Dabo Swinney hopes Clemson fans have new appreciation for winning
CLEMSON — The 2022 college football season did not go the way anyone in Clemson expected.
The Tigers got off to a 4-3 start and were forced to hang on late against several teams that were overmatched on paper.
Clemson ended up playing seven games decided by a touchdown or less and did not win the ACC for the first time since 2015.
Dabo Swinney made it clear this offseason that his team has a new appreciation for winning after experiencing last year’s struggles.
“It is incredibly hard to win,” Swinney said. “Alabama, in their last five national championship games, they’ve been the best of the best. I think we can all probably agree with that, right? They’re 2-3 in those national championship games – two blowouts. It’s freakin’ hard.”
Clemson did manage to win at least 10 games for the 11th consecutive season, which is impressive considering the Tigers were 4-3 at one point.
But they accomplished only two of their five goals — failing to win the opener, the division and the ACC championship.
Swinney believes some inside the Clemson program and a portion of the fan base got to a point where they simply expected Clemson to be able to show up and come out on top.
“I don’t care how good you are, how much you’ve won. It’s hard to win, and it’s even harder to win consistently,” Swinney said. “And even our fans. I’d say the same thing for our fans. You can win so much you lose respect for what it takes, or the blessing of it. So it’s hard. There’s only two teams with 11-plus 10-win seasons. And there’s a reason why there’s only two. It’s really, really, really hard to win.”
Clemson ‘way ahead’ in 2022
Swinney has been around the 2022 version of the Tigers enough to feel good about this team and where it is headed.
“This team is way ahead, I can tell you that,” Swinney said. “Way ahead in some of the intangibles that it takes to win at the highest level.”
It’s obvious that the Tigers are talented, particularly on the defensive side of the ball where they are expected to have one of the best units in the country.
But Clemson also has strong leadership on this team and players are being held accountable.
“We’ve got all the measurables to be a good team. It’s the immeasurables, the intangibles, that usually separate the good ones from the great ones,” Swinney said. “So I like where this group is from the start. And everybody’s fired up. We’ve just got to take it one day at a time.”