Josh Pate Sounds Off on Dabo Swinney After LSU Dominates Clemson

College football analyst Josh Pate spent his Sunday show breaking down the wreckage from Baton Rouge, and most of it landed on Dabo Swinney. LSU handled Clemson 51-10 in prime time, and the margin left Pate saying the book has closed on the version of the Tigers that dominated the ACC from 2015 to 2020.

But buried under that verdict was a separate, more practical problem for Clemson right now, one tied directly to the roster Swinney is fielding.

Christopher Vizzina struggled in his first road start

Clemson Tigers quarterback Christopher Vizzina (17) is tackled by LSU Tigers defensive end Dylan Carpenter (97) during the first half at Tiger Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Clemson senior made his first career road start against LSU after three seasons behind Cade Klubnik, and it showed. He went 10 of 16 for 83 yards with an interception before Swinney benched him for true freshman Tait Reynolds in the second quarter, then brought him back in the fourth with the score already 44-3.

Vizzina entered the season with all of 238 career offensive snaps and a single start, a 34-25 loss to SMU last year. That is not a small sample size problem. That is a quarterback learning on the job in the loudest environment in the sport.

He was not the only inexperienced piece on the field. Clemson lost both starting safeties to the transfer portal this offseason and came into the year thin at linebacker, a problem that got worse when a portal addition from Cal flipped his commitment to Ole Miss late in the process, prompting Swinney to publicly accuse the Rebels of tampering.

LSU took advantage. Sam Leavitt threw for 230 yards and ran for 113 more, and LSU piled up 21 first downs to Clemson's one by halftime.

Dabo Swinney's rebuild takes a step backward

Saturday was supposed to be the first data point on whether Clemson's disappointing 2025 season was a blip. Instead, LSU outgained Clemson 336 to 54 in a first half that ended 31-3, and Clemson finished with eight first downs total, its fewest in a game since 2006.

Pate did not treat the result as one bad night. "They said the same thing last night that they were saying to us Friday. That game played out exactly as they expected it to play out. There was very, very little surprise on the LSU side with the way it played out last night."

He also pointed to Clemson's own recent history. "They've scored 10 points or less in five of their last six openers."

Pate's read was that last year's 7-6 finish was not the aberration Swinney has called it, but a program still working through the consequences of a talent gap that caught up to it in real time on Saturday.

Clemson's inexperience could turn into a strength

Clemson Tigers sophomore running back Gideon Davidson (8) runs past LSU Tigers linebacker Whit Weeks (7) during the first half at Tiger Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The same roster construction that produced Saturday's beating also points to why Clemson could look different by October. Swinney builds through development, not the transfer portal, and a team that started a first-time quarterback behind a patchwork secondary will gain experience with every snap those players take.

Vizzina gets more comfortable. Gideon Davidson gets more carries. The safeties and linebackers who were replacing key transfers in Week 1 stop being new by Week 6.

Whether that development curve is steep enough to save the season is a separate question from whether it exists. Clemson gets Georgia Southern at home next before North Carolina and a trip to California, a stretch that offers time to find answers before the schedule gets harder again in October.

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