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Clemson

Booger McFarland rips Dabo Swinney, Clemson staff following 1-3 start: 'They're poorly coached'

IMG_0985by: Griffin McVeigh09/21/25griffin_mcveigh
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© Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

A disastrous start to the 2025 season took another tumble for Dabo Swinney on Saturday. Clemson took its third loss of the season at home against Syracuse, meaning the Tigers have yet to win vs. a power conference opponent. Right now, Troy is the lone victory on the schedule, dropping games to Fran Brown‘s squad, LSU, and Georgia Tech.

Most of the heat has fallen on Swinney. Plenty of people are calling him out, including Booger McFarland. Some of the others on the Clemson coaching staff got a shoutout too from the ESPN analyst. You can consider McFarland quite unimpressed with what Clemson has produced thus far.

“They’re not a good team,” McFarland said at halftime of the Florida–Miami game. “They’re poorly coached. They’ve got good talent but their good talent is not showing up and playing well. Offensive coordinator Garrett Riley is not putting Cade Klubnik in position. You change the defensive coordinator, you bring Tom Allen from Penn State over. The defense is underperforming. No if, ands, or buts, they’re a bad team.”

As McFarland mentioned, Clemson is thought to be a talented team on paper. Klubnik is surrounded by a group of wide receivers plenty of NFL scouts are interested in. If there was a positive to come out of the Syracuse loss, it’s Bryant Wesco snagging two touchdowns on six receptions. TJ Moore put up decent numbers as well, having 92 yards.

Much of the same can be said about the defensive side. Nobody was supposed to have a better one-two punch than T.J. Parker and Peter Woods. Clemson even took Will Heldt out of the NCAA transfer portal via Purdue, adding another EDGE to the roster. Everyone expected the Tigers to dominate upfront, not allow 155 yards on the ground vs. Syracuse.

Blame, at least for McFarland, is being placed on the Clemson coaches. Not just Swinney but the two coordinators, guys who are big names inside the industry. Swinney received plenty of praise for hiring Riley and Allen, not seeing the results at the moment.

There will be some time to reset thanks to a bye week. Oct. 4 is Clemson’s next game, heading on the road to face Bill Belichick and North Carolina. Another road game against Boston College follows. Everyone hopes Swinney finds a way to get back on the right track, not letting this season roll into anything worse than it currently is.