Paul Finebaum reveals what Clemson's loss to South Carolina says about Dabo Swinney, his dynasty

It has been a frustrating season for Clemson. The Tigers have been good but not dominant the way Clemson was in recent years under Dabo Swinney. That culminated in a loss to rival South Carolina, which college football analyst Paul Finebaum said, “further enhances the perception that Dabo’s dynasty is done.”

While speaking to ESPN’s Matt Barrie, Paul Finebaum explained why he thinks this loss is helping to make it look like the Clemson dynasty is over.

“I’m sorry,” Paul Finebaum said. “I’ve been saying that now for two years. He made some very big calls in the offseason and we’re still looking to see the development of not going outside for coordinators and staying inside.”

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Paul Finebaum is referring to Clemson losing coordinators to head coaching roles and Dabo Swinney choosing to replace them with in-house hires strictly. This is a decision that has been criticized thoroughly, especially as the team has seen some regression.

“By the way, some of the guys that left are available again. So, it’ll be interesting to see if one of them comes back,” Paul Finebaum said, referencing the now fired Jeff Scott.

“But, the point being, Clemson could have backed into all of this, whether they deserved it or not, I don’t think they did. Suddenly, all these games that were big, remember the double overtime win over Wake Forest, that doesn’t look so hot anymore, does it? I mean, the fact that Dabo Swinney lost at home is a huge deal. The fact that he lost for the first time since 2013 to South Carolina, and where in the world did this South Carolina team come from?”

Matt Barrie pointed out that this loss snapped Clemson’s 40-game home winning streak. He also pointed out everything that Clemson has lost over the years. Several coordinators are gone and the current quarterback, DJ Uiagalelei, is struggling compared to previous quarterbacks, like Trevor Lawrence.

“He had a similar run that [Nick] Saban has had, with Jalen Hurts, Tua [Tagovailoa], Mac Jones, and Bryce Young,” Paul Finebaum said. “Except, he just compressed them into two guys, as opposed to four guys…by no means am I suggesting this isn’t a good program. It is. It’s just–I think Clemson has some issues on NIL too that they need to readdress. I know they are, but they’ve fallen behind a little bit and I think they’ll have a hard way back to the elite level.”

Paul Finebaum certainly thinks Clemson is a good program. It’s just that he feels Dabo Swinney has recently made mistakes. Because of these mistakes, the program has fallen off from the tier of elite teams.

Paul Finebaum on the chances Swinney takes a new job

While speaking to Matt Barrie, Paul Finebaum was asked if he thought there was any chance Dabo Swinney could take a new job. However, Finebaum doubted that possibility.

“I don’t think he would be interested. I mean, he’s just got such a good situation there right now. And as we’re talking, I see Luke Fickell now being targeted by Wisconsin. That’s a guy who — Luke’s a name you heard in every coaching search. That was Pete Thamel reporting that, I just happened to catch my phone as we were chatting here,” Paul Finebaum said.

“And again, the Auburn situation, I think, I would keep your eye on that as the day goes on. There’s a lot of pushback at the moment that could change.”