ACC fines Clemson, reprimands Dabo Swinney for criticizing officials after loss to Duke

The ACC has issued a public reprimand and a fine for Clemson coach Dabo Swinney. The action comes following critical comments Swinney made of the officiating late in a game against Duke on Saturday.

Swinney went off after a pass interference call went against his team on a fourth-and-10 late in the fourth quarter. Duke would go on to score and take the lead on a two-point conversion as a result of the call.

The Clemson head coach called it “one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen.” He was heated.

Swinney was fined $10,000 by the ACC and issued a public reprimand. The league announced the action in a press release on Sunday evening.

“Swinney’s postgame comments regarding the officiating were in direct violation of the ACC Sportsmanship Policy that states: ‘Public criticism of officials or public comments evaluating the officiating of particular contests is not in the best interest of intercollegiate athletics. Individuals associated with the athletics program are prohibited, therefore, from commenting while acting in an official capacity on officiating other than directly to the Conference office,'” the ACC press release read. “The ACC considers this matter closed and will have no further comment.”

The play in question had huge ramifications in the game. Duke was facing a fourth-and-10 from the Clemson 18-yard line, trailing by a touchdown at 45-38 with about a minute to play. Quarterback Darian Mensah threw over the middle toward Que’Sean Brown, who appeared to throw down Tigers defensive back Avieon Terrell.

The call went against Clemson, though. The crowd went nuts. Dabo Swinney was apoplectic.

He could hardly contain himself in a post-game press conference. And that moment was a huge center of his focus, though there were plenty of other problems he also pointed to.

“Really, really frustrated. Some critical penalties,” Swinney said. “I don’t even know what to say about the last call. Y’all saw it. It shouldn’t come down to that, we had plenty of opportunities to win the game, but that’s one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen in a game ever in my entire coaching career. Ever.”

Dabo Swinney would break down the call, which granted Duke a first down at the Clemson 3-yard line. The Blue Devils would score one play later, then convert a two-point conversion to take the lead.

Clemson’s offense couldn’t rally to get in field goal range in the final minute. Game over.

“In a situation like that, I don’t really know what else to say,” Swinney said of the call. “But I don’t want to make that a deal because we should have won the game. I mean we had plenty of opportunities to win the game, but you fight your butt off and you scratch and you claw and you get in a situation like that and you have a call like that… man, I mean, that’s just more salt in the wound.”