Duke fan requests handshake from Dabo Swinney while storming field following Clemson upset
Monday will be a night to forget for Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney but not for Duke fans across the world, including one who stormed the field after the Blue Devils win and tried to shake Swinney’s hand.
The fan stuck his hand out as Swinney walked off the field surrounded by two guards but the two-time national championship winning head coach denied his request for a shake.
Duke won the game, 28-7, for its first top-10 victory since 1989. The game was also the largest margin of victory for the Blue Devils over the Tigers since 1936 and, according to the ESPN broadcast, was the first time the team won against a ranked opponent to start a season.
“This is Duke football,” Blue Devils head coach Mike Elko said after the game on ESPN. “We’ve got the best of both worlds. A chance to really compete and do amazing things on and off the field. This is what I envisioned Duke could be when I took this job.”
Elko is in his second season as the head coach of the program. He led the team to nine wins last season.
Duke quarterback Riley Leonard was the offensive star for the Blue Devils, throwing for 175 yards and rushing for another 98. The junior signal-caller is one of the more underrated quarterbacks in the country, and as On3’s Matt Zenitz wrote in the summer, might be the ACC’s second-best quarterback.
“I love him,” an ACC team official told Zenitz for his story on Leonard. “He’s got ideal size and frame. He’s extremely athletic and can run. He’s got a basketball background and was recruited for basketball. He was a freak-show basketball player. He could play somewhere easy with basketball. Dunk. Explosive. And when he gets in the open field, he can haul a—. And then he’s gotten progressively better each year throwing the ball. Looks like he knows where he’s going with the ball and can make all the throws. I think he’s got a high upside.”
On3’s Andy Staples said on his post-game show that the loss for Clemson will highlight the team’s lack of using the transfer portal.
“The portal stubbornness is the key thing right here,” Staples said during his postgame show on Monday night. “This is what we keep coming back to is Dabo not adjusting to today’s college football.”
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