Copyright Yardbarker
Perhaps it's the season Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers are having. After a loss to the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday, Clemson is 3-5 on the season with four games left. It's been a tough go all around for Clemson, but Swinney has specifically set his sights on officiating. After the 46-45 loss to Duke, Swinney took exception to a pass interference penalty against Clemson defensive back Avieon Terrell on 4th-and-10. That penalty kept Duke's drive alive, and that ultimately led to the game-winning touchdown. "Some critical penalties," Swinney said after the game, per ESPN. "I don't even know what to say about the last call. Y'all saw it. It shouldn't come down to that. We had plenty of opportunities to win the game, but that's one of the worst calls I've ever seen in a game, ever, in my entire coaching career. Ever." Those comments led to a public reprimand from the ACC as well as a fine against Swinney, but on Tuesday, Clemson's head coach was back at it. To be fair to him, he didn't talk about anything specific, but he did call for accountability for the officials when they make poor calls. “It’s impactful. So, you know, as opposed to just getting a report on Monday, you turn in 10 (plays) and we had a game … I ain’t gonna tell you the game. I’m not gonna say the game, but we’re only allowed to turn in, you know, there’s a system of accountability, but y’all don’t know anything about it,” Swinney said (h/t On3). “It’s behind a curtain. ‘How dare we have accountability?’" Clemson's Dabo Swinney rants about college football officiating, and he may be right It's a valid criticism from the long-time Clemson head coach, though it's worth noting that the ACC is the only conference in college football that allows television viewers to listen to live reviews during their games. That's a huge act of transparency between the referees and the watching public, and it's a step in the right direction. Frankly, it should be standard practice from the NFL down to the lower levels of college football. Swinney may have taken it a bit too far, though, when bringing up the problem of gambling in sports. He didn't directly say that referees are gambling on games, but he certainly drew a connection. “In the meantime, we got gambling issues going on, people being suspended, all that kind of stuff, right? Yep. I mean, refs are people too. It ain’t just coaches and players. And if they’re a part of the game, then by God, they ought to be a part of the game, and they ought to be a part of the accountability, and they ought to be a part of the consequences, not just behind some shadowy curtain like no, they ought to have to answer for it," Swinney said. That comment is not going to win Swinney anymore fans amongst the top brass at the ACC. It also doesn't take away the fact that Clemson has been awful this season and very well may suffer the first losing season in Swinney's tenure since 2010. Swinney does make a point about accountability and transparency, though. If one aspect of the game, mainly the players and coaches, is under the spotlight, then the other aspect, the officiating and rules and regulations process, should be just as open. What that looks like is anybody's guess because officials do need to maintain some sort of authority in order to do their jobs correctly. You don't want to undercut that, but this whole "do not pay attention to the man behind the curtain" bit is played out. There's a ton on the line each and every weekend in college football, and that's not even considering the money. It's time the officials are held to a higher standard.
