Brian Kelly did not need much time to understand why Clemson fans were furious after the season opener. The Tigers had just suffered the worst loss of Dabo Swinney’s tenure, and the questions around the program were always going to follow him into the next press conference. However, rather than calm things down, the Clemson head coach berated a reporter who asked him about his roster decisions heading into the 2026 campaign.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“I think the question was wrong by the reporter because it was shortsighted and emotional after a very obviously disappointing day, right?” Kelly said on the September 10 SiriusXM podcast with Danny Kanell and Roy Philpott. “But on the other hand. Dabo was wrong as well because you got to know when you go into that Monday press conference, you’re getting beat up, and you need to take it on the chin because you guys play poorly, and that’s on the head coach.”
On Monday, a reporter from The State asked Swinney about regrets regarding his roster choice in Week 1. Instead of accepting accountability, the two-time national champion went on a 90-second rant and said he didn’t “regret” going 0-1 and asked the reporter to repeat the question at the end of the season. Despite that confidence in the presser, Clemson had almost nothing go right against LSU in Week 1
The 10-51 score alone was ugly. The numbers underneath it were worse. LSU finished with 644 total yards. Clemson had 145. The Tigers managed only 105 passing yards and 40 rushing yards. LSU produced 335 through the air and 309 on the ground. Clemson’s offense, however, never found rhythm against LSU’s defense.
Clemson converted just one of 13 third-down attempts, while LSU went 11-for-16. Swinney’s offense also had the ball for only 23:51 compared with LSU’s 36:09. Despite the blowout loss, the criticism from the reporter was unjustified, and Brian Kelly acknowledged it. The former LSU head coach who defeated Dabo Swinney in 2025 also had a suggestion for the latter.
“I think he [Swinney] needs a deeper season to figure that out, and then I was disappointed that Dabo didn’t walk into that press conference going I need to take every one of these on the chin,” Brian Kelly, who is now CBS’ in-game analyst, said.
Interestingly, Swinney has faced that kind of pressure before. His response has usually been to keep working rather than make sweeping changes. The first major test came in 2010. Clemson went 6-7 that season, its first losing campaign since 1998. Swinney’s job became a major talking point.
After the regular-season finale against South Carolina, he reportedly expected to be fired. Instead, athletic director Terry Don Phillips retained him. Clemson then lost the Meineke Car Care Bowl to South Florida. Swinney did not respond by abandoning his approach. He changed his staff.
In January 2011, he hired Chad Morris as OC, Tony Elliott, and Marion Hobby to his coaching staff. The changes helped produce one of the biggest turnarounds of Swinney’s career. Clemson went 10-4 in 2011, won its first ACC championship since 1991, beating Virginia Tech 38-10 in the conference title game.