During The Pat McAfee Show onTuesday, ESPN analyst Pat McAfee coupled Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Southern Cal’s Lincoln Riley in the “same bucket” as head coaches and where their programs currently stand in the national landscape.
Both enter the upcoming season aiming to return their respective programs to their former glory, but McAfee put Swinney above Riley in the pecking order.
“This sounds terrible, and I don’t mean it to sound this way. I put Dabo Swinney and Lincoln Riley in the same bucket,” McAfee stated. “Let’s say Dabo, a little bit above him then, in that bucket, but just like, so good. So good. We’ll put Dabo above Lincoln, let me clarify that. Dabo above Lincoln. Same bucket though.”
While McAfee acknowledged that both are widely viewed as good football coaches, he argues that they’ve lost the intimidation factor they once held over opponents.
“Both of those guys, I think, everybody thinks, ‘Good football coach,’” McAfee said. “But nobody really fears them.”
Both coaches are looking to flip that perception this season, with Swinney trying to rebound from a tough 7-6 campaign and Riley shooting for his first College Football Playoff appearance as Southern Cal’s coach.
“But, I mean, since we’ve been a part of college football, recent history, it’s just — not really, at all,” McAfee said. “They had Caleb [Williams] at USC. It’s always the defense for some reason. One year they couldn’t tackle anybody because they weren’t tough enough. It’s like, there’s always something.”
McAfee says Swinney was once appreciated for sticking to his old-school approach, but that his past reluctance to adapt to NIL and the transfer portal caused his program to fall behind others.
“And then for Dabo, Dabo was sticking up for football, and what college football and sports were supposed to be for a while,” McAfee said. “And it’s like, ‘OK, we appreciate you doing that,’ but everybody is like, just completely bypassing him. Now, he’s in the game, but he’s a little bit late. Will that help his team? I mean, we shall see.”
Swinney, who has guided the Tigers to nine ACC titles and two national championships, is entering his 19th season (and 18th full season) as Clemson’s head coach in 2026.
Riley is now entering his fifth season as Southern Cal’s head coach after coming over from Oklahoma, where he won four consecutive Big 12 titles from 2017-20 and led the Sooners to three playoff appearances.
Riley’s Trojans will open the 2026 season at home against San Jose State on Aug. 29, while Swinney’s Tigers will travel to Baton Rouge for the Sept. 5 season opener against LSU.
McAfee concluded that while both are recognized as good football coaches, he questions their ability to take down the best of the best in the sport right now.
“This first weekend down at Baton Rouge for Clemson this year, that could be a 50-burger. … That could be a devastating one. … Is Clemson a new team? Maybe. Is USC all of a sudden new, because, I don’t know? I just kind of view them the same way, where it’s like good football coaches. We all agree you’re good football coaches, but none of us really – I’m speaking for myself – I don’t really ever think that they can beat [Indiana’s Curt] Cignetti. Are these guys gonna beat Cignetti? Are these guys gonna beat [Georgia’s] Kirby [Smart]? You know what I mean. That is kind of how I started viewing it, and I hope Riley is good because he’s awesome, I think. He seems like a cool guy. And I hope Dabo is good as well. But it’s hard for me just to see it with how everybody else has performed in this situation versus how they have performed.”