Paul Finebaum: Dabo Swinney's dynasty is over

The Clemson Tigers struggled in all three phases of the game on Saturday versus the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It was their first loss of the year but it was enough for ESPN and SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum to declare the Dabo Swinney dynasty era at Clemson “over.”

“Last year, I said this more for alliteration than anything else, that Dabo’s dynasty was done… and it’s true,” Finebaum told Matt Barrie on ESPN’s Week 10 recap show.

“It is over from the perspective of them being in the final four and the championship every year now. That’s two years in a row that they’re out. It’s a bigger blow to the ACC.”

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Barrie argued that the College Football Playoff committee’s first ranking had the Tigers too high, which Finebaum concurred. The performance versus Notre Dame on Saturday exposed the team’s weaknesses, though there were some prior indications.

“In the offseason, Dabo Swinney bet on himself, he elevated coordinators who nobody had heard of before, and it’s to be determined long-term whether that was the right call,” Finebaum said. “Short-term, this has not been a very good season for Clemson, in spite of a pretty good record with only one loss. They’ve had so many narrow escapes, you could feel it coming. I’m not too surprised, you’re not surprised and they’re gone. Heading into the second weekend in November and Clemson and Alabama are gone. That’s a paradigm shift in college football.”

Swinney: ‘They absolutely dominated’

The Tigers’ performance on Saturday was bad from start to finish. Dabo Swinney addressed that harsh reality after the game, describing how his team was “dominated” in “every aspect.”

“They just physically kicked our butt. Period. The end,” Swinney said. “They absolutely dominated us in every aspect of football and it starts with coaching, tackling, blocking, you name it. It is what it is.

“We gave up a score on offense, a score on special teams and a score on defense and that’s the first time that’s happened since I was a head coach,” he added. “We just got outcoached in every aspect of football. I wish I could say I saw it coming, but we had a great week of practice, a great week of preparation. But football’s a crazy game.”

Clemson’s 14-game win streak ended with the Week 10 loss and the Tigers have now slipped to No. 12 in the new AP Top 25. They wrap up the season with games versus Louisville, Miami and South Carolina.