Less than 24 hours after Saturday night’s 41-point loss at the hands of No. 11 LSU, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney made a statement during his Sunday evening teleconference that will likely surprise many fans.

Despite the devastating season-opening defeat in Baton Rouge, Swinney apparently remains bullish on his team and seems confident the Tigers will still “have a great season” in 2026.

“We’ve gotta flush it and we gotta move on. We’ve gotta learn from it and we’ve gotta grow from it, and we will. We’re going to get better. We’re going to have a great season,” Swinney said. “But we can’t let this linger. We’ve got to flush it, own it and then let’s move forward.”

Saturday night marked Swinney’s worst loss of his career, beating West Virginia’s 37-point win over Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl and worse than the Seminoles’ 37-point win at Clemson’s Death Valley in 2013.

The loss also marks Clemson’s fourth consecutive loss in a season-opener and fifth in the past six seasons. LSU outgained Clemson 644-145, and 71 of Clemson’s yards came on one drive late in the game after LSU had started resting starters. LSU had 38 first downs to Clemson’s eight, with four of those coming on that same fourth-quarter drive, when Clemson scored its lone touchdown of the contest with 3:13 remaining.

Clemson led 3-0 after an Ashton Hampton interception on the second play of the game led to a field goal. But LSU scored 31 unanswered points to take a 31-3 lead into halftime, by which time LSU had compiled a 336-54 advantage in total yards and 21-to-one advantage in first downs. LSU had 213 rushing yards in the first half after racking up 93 yards on the ground and 140 total yards in the first quarter.

Swinney added that he knows his team is “better than how we performed” against LSU.

“Obviously not very pleased with how we played. Very disappointed … We’ve worked really hard, and just did not do the things that we needed to do to give ourself a chance to win in that environment, especially when we had some opportunities early, and then let it get away from us,” Swinney said. “But again, obviously a bad start for us. But I give LSU all the credit. I thought they were the better team and they were better coached.

“I know we’re better than how we performed, and we’ve gotta learn and we’re going to grow from it. So, just put all of our sights on this next opportunity, and see if we can go get better in all areas.”

Clemson returns to the field this Saturday for its home opener against Georgia Southern (7:30 p.m., ACC Network).

“We’ve got 11 more battles, and we’ve gotta find a way to get back on track this week,” Swinney said.