Copyright Charleston Post and Courier
CLEMSON — Ahead of a primetime matchup with Florida State, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney received a phone call from the most apropos of colleagues. “Coach Prime,” Colorado head man and FSU alum Deion Sanders, wanted to chit-chat. “Misery loves company,” Swinney quipped as the Tigers sit at 3-5 and Sanders’ squad comes into the week 3-6. “We just cried on each other's shoulder,” Swinney said of their Nov. 3 phone call. There has been a lot of pain in the coaching world this season as October firings became vogue. But there’s a ton of angst in the Clemson-Colorado-FSU triumvirate. A few weeks ago, it was questionable whether Mike Norvell was even going to be the Seminoles’ coach on Nov. 8 when FSU visited Clemson. The Seminoles started ACC play 0-4, which made for nine straight conference losses dating back to last season. If the school was willing to eat Norvell’s $50 million-plus buyout, as Penn State and LSU did, then Sanders could have been a Prime candidate for his alma mater — if not for what’s turning into his second losing season in three years with the Buffs. Meanwhile, this was supposed to be a season where Swinney’s “crock pot” developed championship results, but an experienced Tigers roster proved flawed. They’ve lost six straight home games to power conference foes as the Seminoles come to town. A prime-time Clemson-FSU clash in November should be exciting, not sad, especially for two schools that leveraged lawsuits against the ACC to extract an unequal revenue-sharing model, which rewards the league’s most-watched teams with more money. But this game will air on ACC Network, which isn’t even Nielsen-rated. Misery for Swinney and Norvell, head-to-head, and Sanders just watching from a distance. “You don't have a lot of peers in this business,” Swinney said of his call with Sanders, “but we're both kind of going through a challenging season.” Coaches from each side will say “throw out the records” because it’s Clemson and FSU. But the records do matter as Swinney and Norvell salvage what they can from 2025. In mid-September, Swinney defiantly said “I don’t think so” to the Tigers laying “a freakin’ egg” and finishing 6-6. That egg has already been delivered, but it will be metaphorically crushed if Clemson doesn’t win three of its last four games to finish .500. A lower-tier bowl is Clemson’s only shot to extend a 14-year run with at least one postseason bid, the longest active streak in the nation. “I've been beat many times,” Swinney said, reliving the Tigers’ many coverage busts in last weekend’s 46-45 loss to Duke, “but it’s frustrating when you don't even give yourself a chance because you just don't execute the call for whatever reason. “If they beat you, they beat you. But we need 11 guys on the same page.” Swinney is searching for the most basic of execution heading into a matchup with FSU, an ACC rival that’s been something of a philosophical foil in recent years. Clemson, a program founded on high school recruiting and development, lost at home to FSU in 2023, a squad powered by ex-transfers Jordan Travis, Johnny Wilson, Keon Coleman, Braden Fiske and Jared Verse to a conference title. The next year, the Tigers were ACC champions again, while the Seminoles were a “Frankenteam” that limped to a 2-10 finish. FSU seemed to rise from the dead this season, opening with a win over Alabama. But the Noles proceeded to lose four ACC games. Remarkably, FSU (4-4, 1-4 ACC) still seems to have more mojo than Clemson (3-5, 2-4). The Seminoles just beat Wake Forest 42-7 last week, and the Demon Deacons held SMU — a squad that dropped 35 points on the Tigers — to just 12 points. FSU has a woeful record, but all four losses came by one score. On the season, the Noles are producing 510 yards per game, which is tops in the country. “We know the talent of the team that we're playing. I know the skill of the coaches that we're going against,” Norvell said of Clemson. “It's gonna be a great matchup. It's one that both teams, both programs, gotta fight to go be the best we can be.” It remains to be seen if Norvell will survive this season because he’s 6-14 over the last two seasons. But a fantastic finish to this fall could convince FSU to not expense an enormous buyout just yet. Swinney, thanks to two national titles, isn’t on the chopping block, but several of his assistants might be. Some change is probably necessary, but wins in these final few weeks could, at the very least, spare Clemson some woeful history. A seventh straight loss at home to a power-conference team seems almost unfathomable considering Clemson, pre-skid, was 62-5 at home versus power teams since 2011. The Tigers had a streak of seven defeats from 1907-17, but that’s well before the modern era. It’s misery, nearly beyond measure. A win should take the edge off for one coach. It might force the other, however, to take another phone call to commiserate with a suffering coaching colleague. “Ironically, we're playing Florida State,” Swinney said, recalling his call with the Seminole star Sanders. “He did not wish me well.”
