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Paul Finebaum crushes Clemson after UGA debacle, says Dabo Swinney should plan ‘exit strategy’
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Clemson has been to the mountaintop, but Paul Finebaum is declaring that the Tigers’ era of dominance is over.
The ESPN college football analyst said it on Sunday morning on ‘The Matt Barrie Show’ after seeing enough in the Tigers’ season-opening 34-3 shellacking at the hands of top-ranked Georgia in Atlanta.
Clemson came into the showdown ranked 14th, but the Tigers weren’t very competitive, and Finebaum doesn’t believe the program that won national championships in 2016 and ’18 and has ruled the ACC in recent years is elite anymore.
“I knew what was going to happen. It’s as much about how much Kirby Smart has control over that [Georgia] program as much as it is that Dabo Swinney’s time as an elite coach is over,” Finebaum said. “Clemson is a good program. They’ll compete in the ACC. But their days as a program that matters, their days as a program that is spoken with reverence, are gone.”
Finebaum didn’t stop there.
“[Swinney’s] approach to college football doesn’t work any longer,” Finebaum said. “He’s been slow to move for everything. He now has that reputation as grumpy Dabo. I frankly think Dabo Swinney would be smart to start planning an exit strategy.”
Swinney and Clemson will try to pick up the pieces from the Georgia debacle this Saturday at home against Appalachian State.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
