CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is not interested in "Told ya so,' no matter how well his 17th-ranked Tigers are playing these days.
Swinney accepted those dogging his program after a 34-3 loss to then top-ranked Georgia a month ago. He won't clapback at them after Clemson's past two victories that have the team looking more like challengers for an Atlantic Coast Conference title and a College Football Playoff spot. “They can say whatever they want.
I don't need validation,” Swinney said this week. “I know who I am. .
. I know where I came from, where I've been and where I'm going.” Swinney and the Tigers (2-1, 1-0 ACC) hope to continue their recent success — they've beaten Appalachian State and N.
C. State by a combined 125-55 score since the Georgia loss — when new league member Stanford (2-1, 1-0) comes to Death Valley (South Carolina, not California) on Saturday night. Swinney, a two-time national champion, has taken hits because of his program's dropoff from their title-winning stretch of 2015-2020 when they won six straight ACC crowns and earned a CFP berth each year.
Clemson lost just seven games in those six seasons. It has lost 11 in the three-plus years since. Swinney's been criticized for his response to the changing game , especially when it comes his lack of transfer portal use.
None of that makes a difference to his job, he says, and that's doing what's best for Clemson and preparing his players for success. That outside stuff? “We'.
