Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers have gone through a massive disappointment to kick off the 2025 college football season. After starting off the season considered to be one of the nation’s top championship contenders, the team has not come close to living up to that hype.
After falling to the Duke Blue Devils last week, Clemson now holds a 3-5 record. That has led to mounting frustration.
Plenty of rumblings have come up about the Tigers potentially parting ways with Swinney. That seems to be unlikely to come in a firing form, but could the two parties choose to part ways mutually?
That is something that has been brought up as a potential option for Swinney.
Paul Finebaum, a polarizing college football analyst and reporter, spoke out with a strong opinion on the matter. He urged Swinney to consider getting out of town and leaving Clemson.
“Every time I talk about Dabo, somebody takes it the wrong way. But, nobody here is suggesting Dabo Swinney be fired,” Finebaum said. “I am strongly suggesting Dabo Swinney get out of there, though. It’s gotten so bad, and I hate to see a Hall of Fame coach act that petulant and that poorly, and I don’t have any doubt he can find a job. And, sometimes, you just have to move on.”
He continued on, sharing more about his belief that Swinney should begin planning his journey out of the program.
“We’ve all been there or known someone who has been there. And, I think his agent should look around and say, ‘OK, which one of these openings would be fun for me? Where can I go—meaning Dabo Swinney— Where I can just hit the restart button and quit being a cranky get-off-your-lawn guy and make these self deprecating jokes about getting fired?’”
Since taking over as the Tigers’ head coach back in the 2008 season, Swinney has led the program to an impressive 183-52 record. He has also led the way to two national championship games. That is a big part of the reason that the school likely would not fire him.
Sahmir Hagans (2) of the Duke Blue Devils celebrates after scoring a 2-point conversion during the second half of a football game against the Clemson Tigers at Memorial Stadium on November 01, 2025 in Clemson, South Carolina.
David Jensen
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It wasn’t an elimination game for Duke, but it felt that way Saturday.
Win at Clemson and the Blue Devils could keep the ACC championship game in their sights. Lose at Clemson, pick up a second ACC loss, and the odds would be firmly stacked against them.
The Blue Devils responded with a gutsy 46-45 victory Saturday at Memorial Stadium on a sunny day that saw Duke dominate the first quarter, fall behind, then finish with a flourish for the Devils’ first win at Clemson since 1980.
Duke’s Nate Sheppard scored on a 3-yard run with 40 seconds remaining and Darian Mensah then hit Sahmir Hagans for a two-point conversion and the lead. The Tigers (3-5, 2-4 ACC) could not counter and the Blue Devils ((5-3, 4-1 ACC) celebrated and danced off the field after a fifth consecutive ACC road win.
Anderson Castle (4) of the Duke Blue Devils runs the ball by Khalil Barnes (7) of the Clemson Tigers during the first half of a football game at Memorial Stadium on Nov. 1, 2025 in Clemson, South Carolina. David Jensen Getty Images
It was a game filled with big plays and momentum-shifters, enough to keep Duke coach Manny Diaz and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney pacing the sidelines, working the headphones and looking for answers.
“Wow, what a college football game,” Diaz said. “It was a game where you had to survive. Both sides were throwing haymakers. It took everything we had to win this game.
Hagans returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown and wide receiver Cooper Barkate had a 77-yard touchdown catch. Clemson’s T.J. Moore had a 75-yard touchdown grab with 10:28 left in the fourth quarter on the first play after the Blue Devils tied the score 38-38 on a Todd Pelino field goal.
With Clemson up 45-38, Mensah’s 56-yard pass to tight end Jeremiah Hasley set Duke up at the Clemson 35 with a little more than four minutes left in the fourth. The Devils had fourth-and-short at the Clemson 26 and Mensah found Hasley for eight yards and a first down, but a holding penalty then pushed Duke back.
The Blue Devils faced fourth-and-10 at the Clemson 18, but the Tigers’ Avieon Terrell was called for pass interference on a throw over the middle to Que’Sean Brown. Duke then took the lead on Sheppard’s short touchdown run and averted overtime with Mensah’s throw to Hagans.
“We felt good so about our two-point play and they had been so hot on offense,” Diaz said.
Both quarterbacks had huge days. Duke quarterback Darian Mensah was 27-of-41 for 361 yards passing and four touchdowns. Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, returning to the lineup after an ankle injury, was 27-36 for 385 yards and two scores.
Darian Mensah of the Duke Blue Devils looks on during the first half of a football game against the Clemson Tigers at Memorial Stadium on November 01, 2025 in Clemson, South Carolina. David Jensen Getty Images
Duke kept Memorial Stadium quiet most of the first quarter and Mensah passed for three touchdowns and the Devils bolted to a 21-7 lead. One was a 77-yard throw to Barkate, when found himself alone down the right sideline when the Clemson defensive back sprinted up to the line and left Barkate with nothing but an open field.
The Tigers dominated Duke on both sides of the ball in the second quarter behind the running of Adam Randall and a defense that shut down the Duke attack. But Hagans sprinted 100 yards on a kick return, and Duke forced a 28-28 tie with 11 seconds left in the half on Mensah’s 43-yard TD throw to Brown.
Brown was able to get behind the Clemson defense and Swinney was in the faces of his defenders once they were on the bench, turning red-faced during his tirade.
What did we learn about Duke in the game?
Perfect start for Blue Devils
Duke, with the off week to prepare, could not have scripted a better start. Duke’s defense took the field first, getting a three-and-out and sacking Klubnik on third down – just what the Devils wanted.
The Duke offense then took the field and scored on its first possession, converted a pair of fourth-down plays on two 10-yard passes to Cooper Barkate and then got the TD throw to Brown in the left corner.
The first quarter would have been the perfect quarter for Duke had the Tigers not used a 64-yard play to set up their first TD. Mensah threw for 176 yards and threw scores in the period as the Devils outgained the Tigers 199-80 and were 3-for-3 on fourth-down plays as Diaz stayed on the offensive when Duke had the ball.
Clemson run game hurt Devils
Diaz said before the game that a big part of the defensive game plan was to stop the run and then harass the passer, whether it was Klubnik or Christopher Vizzina at QB.
The Tigers were averaging 116.4 yards a game on the ground, 13th in the ACC, and had gone through some offensive line shuffling. That appeared to be the Tigers’ weak spot for Duke to attack.
Randall, a 6-2, 230-pound senior, had 15 carries for 93 yards and two scores as the Tigers had 145 yards in the opening half and averaged 5.6 yards a carry. The Clemson offensive line began to overpower Duke up front, creating seams for Randall to run and consistently picked up good yardage on first down.
Kubnik wasn’t as pressured as the Devils hoped he would be, showing good mobility when he did have to scramble and completing 10 of 14 throws in the opening half.
Diaz, in a radio interview as he left the field at halftime, said the Tigers’ ability to run was unacceptable and said changes had to be made during the break.
Kicking game still plus/minus for Duke
Duke has consistently had kicking game problems this season and some of it continued Saturday. And again, it was costly.
The Blue Devils, after scoring in the final seconds of the first half for a 28-28 tie, had the ball to start the second half. But a three-and-out sequence by Clemson’s defense was followed by the onrushing Tigers getting a piece of Kade Reynoldson’s punt.
Clemson took over at midfield and scored in seven plays to take the lead.
And then …
Hagans gathered in the Clemson kickoff in the end zone and took off. When he was done running 12 seconds later, he had a 100-yard return and Duke a 35-35 tie.
It was Duke’s first kickoff return for a score since a 99-yarder against Mississippi in last year’s Gator Bowl – by Hagans.
Pelino also converted the 37-yard field goal in the fourth to tie the score. A miss there could have been a killer for Duke.
“Special teams can be momentum builders on the road,” Diaz said.
This story was originally published November 1, 2025 at 4:04 PM.
In more than 40 years at The N&O, Chip Alexander has covered the N.C. State, UNC, Duke and East Carolina beats, and now is in his 15th season on the Carolina Hurricanes beat. Alexander, who has won numerous writing awards at the state and national level, covered the Hurricanes’ move to North Carolina in 1997 and was a part of The N&O’s coverage of the Canes’ 2006 Stanley Cup run.
CHAPEL HILL – Clemson started fast Saturday in Chapel Hill.
The Tigers scored on their first play from scrimmage, added a three-play touchdown drive on its second possession and tacked on a 45-yard touchdown on its third drive.
Clemson led 21-3 late in the first quarter.
Clemson’s first play was a double pass from wide receiver Antonio Williams to T.J. Moore, who got behind the UNC defense for a 75-yard score. UNC responded with a field goal, but Clemson answered quickly. The Tigers went 75 yards in three plays.
On its next drive, Clemson converted on fourth-and-4 and then scored on a 45-yard catch-and-run on the next play.
North Carolina is without starting quarterback Gio Lopez. Lopez was been ruled for the game. Max Johnson, who started last year’s season opener for UNC and has extensive experience at LSU and Texas A&M, started for the Tar Heels (2-2) against the Tigers (1-3, 0-2 in the ACC).
Both teams were off last week.
Lopez, who left the UCF game with a leg injury, didn’t practice during the Tar Heels’ bye week. He had been listed as questionable earlier in the week WRAL reported Friday that Johnson would get the start. Johnson has played well in relief of Lopez late in losses to TCU and UCF.
The Tar Heels’ offense is in need of a boost, ranking among the nation’s worst in yards per game and first downs gained.
Defensive end Pryce Yates, a transfer from UConn who has missed the first four games of the season, is off the injured list.
It is the first meeting between UNC head coach Bill Belichick, a six-time Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots, and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, who has won two college football national championships. It is just the second meeting between a coach with multiple Super Bowl titles and one with multiple national titles in college.
Rapper and actor Ludacris performed on campus before the noon kickoff as part of the school’s new “Chapel Thrill” concert series. He said 10 a.m. was the earliest he’s ever performed.
CLEM – T.J. Moore 75 pass from Antonio Williams (Nolan Hauser kick), 14:49. Drive: 1 play, 75 yards, 0:11. Key play: Clemson’s first play from scrimmage was a double pass, and Moore snuck behind the defense for a catch and run.
UNC – Rece Verhoff 35 field goal, 10:02. Drive: 10 plays, 58 yards, 4:39. Key play: QB Max Johnson was hit as he threw it and the ball popped up in the air, but WR Jordan Shipp snagged it and gained 21 yards on the play.
CLEM – Adam Randall 35 pass from Cade Klubnik (Hauser kick), 8:54. Drive: 3 plays, 75 yards, 1:08. Key play: Klubnik hit Bryant Wesco Jr. for a 36-yard gain and then Randall took a short pass 35 yards down the sideline for the score.
CLEM – Christian Bentancur 45 pass from Klubnik (Hauser kick), 4:15. Drive: 5 plays, 57 yards, 2:48. Key play: Clemson converted on fourth-and-4 to extend the drive. The Tigers had third-and-18, gained 14 yards and then converted on the fourth-down try.
CLEM – Randall 23 pass from Klubnik (Hauser kick), 0:01. Drive: 7 plays, 46 yards, 2:54. Key play: Clemson converted on fourth-and-1 and the next play Klubnik found Randall behind the UNC defense.
Florida State fell out of The Associated Press college football poll on Tuesday after starting the season 0-2, becoming just the third team to go from preseason top 10 to unranked in the first regular-season poll since the rankings expanded to 25 in 1989.
Georgia remained No. 1, receiving 57 first-place votes after starting the season with a blowout of then-No. 14 Clemson. The Tigers hung on at No. 25, but it was the second straight year they dropped at least 10 spots after losing their season opener.
Ohio State was No. 2 with five first-place votes. No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Alabama each moved up a spot, putting three Southeastern Conference teams in the top four along with Georgia. The last time the SEC did that in a non-pandemic season was Sept. 22, 2019.
No. 5 Notre Dame jumped two spots after opening the season with a victory at then-No. 20 Texas A&M, which fell out of the rankings.
Florida State has been the early season’s major disappointment. The defending Atlantic Coast Conference champion lost in Dublin, Ireland, to ACC rival Georgia Tech and then dropped another league game Monday night at home to Boston College.
No other preseason Top 25 team this year lost to an unranked opponent to open the season. Florida State did it twice as a double-digit favorite and did not receive a single vote from the AP poll panel.
The other preseason top-10 teams to fall all the way out of the Top 25 after Week 1 in the past 35 years were Michigan in 2007 after famously losing to Appalachian State as No. 5 and Clemson in 2008. The Tigers were No. 9 but opened with a blowout loss to Alabama and tumbled out of the rankings.
Mississippi remained at No. 6. Oregon slipped four spots to No. 7 after winning a close game with Idaho. Penn State stayed at No. 8. Missouri moved up two spots to No. 9 to give the SEC five teams in the top 10. Michigan dropped one spot to No. 10.
Georgia Tech’s 2-0 start has the No. 23 Yellow Jackets ranked for the first time since 2015.
Poll points
Because Florida State started its season a week before most of the country, it moves into an exclusive club of teams that began their seasons 0-2 with each loss coming while ranked in the top 10.
Notre Dame was the last to do it in 2022, when the Fighting Irish began the season No. 5, lost at No. 2 Ohio State in their opener, and then were beaten at home the next week by Marshall while ranked eighth. The Irish went to on finish 9-4.
Ohio State opened the 1986 season ranked ninth and lost back-to-back games to ranked opponents, No. 5 Alabama and No. 17 Washington. The Buckeyes were No. 10 when they played the Huskies. Ohio State finished 10-3.
The 1967 Texas team and TCU from 1952 also started 0-2 while ranked in the top 10 in both games.
Florida State is only the second ranked team to lose twice before the first regular-season poll was released, joining Kentucky in 1951. The Wildcats went from No. 6 to No. 17 while going 1-2 to start the season, losing at No. 11 Texas and at Mississippi.
Florida State gets a weekend off before resuming its schedule with home games against Memphis and new ACC member California before a trip to SMU followed by a home game against Clemson.
“You’ve got a football team that nobody envisioned ever being where we are and having disappointment, having failure, but I do believe in what this team can do,” coach Mike Norvell said after the BC loss. “I believe in what this team can accomplish.”
Moving up
The big movers upward in the Top 25 were Miami and Southern California.
The Hurricanes jumped seven spots to No. 12 after routing Florida at The Swamp and have their best ranking since cracking the top 10 late in the 2020 season.
No. 13 USC moved up 10 places after beating LSU with a late touchdown Sunday night in Las Vegas. LSU dropped to No. 18.
The Trojans started last season at No. 6, but ended up unranked after a disappointing 8-5 season with 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams.
In and out
The only other team to move into the rankings this week, along with Georgia Tech, was fellow ACC school Louisville. The Cardinals were among the top unranked voter-getters in the preseason and now sit at No. 22.
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Conference call
Despite Florida State and Clemson starting the season 0-3, the ACC has one more team in this week’s rankings than it did last time:
SEC — 8 (Nos. 1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 14, 16, 18).
Big Ten — 6 (Nos. 2, 7, 8, 10, 13, 21).
ACC — 5 (Nos. 12, 22, 23, 24, 25).
Big 12 — 5 (Nos. 11, 16, 17, 19, 20).
Independent — 1 (No. 5).
Ranked vs. ranked
No. 3 Texas at No. 10 Michigan. The first regular-season meeting ever is a top-10 matchup at the Big House.
No. 14 Tennessee vs. No. 24 N.C. State in Charlotte, North Carolina. Interesting SEC-ACC ranked matchup.
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Ralph D. Russo | The Associated Press
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ATLANTA — The top ranked Georgia Bulldogs scored 28 points in the second half, rolling over the 14th ranked Clemson Tigers 34-3 in the Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
This win makes it 40 consecutive regular season wins for the Bulldogs, improving their record to 7-0 in season openers under head coach Kirby Smart.
Smart loved what he saw from his team in the win.
“Anytime you play in Atlanta in this facility (Mercedes-Benz Stadium) where you’re playing another top-15, top-20 matchup, to me it feels like a playoff game,” Smart said after the game. “It’s a great way to assess where you are as a team. You want to be playing your best towards the end of the year and one of the best barometers is to get quality wins.”
Offense was at a premium in the first half for both teams. The Bulldogs outgained the Tigers 160-76 in total offense but managed to take a 6-0 lead into halftime.
Quarterback Carson Beck was confident in the offense ability to execute in the second half.
“I think coming out in the first quarter, maybe there was a little bit of nerves, maybe guys were trying to get warmed into the game,” Beck said. “Once we got in the second half and saw what they were doing against us, we just kind of deciphered which ways we wanted to attack them and tried to be a little bit aggressive (and) I think we did a really good job of that.”
Georgia grinds down Clemson in the second half
The Bulldogs scored on the first drive after halftime. Beck threw a fade to senior Colbie Young for an eight yard touchdown pass.
The Tigers marched downfield on the ensuing drive. However, they settled for a 26-yard field goal by Nolan Hauser. It would cutting the Bulldogs lead to 13-3 with 6:34 remaining in the third quarter. Consequently, it would be the last time Clemson would score.
The Bulldogs responded on the next drive. Freshman running back Nate Frazier scored on a one-yard touchdown run, pushing the lead to 17. Frazier finished the game with 11 carries for 83 yards as the Bulldogs scored twice to finish the game.
“At the end of the day, we got to fight, finish,” said Clemson defensive lineman Peter Woods. “It’s a long season ahead. There’s no hope for a better yesterday, but there’s hope for us to do something about it tomorrow and the day after that and the days to come. That’s kind of how we’re approaching that.”
Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck finished 23-33, throwing for 278 yards and two touchdowns. He improves to 14-1 as a starter and 6-1 against ranked opponents.
“First of all, congrats to Georgia,” said Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney. “It was a good first half. Tough, hard-fought first half. Then they just freaking kicked our tails in the second half. Congrats to them. They’re a great team. They’ve been a great team. They showed in the third and fourth quarter what it looks like.”
Georgia will host Tennessee Tech next Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Clemson coach Dabo Swinney told anybody who’d listen to buy stock in his team last fall after the Tigers won five straight games after early struggles.
It won’t take long to see if Swinney’s latest bit of braggadocio has legs. For now, Swinney likes how his team has handled business heading into a season where they hope to once more contend for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and the College Football Playoff.
Swinney said his guys have shown chemistry, leadership and accountability to understand and not repeat the mistakes that got them off to a 4-4 start and eliminated their title hopes.
“All those things, they all check the boxes,” Swinney said. “Now, we got to get out on the field, got to put the work in, get better and find a way to win some games on the field.”
Clemson’s season will likely again be defined its first few weeks. The 14th-ranked Tigers open in Atlanta against No. 1 Georgia, the national champions in 2021 and 2022. Three weeks later, Clemson hosts No. 24 North Carolina State and two weeks after that the Tigers go to No. 10 Florida State.
Win them all and Swinney looks like a genius chasing another national title. Lose them all and questions about Swinney’s stewardship will continue to grow, like a year ago when a call from “Tyler from Spartanburg” on Swinney’s radio show touched off a loud defense of his program and perhaps sparked the team’s closing rally.
Swinney boiled it all down to poor decisions and turnovers that Clemson reduced during its last five wins. The Tigers were causing the mistakes down the stretch instead of making them and Swinney hopes that’s the way it will go early.
Klubnik’s growth
Quarterback Cade Klubnik was a focal point of miscues and poor choices in his first full season as a starter. Along with 12 interceptions, he had a costly fumble in an overtime loss to Florida State and failed on fourth down — trying to make something happen on his own — in an overtime loss at Miami.
“Less interceptions, less sacks, being able to make big-time plays with either my legs or throwing the ball downfield,” he said.
Deep core of receivers
The buzz of the offseason has been about the influx of young receivers or injured players at that position coming back healthy. The result could be the deepest group of wideouts at Clemson since the days of Mike Williams, Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross had the school referred to as “Wide Receiver U.”
Bryant Wesco and T.J. Moore are the newcomers, fast, strong and able to stretch the field. Adam Randall appears healed from a broken hand.
Tyler Brown, a freshman who led the team in catches and receiving yards last year, had nagging injuries of his own through the season. And Antonio Williams, a freshman breakout player two years ago, played only five games due to ankle and foot injuries.
All look healthy and productive.
Defensive stand
The Tigers had one of the country’s top defenses, allowing 288.2 yards a game, ranking eighth in the nation. Expect that to continue this season with Barrett Carter back at linebacker and a stacked line led by ends Peter Woods and T.J. Parker.
Clemson will miss first-round NFL cornerback Nate Wiggins, but have sophomore safety Khalil Barnes leading the secondary.
Kicking game
Last year, Swinney called Jonathan Weitz at the beach to return to school when kicker Robert Gunn struggled. He is hopeful Gunn, who continued kicking off after Weitz returned, has put his field-goal struggles aside. The Tigers have added Nolan Hauser, a freshman considered the nation’s No. 1 kicking prospect.
The schedule
Besides facing three ranked teams in the first six weeks, the Tigers have a home game in October against Virginia and coach Tony Elliott, who was co-offensive coordinator on both of Swinney’s national title teams, a Nov. 2 game against Louisville and the regular-season closer against rival South Carolina at home Nov. 30.
Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik walked by Coach Dabo Swinney’s extended hand during the Tigers’ embarrassing loss to Duke in college football on Monday, prompting the coach to look back at his player.
The viral interaction spurred suspicion from fans that Klubnik’s move wasn’t an accident.
The frustration on Monday may have been encapsulated by the moment between Klubnik and Swinney in the third quarter.
The two appeared on the same page afterward, according to Clemson Insider, with the coach telling the team that it can still turn the season into a “sweet story” and Klubnik agreeing with him.
But besides throwing for 207 yards, one touchdown and one interception, Klubnik seemed to throw some shade his coach’s way in that awkward exchange, according to observers.
North Carolina Tar Heels
