CLEMSON — This has not been a good week for the Clemson Football program.

While Dabo Swinney was out there telling the national media Clemson has a disadvantage when it comes to the NIL, others were out there asking what he and Clemson plan to do about it.

As most of you know, Swinney took some heat for his comments this week, especially when he said the Tigers are at a disadvantage when it comes to competing for players against Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia and Notre Dame.

I get what Swinney was attempting to say but did he do it in the best interest of Clemson?

The answer is no.

Instead, Swinney admitted Clemson does not have the resources these other big-time programs have to attract the top recruits. Plus, he also made it seem like it is Clemson’s fault.

Dan Patrick made this point on his show when talking about what went wrong at Clemson. He told Swinney to point to himself after leading the Tigers to a 7-6 record, though he had nine players selected in the NFL Draft – the most in the ACC and tied for fourth nationally.

In fairness, Swinney did take the blame for that, but the question is does Swinney understand why the fans and the media are questioning him.

“You weren’t embracing the transfer portal to begin with. I don’t know what kind of resources you have, but I can’t blame Notre Dame for doing what Notre Dame is doing or what Texas for it is doing or USC is doing or Michigan is doing or Ohio State is doing,” Patrick said. “You’re the one being left behind. We said that with the transfer portal. We said that about NIL. Dabo didn’t want any part of that, and I’m thinking, ‘You are a dinosaur, man.’ And we know what happens with dinosaurs, certainly in the college ranks.

“But now he’s easing back in because he knows that he needs to. But if you have nine guys drafted [in the 2026 NFL Draft], you win seven games [in 2025], I would look inside. I wouldn’t be looking at other programs and saying, ‘Well, that’s not fair. Notre Dame gets to print money.’ OK. ‘Well, that’s not fair, Ohio State gets to…’ OK, they’re not breaking any rules.”

Exactly!

Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia and Notre Dame are all finding ways to be relevant in this new world of college football and they are all following the rules that are out there – though there are not many.

Who do we blame for Clemson’s lack of resources?

Do we blame the alumni? Do we blame the Clemson administration? De we blame Dabo Swinney?

Yes!

We blame them all.

We blame Swinney because when NIL and the transfer portal first came out, he did not embrace it like other head coaches were doing.

We blame the alumni base because they listened to Swinney, especially when it came to the NIL. There are still some alumni out there that refuse to give to athletes’ NIL because they feel free education should be enough.

We blame the administration because they allowed Swinney to be passive aggressive with his messaging when NIL and the transfer portal first started.

Clemson knows what the issues are, now how do they fix them?

That is a good question.