Dabo: 'Feel everybody's pain' in Tigers' 1-3 start

Clemson manager Dabo Swinney said helium felt a "pain that's hard to describe" pursuing his team's 34-21 location nonaccomplishment to Syracuse connected Saturday, which dropped the Tigers to 1-3 and his worst commencement arsenic the Tigers' caput coach.

"This is simply a bad, atrocious feeling. Terrible," Swinney said. "This is what we do. This is our passion. We enactment incredibly hard to get results that we privation to get, and erstwhile we don't get them, it's a symptom that's hard to describe, but it comes with the territory. So we gotta flush it. That's each we tin do. There's nary anticipation for a amended yesterday."

Clemson closed arsenic a 17½-point favourite astatine ESPN BET but suffered its largest location nonaccomplishment against an unranked hostile since 2001 against North Carolina, erstwhile the Tigers mislaid by 35.

With losses to LSU, Georgia Tech and present Syracuse, the Tigers person mislaid 3 of their archetypal 4 games for the archetypal clip nether Swinney. It's besides the archetypal clip the programme has started 1-3 since 2004.

Swinney conceded helium was affectional connected the tract aft the crippled during the school's alma mater.

"Disappointed, painful, hurt," helium said. "I'm human. I'm not a cyborg. This is my life. I've been present 23 years. I emotion this place. I springiness this spot the champion I've got each azygous day. ... I've invested my beingness here, and erstwhile I don't get the occupation done, I'm responsible. I consciousness the pain. Not conscionable my pain, I consciousness everybody's pain. That comes with my job, and I don't tally from that."

Clemson finished with 503 yards, its astir successful a nonaccomplishment since 2016. It's a stunning commencement for Clemson, which returned the astir accumulation successful the FBS (80%) this season. Quarterback Cade Klubnik has his apical 3 receivers backmost from past year's ACC title team, and the defence was expected to beryllium 1 of champion fronts successful the country.

"We conscionable can't look to enactment it each unneurotic erstwhile we request it," Swinney said.

The Tigers person a bye week earlier traveling to North Carolina connected Oct. 4, and Swinney said it comes astatine a bully clip due to the fact that the squad is "beat up emotionally and physically."

"There's nary discontinue successful maine and I didn't spot immoderate discontinue successful our squad oregon our staff," helium said. "We'll get backmost to work. We person to reset our goals and what we inactive tin do. We can't beryllium astir and dwell connected missed opportunities. ... It's fundamentally an eight-game play for america astatine this point. We've conscionable gotta combat our tails disconnected to find a mode to triumph a game, make immoderate momentum."