What Dabo Swinney said about Clemson loss to Duke, late-game pass interference call
Clemson had plenty of chances to beat Duke on Saturday at Memorial Stadium but couldn’t put the game away.
The Blue Devils won the game 46-45. It was Duke’s first win at Clemson since 1980.
Now the Tigers are 3-5 overall (2-4 ACC) and in danger of missing a bowl game.
Here’s what Clemson coach Dabo Swinney had to say after Saturday’s game and about the late-game pass interference call that set up Duke’s game-winning score:
Dabo Swinney postgame presser highlights
— “Incredibly disappointing loss, heartbreaking. To win, you’ve got to not lose. It’s as simple at that. You’ve got to not lose to Clemson. That’s where you start. ... We didn’t deserve to win the game. You can’t make the mistakes we made.”
— “We did some dumb stuff that was 1,000% percent on us.”
— “It’s really a shame because so many good things get overshadowed because we lost. ... Big plays, explosives, run game, balance, blocked a punt.”
— On Clemson’s secondary: “At the end of the day, just horrible, horrible pass defense. Just not acceptable. Simple as that.” Says the coverage busts vs. Duke were “unbelievable.” “A lot of it was just not doing what we’re supposed to do. And that’s on coaching.” So how do you fix that? Changes in the lineup, changes to staff? “I’ve just gotta fix it. I’ve gotta do whatever I can to fix it”
— On the late-game pass interference call on Clemson: “I don’t know what to say about the last call. It shouldn’t come down to that. That’s one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen in a game ever, in my entire coaching career. I don’t want to make that a deal because it was one thing. ... You have a call like that? Man. That’s just more salt in the wound. But that’s not why we lost. We had plenty of opportunities to win.”
— Swinney, on the pass interference call, says he thought the ref was throwing a flag for offensive pass interference on Duke. He polled media members, asking what they thought. Says the ref “must’ve seen something I didn’t see.”
— On QB Cade Klubnik not throwing a deep ball when Duke went offsides and they had a free play with about eight seconds left: “I don’t think he (Klubnik) knew that the guy jumped. I think he was just trying to get out of bounds. You’d like to just take a shot right there ... but he didn’t know.”
— Swinney described this season as the “lowest of lows. ... This certainly hurts right now. This is our reality right now.”
— On the Clemson offense: “They were awesome.” Clemson’s 560 yards of total offense vs. Duke were the second most they’ve ever had in a loss in its 130 seasons of playing football, only trailing 630 in a 2016 loss to Pittsburgh.
— Swinney says he doesn’t have “any doubt” that big picture-wise the 2025 season is going to end up being a good thing for Clemson and benefit them down the line. “I know nobody wants to hear that right now, but that’s what I think.”
— “This team, this season, should be so much better ... I have tremendous faith in who we are, who our people are. I have great faith in many great days ahead. But this is a tough time, and it’s our reality.”
— Swinney, talking about how he thought he was going to get fired in 2010 after walking out of the same room he’s doing his postgame news conference in today, points to the back of the room, where Clemson athletic director Graham Neff is standing: “I might get fired today. Graham’s right there. I wouldn’t blame him.”
— Swinney makes another joke about Neff potentially firing him while talking about his commitment to ending this seaso strong: “We’re going to finish. We’re going to finish. I’ll show up Monday. Unless Graham sends me packing, I’m showing up Monday. I’m going to be here, and we will finish.”
This story was originally published November 1, 2025 at 4:49 PM with the headline "What Dabo Swinney said about Clemson loss to Duke, late-game pass interference call."
