Clemson HC Dabo Swinney Says 'Really Dumb Stuff' Led to Duke Loss

Busted coverages, missed opportunities and penalties saw a difficult weekend for the Clemson Tigers, losing 46-45 to the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday afternoon.

When head coach Dabo Swinney went to the microphone, he didn’t mince words about how the loss went down at Memorial Stadium.

Swinney said that Clemson “did some really dumb stuff” that was self-inflicted.

“To win, you got to not lose,” he said after the game. “I mean, it’s just as simple as that. You have to not lose to Clemson in order to win. That’s where you start, and just we did some really dumb stuff that was 1000% on us.”

The Tigers overcame a 21-7 deficit in the first quarter to go into the half tied at 28. They would even have the lead for a vast majority of the second half, only trailing following Duke’s 2-point conversion with 40 seconds remaining in the game.

Clemson shot itself in the foot in almost every quarter, with better execution eliminating many of the big plays that Duke had in its win. In the first quarter, a busted coverage from the secondary gave receiver Cooper Barkate an easy 77-yard touchdown. Right before half, Duke receiver Que’Sean Brown had an open 43-yard lane into the end zone to tie the game.

After that play, viewers were able to see Swinney loud on the sideline, speaking with his secondary.

Dabo Swinney has officially hit a breaking point. Clemson's head coach absolutely loses it on his defense, which has given up 28 first-half points to Duke... at home. pic.twitter.com/TJQTsnIjko
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 1, 2025

“I’ve been frustrated a lot,” he said. “I don’t know what they saw or whatever. . .just trying to get us to play better.”

Even when the Tigers had Duke pinned inside its own 10-yard line, they allowed tight end Jeremiah Hasley to escape on a 56-yard rip into Clemson territory. It would be the drive that the Blue Devils would score their last touchdown, and then go for two to sneak away with the away win.

“At the end of the day, just horrible, horrible pass defense,” Swinney said. “It’s not acceptable, it’s just that simple. We got to get better there, and again, some routine stuff.”

This dumb stuff will be the main takeaway from the game despite Clemson’s offensive explosion. The Tigers had the most yards and points scored in any game this season from a career day from quarterback Cade Klubnik.

The pass defense, in addition to the other simple mistakes that occurred, will be how this game is remembered for years to come.

“It’s really a shame because there were so many good things in the game, so many good things that get overshadowed because of the sting and the loss and how we lost,” Swinney said. “So, that’s the tough part.”

Swinney and the Tigers will look to fix those issues before next weekend, when they will host Florida State at 7 p.m.