Urban Meyer reinforces faith in Dabo Swinney, Clemson after 1-2 start: 'They have a hell of a team'

It’s been a rough start to the season for Clemson, which fell completely out of the AP Top 25 Rankings after losses to LSU and Georgia Tech in two of its first three games. The Tigers are now staring at a potential 2-2 start to the season (with a win over Syracuse on Saturday) for the second time in three years.

With frustration mounting around Swinney and the program, former National Championship-winning head coach and member of FOX‘s ‘Big Noon Kickoff‘ panel Urban Meyer took to ‘The Herd with Colin Cowherd‘ on Thursday to ease concerns around Swinney and the Tigers.

“There’s no doubt he will,” Meyer said when addressing how Dabo is adapting to modern college football. “When the Transfer Portal era started, I was not coaching. But I remember that the great teams had very little to no weakness. I remember spending time with a coach and he was like, ‘It’s unbelievable.’ If you need a right guard after spring practice in the old system, you still needed a right guard in August.”

“It wasn’t you just wish a right guard into your program. Now you do. You don’t wish for him; you pay for him. I don’t think there’s any doubt because Coach Swinney has won a lot of games. He’s a smart guy and I know him well. I think he already took some transfers this year. They’re easing into it, but I still think they have a hell of a team.”

Clemson‘s lone win wasn’t good enough to keep them in the top-25, as it took a big second half to escape with a 27-16 win over Troy. The Tigers do, however, have a favorable conference schedule looming, as they will face Syracuse, North Carolina, Boston College, SMU and Duke over the next five games.

Swinney stresses the importance of not letting 1-2 turn into 1-3

This gives Clemson an opportunity to potentially get to 6-2 ahead of a massive matchup against Florida State on Nov. 8, which could potentially determine a spot in the ACC Championship Game. Swinney’s mission was clear following the loss to Georgia Tech: don’t let 1-2 spiral into 1-3.

“I think our league is really good,” Swinney said. “I think there’s a lot of really good teams in this league. The year will prove that out. I think anybody will be able to have an opportunity to win this league, and certainly, Georgia Tech will have an opportunity. But, for us, we just gotta go try and find a win to win a game. We can’t worry about what could have been, we gotta just stay focused on what still can be.”

“The only thing worse than 1-2 is 1-3, so we’ve gotta go find a way to win a game and we can’t put our head down and pout. For me, I’ve had enough praise, love, hate and criticism to last three lifetimes. So, I’ll be fine. But I hurt for our team. I hurt for our team, because we just have great young men and they truly love Clemson and they love each other. They care, but in completion, there’s a winner and a loser.”

Kick-off between Clemson and Syracuse on Saturday is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. ET. The game can be seen on ESPN.