National analyst critiques Dabo Swinney as "too prideful," calls for Miami upset

247Sports' Josh Pate says pride could be the fall of Clemson's program when it comes to competing for national titles.

by TigerNet Staff - Wed Oct 18 10:26:50 GMT-04:00 2023

247Sports-affiliated college football analyst Josh Pate tackled Dabo Swinney's bandwagon comments from earlier this week and also assessed what he sees as an upset coming in Miami this weekend.

Swinney addressed a mentality Monday he sees in a certain group of fans -- he pegged as 1.5% of the group on Tuesday -- where it shows the bandwagon may be a little too full.

"We're at a point in our time, and I hate that, where people -- if you don't go undefeated -- people say you're losers. That you're terrible," Swinney said. "And it's such a terrible mindset. And honestly maybe we need to lose a few games and lighten up the bandwagon. Sometimes the bandwagon can get a little too full. That's the one good thing about going through a little so-called adversity. You really find out who's with you and who's not, but as far as our program, we may win every one of these games out. We could lose every one of them. We're a really good team that can beat anybody and we're a team that can lose to anybody, but our program is built to last."

Pate says Swinney is listening to too much outside noise.

"He doesn't need to lose a few games," Pate said. "There's no way. I understand that he's speaking out of emotion. I get it. You don't have to tell me that. And I do also understand, he's in the foxhole. He's in the fight. The people who criticize him are not. And there's a certain level of that even if people happen to be making the right points, you know there's no possible way they have all the information at their disposal needed to understand the full context of the situation. Again, I side with coaches a vast majority of the time on this stuff.

"Here's what I'm going to say: quit listening. Just stop listening to people who criticize you. You cannot be this thin-skinned this deep into your career. You just can't. If they criticize you, they criticize you, Like, your check is going to cash every two weeks. You'll be fine. No one is sneaking into the facility at night and taking away those trophies. You're going to be fine. But the question to me, is there going to be any change?"

He believes Swinney is indicating no such major changes will come.

"I think the answer is no. And every bit of his action since the season start and every time he opens his mouth and starts talking about it, everything he says kinda reinforces my point," Pate said. "He doesn't see it the way you do. He doesn't see it the way I do. I don't think he looks and says a whole lot of change is needed around here. Because I believe Dabo Swinney believes the way he's done, it is still the way that works. They may just be slightly dipping right now, but they'll get back there. And you know what, maybe he's right. But maybe he's wrong."

Pate says there's a pride element to what Swinney is saying and feeling.

"No one is immune to that...Once you start getting criticized by outsiders, sometimes you can get rooted in your way of thinking, and then there can be all kinds of counter-information and counter-logic that flies in the face of it, but at that point, you're too prideful to come off your stance," Pate said. "I think he's too prideful to come off his stance on things like the portal -- and it's going to cost him. It's going to continue to cost him. I respect a value system. I respect the principles that he's built that program on. I'm just telling you, it would be very, very misguided to think that the formula to win in this sport is always written in pen. It's not. It's written in pencil, and it's ever-changing. And the fact of that matter is, the right way or the most effective way to do things in 2015 may not be the most effective way to do things in 2025. And there's no might to that."

Pate pointed to Florida State, which currently sits at No. 4 in the AP Poll.

"I'm absolutely telling you the truth, I'm telling you -- your biggest rival in the ACC right now just put their team together in a manner that could not be done in 2015," said Pate. "And they just came into your house a few weeks ago and beat you. What's your response going to be? Because they're not going to stop. Nor is the rest of the sport. They're not going to stop using the transfer portal. If you're not going to use it, more power to you. You'll still be a solid program. It will take a long time to fully unravel what Clemson's built there. But they're not going to be a championship contender anymore doing it that way.

"I just don't believe that you can voluntarily handcuff one hand behind your back in terms of ignoring a talent acquisition apparatus that is available and watch your opponents use it and still keep up with them. It's unrealistic. It's not going to happen. The Dabo comments don't surprise me because I think he's really dug in on this, and I don't think much is going to change."

In recent years, Swinney has acquired grad transfer quarterbacks, but efforts to pick up transfer targets on the O-line and secondary were not successful. Swinney has said on the transfer portal recently, "just because you want them doesn’t mean they want you." He added that while there isn't a preference to using the portal, they have factored it into roster decisions.

"There’s not ever a spot that comes open on our roster over the past year or so that we have not said, ‘Do we take a portal guy?’ Everybody in the room," Swinney said. "There’s been two or three really great ones that we thought would’ve helped us and guess what, they’ve got to love you too."

For this weekend, Pate sees Miami being a team to overcome turnover issues and pull the upset under the lights at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday (8 p.m./ACCN).

"It's about to be really bad for the loser here. Really bad," Pate said. "We have a wrong team favored situation...We think Miami -1 is the right number. It's just been horrifically skewed because of very poor turnover luck the past two weeks. Not luck. It's been undisciplined...We're gonna roll some dice that the turnover monster doesn't devour Miami like an unstoppable rebel force this week. We're going to take Miami not only to cover. We're going to take them to win the game outright. Either way, it's going to be grossly toxic around the losing program here. That's the beauty and terror of college football. You might think I'm crazy riding with Miami -- that's OK. That's OK...I think I know the quality of team they have. They have to play that quality of game. That's what I'm saying."

Pate also called for a Duke upset of Clemson to start the year.