LSU took it to Clemson in Death Valley on Saturday night.
The Tigers topped the other Tigers, 51-10, in the biggest game of college football’s Week 1 slate. LSU looked dominant in the first game of the Lane Kiffin era, while Dabo Swinney’s team looked the part of a middling team.
Swinney, who has won two national titles at Clemson, hasn’t put a top-tier team on the field in several years now. Will he ever return to glory? ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum does not think so.
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Finebaum, who has long been a critic of Swinney, doesn’t think the Tigers returning to prominence.
“First of all, if you think you’re going to go out and get Chad Morris from the dollar store reject base and think you’re going to save your program, you’re not going to. I am just in shock at some of Dabo Swinney’s moves. Bringing Chad Morris in. Going with the quarterback that he did. It’s over for Dabo Swinney. I know that sounds hyperbolic. I know that sounds like oh, there’s Paul Finebaum screaming from the lawn, but it’s the truth. It’s been trending for a number of years. This team played for the national championship six and a half years ago against LSU. And mostly it’s been the bottom since then,” he said on Monday’s “Get Up.”
Clemson isn’t likely to fire Swinney, as he still has a hefty buyout, approaching $60 million.
However, if things turn south for Clemson in a major way this season, the Tigers’ hand could be forced.
It feels like the end of the Swinney era at Clemson.
