Over the past week, one national analyst after another has offered up sharp criticism of Dabo Swinney and his Clemson football program after the team’s 1-3 start.

One who hit the Tigers the hardest was ESPN’s Josh Pate, who believes what has been seen from the Tigers this season is something that has been in the making, going back to last season.

As Pate pointed out, seeing a preseason Top 10 team struggle to live up to expectations isn’t all that unusual. It happened in the ACC just last season with Florida State posting a 2-10 record.

“Louisville came in and did whatever they wanted last year. Syracuse came in there and did whatever they wanted,” Pate said. “We’ve got case study after case study of teams imploding and not coming close to fulfilling preseason expectations. ‘Oh yeah, Florida State did it last year.’”

However, as Pate points out, what is happening at Clemson is different than what happened with the Seminoles a season ago.

“Here’s what’s the dagger to the chest is for Clemson fans — this team is homegrown,” Pate added. “This is a completely homegrown, veteran leadership, returning starters all over the place, multi-year coaching staff continuity type of Clemson team. It’s not quite dead on arrival, but it’s pretty close. But as the Clemson standard goes, it’s dead on arrival. This season is probably going to be a wash.”

Pate then took it a step further, suggesting that Swinney’s failure to adapt to the ever-shifting landscape in college football is one of the biggest hurdles Clemson has yet to overcome.

 “Dabo Swinney, once ahead of the curve in College Football, then riding the wave, has now had the wave hit him in the face, and he’s got salt water in his eyes, and there’s another one coming. That’s how this works: you get battered when you sit still in the ocean. Clemson’s just sitting still in the ocean and they’re getting battered.”

Photo by Bart Boatwright