN cameras cut to an emotional Swinney during the playing of Clemson’s alma mater, the coach said:
“Disappointed, painful. It hurt. I mean, I’m human. I’m not a cyborg. I mean, this is my life, man. I mean, I’ve been here 23 years. I love this place. I give this place the very best I’ve got every single day. Every day. There’s never been a day that I haven’t given Clemson every ounce of everything I have. I hurt. I invested my life here. And when I don’t get the job done, I’m responsible and I feel the pain. It’s not just my pain, I feel everybody’s pain. But that comes with my job, and I don’t run from that at all.
“Again, I’ve been in these situations many times. I’ve had a lot of great days, and this a very, very low day but I also know that we’ll get through it, and there’ll be a lot more great days. Nobody wants to hear that in this moment but that’s what drives me is being able to look back at different moments of my life and my career certainly and (say), you know, you got through it. You got better. You know, there’s a lot of great days.
“So I just hurt. I hurt. I mean, I hurt obviously just because I take pride in what I do, but I hurt for our team. I hurt for our fans and I certainly feel that.”
You can watch Swinney’s full press conference after Saturday’s loss to Syracuse below.
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This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney speaks after loss to Syracuse
