Dabo Swinney addresses 'flipping burgers' comments, perceived shot at Tennessee

Earlier this month, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney made headlines in Knoxville when he talked about Tennessee and brought up “flipping burgers.” That comment led to a swift response — and he shared his thoughts on the reaction this week.

Swinney initially made his remarks on his radio show, perhaps implying Tennessee looked past South Carolina and Vanderbilt on its upcoming schedule. The Volunteers ended up falling to the Gamecocks at Williams-Brice Stadium, likely ending their College Football Playoff hopes.

“They’re flipping burgers during the conference championship weekend,” Swinney said, “like are we going to Atlanta or Phoenix, and next thing you know you forget you gotta go play.”

Tennessee fans then vowed to send Swinney spatulas in response to his comments. However, during his press conference Tuesday, the Clemson coach fired back, saying his comments were taken out of context.

“That’s just a classic example of people just hear what they want to hear,” Swinney said. “I actually was paying them a compliment. I was really more challenging our guys. … We were talking about finishing and how hard it is to win. I’m talking about our guys, you say, ‘OK. You’ve got a path that’s clear. But you have to finish.’ I just made the point the team we’re getting ready to play, this team, they’ve just got to do this and do that, then next week, they just can sit at home and flip burgers and watch all the championship games they’re in. But you’ve got to finish.

“It’s not anything against Tennessee, man. I got all the respect in the world for Tennessee. People just hear what they want to hear. I’m so sure. That’s not a shot at them at all. It just was what had just happened and was talking about our guys and how we’ve got to finish and the path is clear and so forth. That just comes with the territory. It doesn’t matter what you say. People hear what they want to hear and take what they want to take and create whatever narrative they want. That’s my world.”

There’s still a chance Tennessee and Clemson could meet up during Bowl Season. As On3 and VolQuest’s Grant Ramey wrote, ESPN’s Mark Schlabach projected the Volunteers and Tigers could wind up meeting in the Orange Bowl.