Dabo Swinney rips 'clickbait bullcrap' after viral quote about Clemson going 16-0

With preseason camp in full swing across the college football landscape, talking season is nearing its end. And it couldn’t come soon enough for Clemson‘s Dabo Swinney.

The excitable Tigers head coach was speaking with Clemson alum and ACC Network analyst Eric Mac Lain earlier Wednesday when Swinney’s phone buzzed with an angry text from a friend. The friend was blasting an article that aggregated a bold quote at the end of an ESPN article published earlier this week, in which Swinney appears to proclaim his confidence this year’s Tigers squad will be college football’s “first 16-0 team.”

“I’ve had one undefeated team,” Swinney told ESPN’s Chris Low. “In 2018, we were the first 15-0 team in the history of major college football — ever. And I think we’re going to be the first 16-0 team. It’s a race to do that.”

Of course, as with most things, there’s more context to what was said. But that didn’t stop Swinney from calling the aggregated article “clickbait bullcrap.”

“That was actually sent to me today, and that’s the most clickbait bull crap I’ve ever seen in my life,” Swinney said Wednesday. “Talk about taking something out of context. I have no idea who wrote it, but it’s just the way it goes. That’s so out of context. I’ve never said this team is going  to … I’ve said: ‘We were the first 15-0 team, and I believe we could go be the first 16-0 team.’ Like, why not? Like, let’s go do that. And I said, ‘it’s a race to do that.’ And boy, somebody writes some jacked-up, clickbait article.”

A Clemson staffer off to the side then clarified that the Clemson coach was sent an aggregated article, not the original ESPN piece. At that point, Swinney asks: “What’s an aggregator?”

“A friend sent me this article, because I showed it to (the Clemson staffer) and said: ‘What is this?’ Because my friend wrote: ‘Who wrote this? I hope you never interview with this guy. Who is this guy?’ And I don’t even know what he’s talking about. … I don’t know what an aggregator is, but whatever,” Swinney continued. “But come on, man. Can we just get something accurate?”

Then, Swinney doubled down on his original claim to Low. He isn’t hiding from expectations.

“And, yeah, I do believe we could be the first 16-0 team ever. We were the first 15-0 team, so why would I not believe that? I never said this team is going 16-0, like some jackleg tries to write to create some article and followers on his Twitter account or whatever,” Swinney concluded. “… Somebody’s got to be the first, so why not us? Why not? Like, why not? Somebody’s going to do it, so it’s a race to do it. I believe we can do it. I don’t know if this team will do it. Ask me in January and we’ll find out. But somebody’s going to do it. So why not (us)?”

This year’s Tigers enter the season with high hopes and even greater hype as a preseason Top 10 program with serious national championship aspirations after returning to the College Football Playoff last season as ACC champions. And with much of that team back, Clemson fans believe their Tigers have as good a shot as anybody to run the table this upcoming season. Because, as Swinney said, “Why not?”