Clemson's Swinney shrugs off critics after 17th-ranked Tigers hot stretch going into Stanford game

Updated Sep. 26, 2024 6:10 a.m. ET

Associated Press

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is not interested in "Told ya so,' no matter how well his 17th-ranked Tigers are playing these days.

Swinney accepted those dogging his program after a 34-3 loss to then top-ranked Georgia a month ago. He won't clapback at them after Clemson's past two victories that have the team looking more like challengers for an Atlantic Coast Conference title and a College Football Playoff spot.

“They can say whatever they want. I don't need validation,” Swinney said this week. “I know who I am. .. I know where I came from, where I've been and where I'm going.”

Swinney and the Tigers (2-1, 1-0 ACC) hope to continue their recent success — they've beaten Appalachian State and N.C. State by a combined 125-55 score since the Georgia loss — when new league member Stanford (2-1, 1-0) comes to Death Valley (South Carolina, not California) on Saturday night.

Swinney, a two-time national champion, has taken hits because of his program's dropoff from their title-winning stretch of 2015-2020 when they won six straight ACC crowns and earned a CFP berth each year.

Clemson lost just seven games in those six seasons. It has lost 11 in the three-plus years since. Swinney's been criticized for his response to the changing game, especially when it comes his lack of transfer portal use.

None of that makes a difference to his job, he says, and that's doing what's best for Clemson and preparing his players for success. That outside stuff?

“We've created a society where it's normal to attack people, to make stuff up, create narratives," Swinney said. “We just want to focus on what matters.”

Back so soon?

Stanford comes East for a second straight game after becoming just the third first-year ACC member to win its debut league game on the road ( 26-24 at Syracuse). Cardinal coach Troy Taylor knows his players are in for a sterner test with the Tigers.

“That's why you get in this thing is to be able to play these games,” Taylor said. “But in that same sense, we've got our hands full.”

By the time the Cardinal return to campus, they will have traveled some 10,800 miles between the two trips.

Klubnik's emergence

Clemson's uptick has come in large part because of the improved play of junior passer Cade Klubnik, who has accounted for 11 touchdowns (eight passing, three rushing) in the past two victories over App State and N.C. State.

Klubnik and the offense scored touchdowns on 14 of 15 first-half drives in the first two games. He opened App State with a 76-yard TD thrown to freshman Bryant Wesco Jr. and began the N.C. State win with a 55-yard scoring run.

Road warriors

Stanford's win at Syracuse should not be a big surprise since the Cardinal have won four of their six road games since Taylor became coach last season. Their 3-2 road record last year was Stanford's best mark away from home in a non-pandemic season since 2017. The Syracuse victory is something they hope can help them at Clemson, Stanford tight end Sam Roush said.

“We did struggle to finish some of those drives” against the Orange, he said. “I think we can continue to build on that. If we had been able to do that, it wouldn't have been such a close game.”

Injured Tigers

Clemson's Swinney said there is a chance that injured starters in defensive end Peter Woods and receiver Tyler Brown can return against Stanford. Woods left the field in the first half against Appalachian State after getting blocked below the knee. Woods, the team's leading receiver last season, also left the win over the Mountaineers early with an ankle injury. Neither played against the Wolfpack.

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