Paul Finebaum breaks down flip in Dabo Swinney opinion entering 2025

In recent years, Paul Finebaum hasn’t hesitated to criticize Dabo Swinney for his conservative approach to the ever-changing college football landscape. However, with Clemson shaping up to be one of the best teams in college football this fall, Finebaum is suddenly changing his tune.

“For a relatively young guy, Dabo looks very old-school and very smart right now,” Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning. “I’ve been critical as well. So most of us are in the camp of having tentatively written him off, but he has his best team, probably since 2019 and/or 2018 — one of those years when Trevor Lawrence was roaming the sidelines.

“Quite frankly, I think they’re among the two or three most likely national championship contenders. They have it all.”

There’s no way around it — Clemson is loaded this year. The Tigers are returning eight starters on offense. Most notably, starting quarterback Cade Klubnik is running it back in Clemson after exploding for 3,639 passing yards and 36 touchdowns last season, while only throwing six interceptions.

Klubnik won’t have a shortage of targets. Clemson is also returning its top-three leading receivers from last season: Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco Jr. and TJ Moore.

To pile on, Clemson’s defense should also be fantastic. The Tigers’ defense has eight starters returning and hired defensive coordinator Tom Allen this offseason.

Last season, Clemson’s defense allowed 374.1 yards per game, ranking No. 69 in the country. In comparison, Allen’s Penn State defense gave up just 294.8 yards per game, the seventh-least in the nation.

Clemson is ranked No. 4 in the preseason AP Top 25 and is the betting favorite to win the ACC. Simply put, Dabo Swinney has put the Tigers in position to win a national championship — a place that, less than a year ago, Finebaum claimed Clemson would never return.

“I admire Dabo, in terms of what he’s done,” Finebaum admitted. “He went from a couple of years ago to being about as cold a stock as you could find, to now he looks like one of these internet bubble stocks of 25 years ago. He has really done a remarkable job. And, remember, this was a guy that two years ago, didn’t get a phone call from Alabama, his alma mater, [when Nick Saban retired].”

Clemson will face one of its toughest tests of the season in Week 1. On Aug. 30, Dabo Swinney and Co. will square off against LSU at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will air live on ABC.