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Football

Clemson’s Swinney earns respect from Syracuse after postgame congratulations

Todd Michalek | Staff Photographer

Embracing at midfield after the game, Dabo Swinney told Dino Babers, "I'm so happy for you."

By Tomer Langer

Syracuse head coach Dino Babers and Clemson head man Dabo Swinney embraced on the block “S” in the Carrier Dome. The Orange had just beaten the Tigers, ending the longest active winning streak in the FBS and putting a dent into Clemson’s postseason resume.

As the two met, ESPN cameras zoomed in on them. It caught Swinney telling Babers “I’m so happy for you.”



Both teams met at midfield after Friday night’s contest to shake hands and kickoff the Atlantic Coast Conference’s “Fall Sportsmanship Week.” But the feelings the staged events were supposed to encourage proved to be genuine postgame for Swinney, who stopped inside Syracuse’s (4-3, 2-1 ACC) locker room after the upset victory over No. 2 Clemson (6-1, 4-1) and addressed the team.

“Utmost respect to Coach Swinney,” quarterback Eric Dungey said. “He came up to us after the game. Class-act program.”

Both Babers and Dungey had very little to say when asked about last year’s 54-0 blowout loss to the Tigers. Still, they had nothing but praise for Clemson in the week leading up to the game. And after, that feeling remained.

“Coach Dabo,” Babers said in the press conference leading up to the game, “one of the premier programs and the way he does it is absolutely the right way.”

On a national level, the stories to come out of this game will be about the shakeup at the top of the Associated Press Poll. It’ll be about the questions surrounding Clemson’s ability to make the College Football Playoff, let alone repeat as national champions.

But on Friday night, Swinney himself made sure to shift that narrative toward, who he felt, was more deserving.

“There’s a lot of pain in our locker room, but this is a story about Syracuse,” Swinney said. “… The story of the night is that Syracuse outplayed us.”

Zaire Franklin said he saw Swinney addressing some SU players on the field after the game. Then, when he came into the locker room, he addressed Steve Ishmael directly and even took a picture with a few players, Franklin said.

“He was just humble,” Franklin said. “I don’t even know how to describe it. That was pretty cool. That was pretty awesome.”





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