Even in the midst of a bitter defeat, Dabo Swinney may have gained a few more fans.
Favored by three-plus touchdowns on the road at the Carrier Dome, second-ranked and defending national champion Clemson headed back to the ACC’s version of Death Valley with a stunning three-point loss at the hands of Syracuse. Instead of being bitter in the aftermath of such a tough loss, though, the Tigers head coach instead showed his true colors.
First, Swinney appeared to mouth the words “I’m so happy for you” to his head-coaching counterpart, Dino Babers, in their on-field postgame embrace...Dabo is all class. Can clearly see him say “I’m so happy for you” to Dino Babers after a potentially season changing loss. pic.twitter.com/2M5nsLtARC
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) October 14, 2017
... and followed that up by heading into his vanquisher’s locker room to personally congratulate the Orange players on the football program’s biggest win in years.
“That’s one of the classiest things I’ve seen in my life,” 'Cuse linebacker Zaire Franklin said according to ESPN.com. “To have been knocked down like that and have the humility to come talk to us, that was cool as hell.”
And classy as hell for good measure -- as were his postgame comments to the media.
“We’re very disappointed, there’s a lot of pain in our locker room,” the Syracuse Post-Standard quoted the coach as saying. “But, listen, this is a story about Syracuse. This ain’t about Clemson. This is about Syracuse. They out-played us, out-coached us.”