ESPN analysts take shot at Dabo Swinney's coaching ability

Following Clemson’s double overtime loss to NC State, a pair of ESPN analysts took to Twitter to question the coaching ability of Dabo Swinney. His Tigers now sit at 2-2 and are in serious danger of missing the College Football Playoff for the first time in six seasons.

“Been telling Clemson fans for 18 months, the offense is behind everyone scheme-wise,” Dan Orvlosky tweeted. “Trevor (Lawrence) covered it up a lot and it held him back. It can’t always be about ‘execution.’ Your coach’s job is to make executions ‘easier.’ It’s fair to ask, ‘Yes you can recruit, but can you develop?'”

Although that might seem like a knee-jerk reaction, at least one other analyst agrees. David Pollack said he saw the signs a lot earlier, in fact.

“Eighteen months?” Pollack replied in a quote tweet. “It was the same for Deshaun Watson too.”

In addition to six appearances in the Playoff, Swinney also has four national title game appearances and won two of them. Most recently, he led the Tigers to a 44-16 victory against Alabama in 2018.

It’s clear that Clemson is not as good a team as in past years, but is it fair to call out Swinney’s coaching ability four games in?

The Tigers are starting a new quarterback in DJ Uiagalelei. He looked rough against the Wolfpack, finished 12-of-26 passing for just 111 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He had a quarterback rating of just 44.9.

The poor performance led many to question if a quarterback change was on the horizon, but Swinney quickly put the speculation to rest.

“I thought D.J gave us a chance to win the game,” Swinney said. “I thought he did a lot of good things. He’s just going to continue to get better. He’s got a great, great future. Unfortunately, we’re not where we wanted to be. We thought we’d be 4-0 right now.”

The Clemson offense also struggled to get things going on the ground and totaled only 103 yards rushing in the loss. It wasn’t a great game for offense as the score was knotted at 14 after regulation.

The Tigers will have an opportunity to get back on track when they play Boston College, fresh off of a victory against Missouri, next Saturday. If there’s one thing Swinney does know about coaching, it’s not to encourage your players and let them know you still believe in them.

He clearly did that with Uiagalelei and the rest of the team.

“I don’t think any less of him right now than I would if we were 4-0,” Swinney said. “Because I know how hard he works, and he gave us a chance to win the game tonight. I know he’s certainly got things he’s gotta do better as well. At this point at 2-2 you look at everything. There is nothing you don’t evaluate. But I think D.J is our quarterback.”