Losing to an inferior program from time-to-time is going to happen. It’s college football. It’s what makes the game so great.
However, if you are a program like Clemson’s, one of the best in the country over the last 12 years, it’s never acceptable.
This is nothing against Duke. The Blue Devils have a fine football team this year, one this writer warned you against. However, considering the amount of money Clemson puts into its football program compared to what Duke invests, the Tigers have no business losing to Duke and they especially should not lose to them by 21 points.
The last time a Duke football team beat Clemson so bad, Franklin D. Roosevelt was the President of the United States and America was in the middle of the Great Depression. In case you are wondering what year that was, that was 1936.
That’s right, 1936.
Losing to Duke in football is unacceptable for Clemson Football. No one should accept this defeat, especially the players and the coaches. They should hold themselves accountable.
Few schools in the country invest in football as much as Clemson does. From Memorial Stadium to the Allen Reeves Football Complex to the Poe Indoor Practice Facility, Clemson has some of the best facilities in college football.
You know what Duke has? It literally has a high school scoreboard in its stadium. I am serious.
Yes, they have a video board in the other end zone, but there are no second and third video boards in Wallace Wade Stadium. There are no ribbon boards running around the stadium. Their players and indoor facilities are okay, but there is nothing to write home about.
Look at Clemson’s Coaching Staff. Dabo Swinney makes more than $11 million a year. He is one of the three highest paid coaches in the country. I guarantee you Duke’s Mike Elko is not on that list.
Garrett Riley is one of the highest paid assistant coaches in the country, likely in the top five. I guarantee you no one on Duke’s staff is making what Riley is making.
Dabo Swinney has 93 staff workers in his Clemson program, and that is not counting his 10 on the field coaches. I guarantee you Mike Elko does not have that many staff workers in his Duke program.
It is Duke! It is a basketball school.
Yes, Clemson has lost to Duke before. Even Danny Ford’s great 1989 team did.
Much like Monday night, weird things happened that afternoon in Durham, as the Blue Devils rallied from a 14-0 halftime deficit to beat the Tigers 21-17.
Prior to Monday night, 1989 was just one of the four times the Blue Devils defeated Clemson since 1981. The Tigers were 20-4 against Duke in their previous 24 matchups. They had won 10 of the last 11 meetings in the series.
Oh, by the way, in those previous four losses, no Duke team won by more than six points.
The last time Clemson lost to the Blue Devils was in 2004, and that was on a 53-yard field goal that was aided by a sudden gust of wind as time expired. By the way, that Clemson team finished the year 6-5, but it was not acceptable to lose to Duke at that time either.
Finally, and perhaps the number one reason why it is never acceptable for Duke to beat Clemson in football is this. There are 39 four- and five-star players on Clemson’s 2023 roster. You know how many Duke has on its roster? Two.
Enough said. Clemson losing to Duke by any margin is not acceptable and especially not by 21 points. That is just downright embarrassing.
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