On Saturday, Dabo Swinney's No. 14 Clemson Tigers squad got punched in the mouth by the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs in the 2024 Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Tigers played the Bulldogs close in the first two quarters, entering the half trailing 6–0. But the second half was all Georgia, and Clemson would eventually lose, 34–3, as the team's offense failed to get anything going while Georgia clicked on both sides.
While it shouldn't come as a shock that Kirby Smart's roster steamrolled an opponent, Clemson had higher expectations than this showing. To lose to the top-ranked team in the nation is one thing. To lose by 30 without scoring a single touchdown—that's a tough pill to swallow.
It also opens up Swinney and the program to criticism. ESPN's Booger McFarland got the ball rolling on that front, teeing off on the outspoken head coach for a lack of offensive innovation and his refusal to utilize the transfer portal on the postgame show after the loss.
"i'm afraid it's the same old thing," McFarland said on ABC when asked what went wrong for the Tigers on Saturday. "No creativity on offense. It's been the same, stale offense for four or five years. The quarterback, Cade Klubnik, no ability to push the football down the field. And if you're a Clemson fan, you have to ask yourself: When are we going to change?"
McFarland's attention swiveled to Swinney in particular when co-host Kevin Negandhi pointed out Clemson has recorded zero starts from incoming transfer portal players since 2018.
"It's doing it Dabo's way," the ESPN analyst said. "And I think that's what's rough for the Clemson faithful about how Dabo wants to do it. When it's good, it's going to be good. But every recruiting class is not going to hit on every player... I'm afraid, right now, they have a little bit of a lull."
Booger McFarland had some criticism following Saturday's 34-3 loss to Georgia.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 31, 2024
One of Booger's main issues was how coach Dabo Swinney uses (or more specifically doesn't use) the transfer portal. pic.twitter.com/zajp1aoKw3
It is a tough time to be a Clemson fan. There was a lot of hype behind this year's Tigers roster. But after Week 1 it's become obvious there's still a big gap between Clemson and the true title contenders, the sorts of teams Swinney used to compete with when he had Trevor Lawrence and company.
No longer. Now Clemson is trying to avoid being left behind in the modern age of college football— a task made more difficult by Swinney not pursuing every avenue available to add talent.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Booger McFarland Teed Off on Dabo Swinney After Clemson Got Destroyed by Georgia.
