Ben Boulware critical of 2-loss Clemson, Dabo Swinney: 'We suck right now'

Former Clemson linebacker Ben Boulware didn’t hold back after the Tigers dropped Saturday’s game to Florida State to fall to 2-2 on the year.

Boulware appeared on WCCP on Thursday and shared his frustration with the way Clemson is playing at the moment.

“I thought the play calling was weird. The kicking game started solid and then ultimately pissed me off. The third-and-1 (pass in overtime), that doesn’t make sense. I get that we make mistakes, but that doesn’t make sense. … A bunch of question marks. Very weird. I don’t get it,” Boulware said.

“So I don’t know. We suck right now.  I get that like… ‘Yea, we should be 4-0 if it wasn’t for five plays.’ Well, you’re not 4-0. So I don’t know. I’m pissed. I’m in a bad mood.”

On his call-in show earlier this week, Tigers coach Dabo Swinney declared that this Clemson team reminds him of the 2016 Tigers team that won the national title, according to Jon Blau of the Post and Courier.

Boulware, who was on the 2016 national championship team, disagrees with Swinney’s take.

“I’ll never speak bad about coach Swinney, ever, til the day I die, because he’s elite and an incredible man and coach. … But I saw where Swinney… he tried to compare this team to the 2016 team, and said that the 2016 team stunk but was luckier than this version of the Tigers. Dude, I love you Swinney. And I know I’m not in that locker room. But come on,” Boulware said. “The 2016 team would whoop this team right now. We would freakin wipe our butts with this freakin team right now. So I saw that quote, and I was like, ‘Dude, there’s no way.’ We’re not even in the same spectrum as this team.”

The 2016 Clemson team started 4-0 with a 19-13 win over Auburn, a 30-24 win over Troy and blowout victories over South Carolina State and Georgia Tech.

“He’s gotta do damage control and say we’re a couple of plays away, and maybe we are. … I’m not in the film room and knowing exactly what plays are going on. But come on, dude. They’re not the freakin 2016 team. I know we lost to Pitt but we had some dogs on that team – first-rounders, dudes that are still in the NFL,” Boulware said.

“Comparing the first four games to now… they’re not comparable. We go to Auburn and win – tough contest, but it’s still Auburn. Troy. Like if you actually watch football, Troy had some dudes out there. … SC State, did what we needed to do. Georgia Tech. So like, if we’re comparing the first four, they’re not comparable.”