Dabo thought Clemson had better team, makes secretaries watch film
Dabo Swinney said on Wednesday that everyone in the football office rewatched the South Carolina Gamecocks’ win over his Clemson Tigers this week.
“We don’t lose a lot of games. Our Mental Monday meeting, I made everybody in the building from the secretaries to the administrative staff, everybody in the building had to watch the tape,” Swinney said during an appearance on the Gramlich and Mac Lain podcast on Wednesday.
“We watched it all together. I ran the tape from about 4 o’clock to 6 o’clock for two hours. When you lose a game like that, everybody on the outside thinks they know, and they ain’t got a freaking clue,” Swinney continued. “I I think it’s important that everybody knows what’s real and that everybody understands with complete clarity what happened and why and what we’ve got to do about it. It was a two-hour meeting of complete clarity.”
Subscribe to Gamecock Central until the 2023 football season for only $10!
On Wednesday, Clemsons’s head coach said he believed his squad was the superior one going into the contest.
“Honestly thought we had the better team, but the better team doesn’t always win,” Swinney said on the podcast appearance. “You’ve got to earn it on the field. Had plenty of opportunities.”
Swinney had previously praised Shane Beamer’s team during his postgame press conference after the Gamecocks’ 31-30 win.
Top 10
- 1New
Day 2 Takeaways
What stood out as Shane Beamer finished the 2026 class?
- 2Trending
ESD Superlatives
The sleeper, highest upside, and more
- 3Hot
'It feels like home'
Julian Walker flips
- 4
Third assistant fired
Another coaching change on offense for South Carolina
- 5
Duckworth signs
South Carolina officially signs dynamic four-star QB Landon Duckworth
Get the Daily On3 Newsletter in your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
Get South Carolina football alerts and analysis via email
“Been a long time. Not a feeling that we’ve had in a long, long time. That’s our reality today,” Swinney said, according to ClemsonSports.com. “You’ve got to congratulate South Carolina. They earned it. Did a heck of a job. They flat out earned it.”
The win for South Carolina over Clemson was the program’s second straight over a top ten program and eliminated any chance of the Tigers making the College Football Playoff.
Spencer Rattler rolled up 360 yards of offense and the Gamecock defense held Clemson to just 7 points in the second half en route to the come-from-behind victory.
“I hope you all understand, like it is special, what we got in that locker room,” Shane Beamer said after the win. “Nobody flinched. And you know, we were a confident team coming in here today and we got better as the game changed. I know how important this game was to so many people in this state. I’m just so happy for our fans. I’m so happy for our seniors, our players.”