MEMORIAL STADIUM (Clemson, SC) – The bodies packed inside the Esso Club were packed tight, almost shoulder to shoulder as a line spilled out of the bar, back towards the door and out into the courtyard.
Four hours passed before Dabo Swinney’s Tigers kicked off against the No. 1 Hurricanes. 4 of Miami, and the beer was on full flow inside Clemson’s Original Sports Bar. A quartet of Tigers’ orange-clad patrons created a pyramid of masked Busch light cans in the center of their towering pinnacle, each marveling at their pale ale-filled work of engineering.
En route to Clemson’s favorite watering hole, a pair of Tigers faithful revealed themselves to a trio of Miami fans as Palm Beach residents.
“When you wake up 20, pull some,” chided one.
“I think you guys owe us for that 58-0 at your house,” admitted the other, a brief reminder of the Hurricanes’ antics before Mario Cristobal.
Whatever gas last week’s win over Cal pumped into Swinney’s players, Clemson’s carburetors flooded Saturday as the Tigers were soundly pummeled, 41-13, by a Miami team that looks as wild as its 2025 version, which was one point short of a national title.
Walking off the field after the loss, the Clemson team was surrounded by a sea of Miami fans who made the trip north. They attacked Cristobal. They threw iPhones skyward in hopes of capturing a selfie with Mark Fletcher Jr.’s bruised background.
They chanted, as the clock ticked, “Fire Dabo! Fire Dabo!”
Welcome to the life of a program stuck in neutral.
“Victory cures everything” Former Clemson standout Eric Mac Lain told me before the game along the Tigers’ sideline. “… But it’s just one of those things where it’s a double-edged sword because, for years, what did (Swinney) preach? The best is the standard — and Clemson obviously hasn’t been in their favor.”
Saturday was supposed to be a wash. Forecasts called for heavy rain that could send the Tigers into their third weather delay of the season. The rain stopped. The fans showed up.
Death Valley rocked and swayed as the Tigers rolled past Howard’s Rock and onto the playing surface at Memorial Stadium before kickoff. It came to a lull when Clemson actually had to run its offense.
The Tigers burned a timeout before getting an offensive touchdown on the first play of the game. A fumble on third down saw freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds flattened by Hurricanes linebacker Chase Smith.
A long night for Tait Reynolds and the Clemson Tigers. (Photo by John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
A preview of upcoming attractions.
Twice the Tigers committed penalties inside the Miami 10-yard line. Twice the Tigers turned the ball over on Miami’s nil. Twice — once late in the half and once to open the third quarter — the Tigers failed to score in the red zone.
“We’ve got to close that gap,” Swinney said in his postgame press conference. “…These are game-changing opportunities that you have to cash in on to give yourself a chance to win games like that. And we didn’t.”
“… We’re a work in progress, but the season’s not over. We’ve got a long way to go. It’s a (long) season. This stinks. We played a really good team and they were better than us today. We’ve got to see if we get better the next time we play, and then at the end of the season, hopefully we’re a football team that nobody wants.”
Dabo Swinney watches as Clemson fell to the Miami Hurricanes. (Photo by Eston Parker/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Saturday wasn’t so much a reckoning as it was a reminder. Clemson used to be, this is not — a truth that makes the present and future in upstate South Carolina all the more uncomfortable.
Clemson is the poster child of schools that aspire for more.
It’s only been two years since the Tigers group filed suit against their league challenging the award of rights and, effectively, creating a smoother exit strategy from the ACC with fewer harsh financial penalties.
Those future aspirations — whether in the ACC or elsewhere — are perhaps less clear now Congress continues to entertain the College Sports Protection Act and strict anti-expansion clauses included in the bill’s wording.
However, winning football games would help those desires.
“It’s disappointing for all these guys who were used to winning 12-plus games a year,” Mac Lain said. “They are frustrated and rightly so, because they build us up and evaporate.
Does it suck? Yeah, but at the end of the day, just win and you’ll be fine.”
AND WHAT Miami in all this?
Hate it if you want, but Cristobal’s $40 million listing seems to be worth every penny.
The Hurricanes have been the most aggressive school this side of Texas Tech in the new college football world rankings. Boosters are, shall we say, woven into the fabric of South Florida’s top college football program. That they can directly contribute to the Canes’ success has proven as profitable as one could imagine.
Sweet quarterback Darian Mensah – whose offseason contract dispute with Duke created its own cavalcade of enemies across the ecosystem – justified in the match the headaches, the ticking clocks and the animosity that will undoubtedly be headed his way the rest of the season.
Darian Mensah once again had a big night for the ‘Canes. (Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images)
Mensah entered Saturday’s contest with more tackles (14) than pass completions (12). He was just as efficient among the roaring rows of orange and white that filled the stands in Death Valley, connecting on a pedestrian — at least by his otherworldly standards — 67% of his 27 passes for 227 yards and a score.
Lest you forget all-world receiver Malachi Toney, or his running mate Cooper Barkate, or passer Daylyn Upshaw, or Fletcher, or … OK, you get the point.
They stand out. They are physical. The Canes might just be the favorite for the national title. They saw it on Saturday night.
“Four years ago, we came here when we had just arrived in Miami with a roster that wasn’t what it was supposed to be. And our faces were put in the game,” Cristobal said after the 2022 offense the ‘Canes endured at Clemson. “It was good to come out today and play good football and give ourselves a chance to control our own destiny.”
Mario Cristobal has the ‘Canes on track to another CFP appearance. (Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images)
To be clear, there is no reckoning tomorrow for Swinney. Clemson is not a place that runs on the thrill of a single score against a national title contender.
Tigers athletic director Graham Neff is analytical and measured. Competitive? You bet. But he’s far from a shot from the hip, apologize later kind.
Still, there’s almost a wistfulness and longing for days gone by around the grounds outside of Death Valley. There was little angst for Swinney or the Tigers in the pregame talk. Talk to enough people and you’ll hear an appreciation of what has been achieved under his watch, even if that history is beginning to fade.
“We love Dabo. He gave us two national championships,” 2016 Clemson grad Ryan Hall told me. “But he gets paid $12 million a year. We expect a little bit more. At Clemson, we’re always going to show up. We just want to see our guys compete at the national level.”
One day, maybe soon, there will be a statue of Swinney in front of Tiger Stadium. No one has thought more highly of this program in its 130-year history, and a Week 5 loss to a talented Miami team won’t define its legacy.
But Saturday was a reminder that the statue can represent achievements long before Clemson’s most recent loss to the nation’s elite.
That’s enough of the indictment.