Following Clemson’s 41-13 home loss to No. 4 Miami on Saturday night, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was asked if he feels like there is a gap between his program and elite teams like Miami and LSU right now.

Swinney deflected the question and comparison, brushing aside the idea of focusing on a program gap.

“I mean, it is what it is. That’s what people are going to look at is the score,” Swinney said. “I mean, can’t really worry about that. Just gotta go win the next game. That’s really it.”

Swinney’s comments came in the aftermath of two highly lopsided defeats during the 2026 campaign — a 51-10 season-opening loss at No. 11 LSU and Saturday’s 28-point loss to the Hurricanes.

Instead of looking back, Swinney is choosing to focus on moving forward to the next matchup, and he says the score against Miami (5-0, 3-0 ACC) was “not indicative of how our kids competed.”

Swinney feels the game — during which Clemson (3-2, 2-1) trailed 17-6 at halftime before being outscored 24-7 in the second half — was closer than the scoreboard suggests.

“Yeah. For sure. The score was not indicative of how our kids competed,” Swinney said. “That’s what people look at. But just missed some opportunities. Could have made it a totally different type of game. And we didn’t. And they did. So, they deserve all the credit. At the end of the day, the score is what it is, and you move on to the next one. You lost, and see if we can go win the next one.”

Clemson will have an open date next week before returning to action on Saturday, Oct. 17, when the Tigers host Charleston Southern at Memorial Stadium.