ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum never shies away from opportunities to take shots at Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney.

Swinney talked about some of his accomplishments during his tenure at Clemson during the ACC Kickoff on Thursday, while noting that after the disappointing 2025 campaign, no one would be picking his Tigers to win the ACC this season.

“We’ve had 15 winning seasons, 13 ten-plus win seasons, 14 nine-plus win seasons,” Swinney said. “We’ve won 11 championships in the last 15 years, and then you have a season like last year, and that’s kind of what everybody wants to focus on, and I get that. We earned that.

“This year, ain’t none of y’all going to pick us. Ain’t none of y’all going to say anything good about us. I’ve been dead. I’m gone. I think I’m still here, right? But it’s not about that either. It never has been. If it was about what people predicted, I would have been gone a long time ago. Right? It’s about what you do. That’s what it’s about. You know, we didn’t do the football stuff well enough last year. You know, we got everything we need. We don’t make any excuses. We’re going to get what we earn this year. That’s what we’re focused on, doing what it takes to earn the results that we want.”

During an appearance on Get Up on Friday morning, Finebaum once again took his shots.

“I am getting so exasperated listening to Dabo tell us how great he used to be. They’re not great anymore,” Finebaum said. “You don’t hear (Tom) Brady talking about his Super Bowls. Dabo is just stuck on stupid right now, trying to convince us that his program is still legitimate. It’s not. It’s slipping and sliding away. It’s good. Maybe they’ll win nine games this year or maybe they won’t. But they lost six games last year with the Heisman favorite (Cade Klubnik). That is downright embarrassing.”

Swinney is looking to lead Clemson to a bounce-back season after the Tigers went just 7-6 in 2025. Despite leading the team back to the College Football Playoff in 2024, Clemson is just 26-14 overall during the past three seasons.

Photo courtesy of Bart Boatwright/The Clemson Insider