Despite what has certainly been a down season by Clemson’s lofty standards, head coach Dabo Swinney remains “incredibly bullish” on the future of Clemson Football and the trajectory of the program moving forward.

After the Tigers beat rival South Carolina (4-8) on Saturday to finish the regular season with a 7-5 record, Swinney reiterated his confidence that his program will win more championships — including another national title — in the future.

“I’m incredibly bullish,” Swinney said following Clemson’s 28-14 win over the Gamecocks in Columbia. “We are going to achieve great [things.] We’re going to win more championships. Why I can say that is because we’ve done it over and over and over again. … We’ve been to seven playoffs in 10 years … all of a sudden, we think it’s just easy to do. It’s not easy to do. … But we’ll win another national championship. We’ll win more conference championships. We’ll win more big games, and guess what, we’re going to lose some, too. We just are. I mean, it’s football.”

Although it has been a highly disappointing season for the Tigers, they finished on a high note with Saturday’s win over their rival, beating the Gamecocks for the second time in three seasons and the ninth time in 11 meetings dating back to 2014.

Clemson came into the 2025 campaign as the reigning ACC Champion and the favorite to win the conference again this year. The Tigers were ranked No. 4 in the preseason AP Poll and even picked by a number of national pundits to win the national title this season, only to lose three of their first four games.

After a 3-5 start, however, Clemson has rallied to end the regular season on a four-game winning streak, with victories over Florida State, then-No. 20 Louisville, Furman, and South Carolina.

Swinney believes the foundation of Clemson’s program and its strong culture have helped the Tigers hold together amid this trying and adversity-filled season.

“It’s always a part of your journey, and the main thing is, do you have a program, do you have a culture? Some years, things can hit just right, and some years, you can have some craziness and maybe somebody doesn’t play as good as you wanted to, whatever,” Swinney said. “There’s a lot of things that go into football. But what you saw this year with this team is unique. It’s uncommon. It’s special. It really is.”

Swinney says all 7-5 records aren’t created equal.

“We didn’t have the overall record and season [we wanted to], but … every 7-5 [record] ain’t the same,” he said. “We’re about three plays away from this is a different story, different press conference right now. But that’s football. That’s our reality.”

Added Swinney, who has led Clemson to two national titles and nine ACC titles: “We’ve had so much good fortune. We’ve had so much favor over the years. But you’ve just got to do the work, and for me, that’s all I focus on. I don’t really focus on all the other stuff. I don’t focus on stuff I don’t control. There’s a lot of great lessons from this season for all these guys, especially [those who] will be back. I love the game and I love the player, and that’s what I focus on. I love to compete, and I love to develop these players into great men through this game, and that’s what I’m passionate about.”

This year’s Clemson team has persevered through a lot of outside noise, according to Swinney.

“When you’re at a place like Clemson that’s won so much, and there’s so much noise, especially when the expectations are high. … So much negativity, really toxic stuff – like, nasty. But they just block it out,” Swinney said. “That’s not normal. … It’s been a lot of fun to be in the fight with them and try to help them and to try to teach them.”