Dabo Swinney on Clemson's blowout loss to Ohio State: 'We stunk'

Dabo Swinney didn’t mince any words when he was asked about Clemson’s performance against Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl in the semifinal round of the College Football Playoff. He summed the game up with two words, “We stunk.”

That’s what Swinney said on Wednesday while speaking with reporters. He pointed to the Tigers’ poor performance defensively, saying the team “played terrible” on that side of the football against the Buckeyes in a 49-28 loss to end their season.

Dabo Swinney on the Sugar Bowl: "We stunk. We played terrible on defense." Says it was the worst defensive performance since the Orange Bowl in 2011.

— Grace Raynor (@gmraynor) February 24, 2021

Swinney also said it was probably the worst defensive performance Clemson has had since the 2011 Orange Bowl, when the Tigers dropped a 70-33 game to West Virginia.

Quarterback Justin Fields threw 6 touchdown passes while leading the Buckeyes to the three-touchdown victory and Ohio State went on to play Alabama in the national championship. For OSU, it was revenge from the Fiesta Bowl the previous year, a game Clemson escaped with a 29-23 victory.

Dabo explaining tOSU was better that day: "Bucs were better than the Chiefs THAT DAY. Were they that much better? No."

— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) February 24, 2021

Although Swinney admitted to Clemson’s poor performance, he did say that he didn’t believe Ohio State was that much better, but the Buckeyes were certainly better on that particular day.

Swinney caught plenty of flack after Clemson’s loss to Ohio State. At the end of the regular season, the Clemson head coach ranked the Buckeyes No. 11 in his coaches poll ballot, providing Ryan Day and Co. with even more fuel entering the contest.