What a brutal weekend (and season) for Clemson fans and Dabo Swinney, right? The Tigers lost a heartbreaker at home to Duke, 46-45, and it was a total rollercoaster from the first drive to the last play. Even though Clemson’s offense put up more than 560 yards, the defense simply couldn’t seal the deal. Not only was it their first home loss to Duke in decades, the Tigers’ coaches got into a heated argument on the sideline.

The frustration boiled over during the last first half. Defensive coordinator Tom Allen and safeties coach Mickey Conn got into a serious shouting match, caught on video for everyone to see. This occurred immediately after a 77-yard touchdown by Duke, which exposed significant defensiv issues

On November 2nd, the day after the loss, Dabo Swinney confirmed the incident in the press conference: “Just in-game stuff, man. You give up a 77-yard touchdown on a bust, it’s frustrating. That’s football … Tom takes a lot of pride in what he’s trying to do.” (Per Chapel Fowler) although coach Swinney played it off as ‘In-game stuff’ the heated exchange definitely speaks a lot about Clemson’s defense. Their pass defense is ranked 95th, allowing 245 passing yards through the air. Respectfully, that might fly in the AAC, but not in the ACC. Pretty egregious for a program ranked top four defensively in the preseason.

Then came the moment that truly stung. On a crucial fourth down late in the game, the refs called pass interference on Clemson’s Avieon Terrell, which essentially saved Duke’s drive. Swinney was furious about the call after the game, calling it one of the worst he has ever seen. Duke scored the winning touchdown and two-point conversion a few plays later, which is exactly why Clemson woke up today at 3-5 instead of 4-4.

And if things weren’t already bad enough, the ACC slapped Clemson with a $10,000 fine and publicly reprimanded Swinney for criticizing the officials. Their sportsmanship policy is clear about not publicly blasting referees. So Clemson not only lost a gut-wrenching game, their head coach also got punished for speaking his mind.

This might be the worst year of Dabo Swinney’s tenure. Sitting at 3-5, they could miss a bowl game for the first time in a long time. With all the Power 5 coaching firings happening lately, even Swinney, whose seat has been ice-cold for a decade, might finally start feeling some heat.

Dabo Swinney’s time is ticking

The Clemson Tigers started the season with natty expectations. They were ranked in the top 5 of the AP Poll and had plenty of NFL-level talent on both sides of the ball. Dabo Swinney was extremely open about wanting to be the first program to go 16-0 in the 12-team playoff era. Fast forward to Week 11, and this is the most vulnerable we’ve seen Clemson in decades. Analysts are legitimately calling for his head now.

Former Patriots RB and CBS Sports analyst Damien Harris was one of the first to officially put Dabo Swinney on the hot seat after the weekend loss: “If Clemson loses again, and they continue to lose, I will just say this: Dabo Swinney’s name will be the first on the coach’s hot seat list going into next season,” Harris said. “It will be the first, it will be the biggest, and it will be the most warranted. For a program that has been at the heights that Clemson has been to, and for the success that Dabo Swinney has had, the fact that he could not mold himself and adapt to the game around him is showing.”

Even Dabo knows his job security is under review now. He even admitted that he could actually get fired after the Duke disaster. “I may get fired today!” he jokingly said. “Graham (Neff, the athletic director) is sitting in the back there, so I don’t know. But I can’t say I’d blame him…” Joke or not, his seat is on fire at this point, and it’s only a matter of time before we find out how much the Clemson board can stomach this collapse.