During Friday’s edition ESPN’s College Football Live, the analysts discussed Dabo Swinney’s comments earlier this week on the criticism that his 1-2 squad has gotten this season.

“Hey, listen, if Clemson’s tired of winning, they can send me on my way. But I’m going to go somewhere else and coach. I ain’t going to the beach. Hell, I’m 55. I’ve got a long way to go. Y’all gonna have to deal with me for a while,” Clemson’s longtime coach said.

“If they want me gone, they’re tired of winning, they can send me on my way, because that’s all we’ve done is win,” Swinney added. “We’ve won this league eight out of the last 10 years. Is that not good?”

ESPN analyst Desmond Howard gave his thoughts on the Tigers and Swinney’s viral rant.

“It’s safe to say – and I like Dabo a lot, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Coach Swinney – but he was a 55-year-old man in his feelings at that time,” Howard. “Obviously, when you answer one question and you go on a 17-minute rant, then you have some things you need to get off your chest. I hope that he’s gotten them off his chest, that he’s better now.”

Howard added that Clemson’s 1-2 start is “unacceptable” considering the Tigers’ preseason national championship expectations and the standards of Swinney’s program itself.

“The expectations for this crew, this team, coming into the 2025 season was like national championship or bust because of the roster they returned, the productivity that they returned,” Howard said. “And for them to be 1-2 right now, including a loss to Georgia Tech, is just unacceptable – by not only the expectations, but by Clemson’s own standards, and that’s the problem.”

The Tigers will try to get back to .500 today when they host Syracuse (2-1) at Death Valley (12 p.m., ESPN).

Clemson has won six straight games overall against Syracuse and comes in as a 17.5-point favorite on the spread for the game.