Dabo Swinney, Clemson tweaking their dreams after starting 2-2
Dabo Swinney spoke with his team during the preseason about trying to win the third national title for Clemson since 2016. Four games into the 2023 season, that no longer seems like a possibility for the Tigers.
Clemson is 2-2 (0-2) and all but eliminated from the College Football Playoff by the end of September.
Swinney gives his teams five goals before each season — win the opener, reach the ACC Championship game, win the state championship, win the ACC and win the closer.
Clemson already failed on goal No. 1, and reaching the ACC title game and winning the league seems like a long shot at this point.
After the slow start, Dabo Swinney said his team is having to adjust some of its dreams from the preseason.
“You might have to get a new dream,” Swinney said Tuesday. “Sometimes we all have dreams. Sometimes you’ve gotta get a new dream. As a person of faith, we all make our plans in life, but God orders our steps. I’ve had a lot of great plans along the way. But God had a different plan. And that’s what my life has taught me. You just walk it out.”
There is still plenty of football left to be played this season, beginning on Saturday when the Tigers face Syracuse.
Clemson can still have a solid season, and winning 10 games for the 13th consecutive season would obviously be a huge accomplishment. But winning a national title isn’t happening for this team.
“It’s disappointing, because this is one of the best teams I’ve had,” Swinney said. “This team’s better than some of the 4-0 teams I’ve had, and they’re playing really, really well. They just haven’t been rewarded for it.”
Swinney is hopeful that the tide will turn for Clemson at some point and his Tigers will go on a run. He still believes his team has the right mindset and is capable of doing great things.
“I think it’s important to dream big, man. Like huge, massive dreams. That’s awesome. But sometimes you’ve gotta tweak your dream a little bit, because you’ve gotta keep moving forward. So God’s plan’s always bigger than our plan. We don’t always understand why things are happening,” Swinney said.
“Your heart hurts for them, but what a great opportunity we have to respond. What a great opportunity we have to grow. Something good comes from everything. Let’s see if we can win a game this week. That’s what we need to do. We can worry about whatever after that. So let’s just dream about beating Syracuse this week. If we get that done we can go from there.”