All in all, Saturday evening did not go well for Clemson and its coach, Dabo Swinney. The Tigers entered the game against Louisville at 6-1 overall and undefeated in the ACC, and were double-digit favorites to beat a Cardinals team to which it had never lost.
Alas, Swinney’s Tigers laid an absolute egg on their home field, losing, 33-21, in a game that really was not even that close. When it was over, in his postgame press conference, Swinney took the blame for the loss–and then said something especially odd about the home fans at Memorial Stadium.
He offered them praise.
“It hurts. It’s a missed opportunity. Huge missed opportunity,” Swinney said. “We didn’t deserve to win. They absolutely deserved to win, we did not. So, we gotta give them all the credit. We looked like a very poorly coached team tonight and that’s on me. Simple as that. Just incredibly disappointed with our performance tonight.
“And thought our fans were awesome, it was another great environment. We really missed an opportunity. It’s incredibly frustrating.”