Duke handed No. 9 Clemson a shocking 28-7 loss in the two teams’ season opener Monday night at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.C.

It marked the Tigers’ first loss to Duke since 2004, while the Blue Devils snapped their 28-game losing streak to top-10 opponents dating back to their last win against then-No. 7 Clemson in 1989.

Clemson (0-1, 0-1 ACC) repeatedly suffered from costly mistakes, especially two blocked field goals and a pair of critical fumbles near the goal line in the second half that caused the Tigers to leave a lot of points off the scoreboard.

Clemson’s only score of the night came on a 2-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter after Duke (1-0, 1-0) muffed a punt to give the Tigers a short field.

“Just critical, critical, critical mistakes and errors, and it’s a gut-wrenching thing, man. It is,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said following the game. “You work so hard. I love this team, though. I really do. I love this team, I love the staff, and we’ve got to stay together and we’ve got to bounce back and get back to work.”

The loss figures to send Clemson spiraling down the new rankings Tuesday, but Swinney says he isn’t giving up on the 2023 Tigers with a long season still ahead of them.

“I know a lot of people are probably going to quit on us and give up on us and throw us away. But man, I ain’t quitting and I ain’t throwing this team away,” Swinney said. “We’re going to bounce back and we’re going to get better, we’re going to learn from it. I love the kids in the locker room, and we’ll stay together and we’ll get back to work.”

Clemson will return to the field this Saturday when the Tigers host their home opener against Charleston Southern (2:15 p.m., ACC Network).