Clemson Tigers football coach Dabo Swinney suffered an unfathomable fifth loss of the 2025 season during the first week of November on Saturday, losing 46-45 to the Duke Blue Devils in Death Valley.
ESPN’s David Hale compared Clemson to a Motel 6, and essentially likened Swinney to a manager. In other words, Death Valley is a ghost town after a 3-5 start has Swinney admitting he’s scared he’ll be fired after games.
Hale also compared Clemson Memorial Stadium to a Spirit Halloween Store on November 1: empty and cold, with discounts to be had since the value post-October 31 is gone.
“Dabo Swinney took over as interim coach at Clemson on Oct. 13, 2008, and proceeded to lose his first home game 21-17 to Georgia Tech. After that Swinney won 74 of his next 83 games vs. Power-conference competition in Death Valley and established Clemson as one of the country's best programs, and Memorial Stadium as one of the most intimidating places for an opponent to take the field,” Hale wrote.
“Now, Death Valley is more like a Motel 6, with Dabo leaving the light on for anyone interested in stopping by for a visit.
“Duke jumped out to a 21-7 lead, converted all five fourth-down tries, used a controversial pass interference call to score with 40 seconds remaining and then completed a 2-point conversion to topple Clemson 46-45. It was Duke's first win at Clemson since 1980, and it was the Tigers' sixth straight defeat at home against a Power 4 foe, dating back to last year.
“The good news for Clemson is Swinney can now stop by his home stadium and pick up one of those giant skeletons for, like, 75% off.”
Facing the Florida State Seminoles, Louisville Cardinals, Furman Palladins, and South Carolina Gamecocks, there’s a chance Clemson wins one more game and finishes with its worst record in the Dabo era. There are also three very winnable games in that mix if Tom Allen can get his group together, and if Cade Clubnik could shoulder a massive load if that doesn’t happen.
If Swinney can’t fix things, the college football coaching carousel could inspire some schools to hold off and give their head coach extra rope, knowing the top coaches won’t sign on the dotted line, and consider others to get aggressive with a diamond in the rough find on the market with an influx of unemployed personnel.
Clemson firing Swinney seems unfathomable, but so did the Oklahoma State Cowboys firing Mike Gundy at one point.