Stagnant Swinney: Clemson missing 'extra gear' through three games

Clemson, once seen as both a conference contender in the ACC and a national title contender in the College Football Playoff, is now a ways away from contention this season at 1-2 already. At this point, Josh Pate now sees a lot of that as evidence that things, as presently presented, are no longer working at that level for the Tigers under Dabo Swinney.

On ‘Josh Pate’s College Football Show’ on Sunday, Pate went into Clemson’s start to this season following their 24-21 loss yesterday at Georgia Tech. He sees the Tigers, based on this quarter of their year as well as generally as a program, as missing “that extra gear”, which played into his preseason expectations of them being lower than the rest of the national consensus.

“That extra gear for Clemson is just not there – as a football team, I would argue as a program. That extra gear is not there,” Pate stated. “Now, you’ll remember, in spring and summer, I took a very measured approach on this, because, hey, I could have just been wrong about it. So, I chose to take the approach with Clemson that one of two things is going to happen, and I have no clue which it’s going to be. One is, yeah, there’s a bunch of returning starters, but really they’re just returning a bunch of guys who weren’t really elite last year and so you’re just going to get more of the same. The difference is people are going to hype the same guys up a little bit more and it’s going to be a big disappointment. Or, they really are going to be one of the best teams in the country and Dabo is going to have the ultimate I told you so, dunk on the entirety of the college football public moment.”

“Well, the latter is not going to happen. The former looks to be happening, and I don’t really know what is going to come of this because this is a team that now needs to rewire its expectations. They’re still alive, like, mathematically. It’s week three, so no one is dead. I mean, you’ve still got one conference loss now. You could go to Charlotte and you could right the ship and get another shot at Tech, or play Miami or play Florida State,” continued Pate. “Yeah, it could happen that way, but think about what we heard, think about maybe what you just individually expected? Cade Klubnik is back this year, with what I was told was going to be a really good offensive line, good receiver corps – now, I told myself that, I still kind of believe that. That this defense has got NFL guys at all three levels. Just, everywhere, there were reasons for optimism – and I don’t have that optimism.”

Clemson has had as disappointing a start to this season with a home loss to LSU, a road loss coming on a game-winning field goal to open conference play against Georgia Tech, and a home win over Troy where they were down as much as 16-0. That’s well of the preseason thoughts of the Tigers, with Pate noting that this could very well get worse too with what comes during the back half of their schedule.

“Optimistic Clemson friend hits me up after the game. This is a very optimistic Clemson fan, and he said, ‘Hey, there’s still a long way to go in the season!’ – which is true. But that’s always said in a positive light. That’s always said in a hopeful, optimistic sort of way,” said Pate. “It is true that there is a long way to go in the season. It’s also true that, while that could be good news for Clemson, it also could be bad news because you assume 1-2 is the worst it could get. 1-2 is not the worst it can get.”

So, from there, Pate turned his attention to Dabo Swinney, as he has reached the point of wondering what could’ve been when it comes to how they’ve chosen to go about things of late at Clemson. The Tigers won tons of titles in this era, and have been and can continue to be one of better programs in all of college football. But, as far as Dabo’s way of doing things, Pate thinks this season’s opening could be the final say in whether or not it is enough for them to continue to compete for it all like they were doing over the last decade.

“This is also, not to get 50,000 feet here because it’s week three and we’ve got a lot to talk about. But, I mean, we’ve probably got our answer on Dabo, just this era of Clemson Football,” said Pate. “It’s no knock on him. Guy’s legacy has been secured for a long time, but the experiment for Dabo at Clemson was we’re really going to kind of not delve into the portal, we’re going to do it our way, the Clemson way is a different way. I don’t doubt that. I don’t think he’s disingenuous when he says that. I just think that the Clemson way in 2025 is not one that’s really going to put you in the hunt for a national championship. He’s not unfulfilled. He’s got multiple championship rings. They owned the league for over a decade. So, he’s been there, he’s done that. It’s just, season’s change. Well, that’s Clemson Football right now.”

“It’s this weird thing because Dabo can stay there kind of as long he wants to and it’s not a crisis. They’re going to win a lot of games this year. They’re always going to be a good, solid program as long as he’s there. But I don’t think there’s really going to be fundamental change,” Pate went on. “There’s a part of me that respects it, for sticking to his principles and values. I’ve talked about this many times, but it’s just tough for me, when I know what Clemson has been, when I know what they could be, if they just 20% cource-corrected…What difference would two or three or five guys, over the course of a couple of portal cycles, make at Clemson? And how little effort was put into actually exploring that? That’s where I’d be if I were a Clemson fan.”

Three weeks into this fall, Pate is validated on what he thought coming in on Clemson. That’s with the Tigers not even meeting the lower expectations which he had for them coming out of this weekend’s loss in Atlanta.

“I was fine taking the wait-and-see approach on Clemson this year. Well, I have waited, long enough, and I have seen enough,” said Pate. “They are not a player in the national championship picture. As it turns out, they never were, so I feel a little foolish for spending the time that we did in the spring and summer on it.”