ACC Gives Dabo Swinney Public Reprimand, Fines Clemson For Late-Game Penalty Comment

On Sunday, the Atlantic Coast Conference fined Clemson $10,000 for head coach Dabo Swinney’s criticizing the officiating crews’ late-game pass interference call against Duke.

In the 46-45 loss to the Blue Devils, Clemson Tigers cornerback Avieon Terrell was given a pass interference penalty on fourth down to receive an automatic first down. Duke would then punch in a touchdown and go for two to win the game at Memorial Stadium.

Following the game, Swinney blasted the officiating for the call.

“I don't even know what to say about the last call,” Swinney said. "I mean, y'all saw it. It shouldn't come down to that. We had plenty of opportunities to win the game, but you know that that's one of the worst calls I've ever seen in a game, ever, in my entire coaching career. Ever.”

In a press release, the ACC also publicly reprimanded Swinney for violating the ACC Sportsmanship policy during his press conference.

“Public criticism of officials or public comments evaluating the officiating of particular contests is not in the best interest of intercollegiate athletics,” the conference stated. “Individuals associated with the athletics program are prohibited, therefore, from commenting while acting in an official capacity on officiating other than directly to the Conference office.”

The ACC considers the situation “closed” and will not add a comment on the decision.

Clemson was searching for its first win over a Power Four opponent in a year, being up by a touchdown against the Blue Devils. However, Duke led an 11-play, 94-yard drive to stun the Death Valley crowd with 40 seconds remaining.

The fourth down call, although the team made mistakes, was the factor that stung the players the most following the game.

“You fight your butt off and you scratch and you claw and you get in a situation like that and you just have, you have a call like that,” Swinney said. Man, I mean, it's, it's really that's, that's just more salt in the wound, you know.”

With a chance to flip the season’s narrative around with a shootout win against an ACC contender, Clemson now moves to 3-5, needing three wins from its last five games to make a bowl game.

Now, the Tigers will move to next week, looking to flush the loss out of their system for another ACC clash at home. Clemson will host Florida State at Memorial Stadium, where the team will look to get back to winning ways at home.