Dabo Swinney on Clemson’s preseason ranking: ‘It’s about what we do’

Clemson received their lowest preseason rating in a decade by landing at No. 14 in the 2024 AP Preseason Top-25. Even so, Dabo Swinney just couldn’t care any less about it.

Swinney spoke about that ranking during a media availability on Thursday. He said he pays no mind to it considering how little he thinks it matters to a team’s season, especially with examples involving the Tigers in recent years. That’s why he’s more focused on what’s going on inside his program right now than what’s outside of it.

“Man, I don’t pay no attention to that stuff, you know. I mean, I really don’t,” said Swinney. “Last time, we were so-called outside in ’15, 12th? Went to the national championship and nobody was writing about all them predictions at that point. You know, 2011, I think we were picked third or fourth in our league and we won the league.”

“It’s not about what people say, what people predict, what people write. It’s about what we do,” Swinney said. “That stuff never matters.”

Swinney was thankful to be a ranked team for the 13th straight year considering where the positions your team nationally.

With that said, lots of schools overachieve or underachieve on that preseason standing every year with some falling all the way out by season’s end. However, Swinney knows voters will never discuss those incorrect calls over the ones that they got right.

“I mean, hey, I mean, thankful that, you know, people see us as a good team, you know. Nothing shameful about being a Preseason Top-15 team, you know. I’d rather be that then not be there,” said Swinney. “I mean at least people see your program in a good light but none of that stuff matters.”

“I mean, you can look at the Preseason Top-25 every year and there’s usually fix, six, seven, eight, nine, or ten of them not even ranked at the end of the season but nobody comes back and takes ownership of their great predictions and prognostications that they had before the season,” Swinney said.

Clemson’s spot in 14th is their lowest since opening at No. 16 in 2014. The only other time they’ve been outside the Top-10 in that span is 2015, which, like Swinney referenced, is when they went from No. 12 to being one of the top contenders that went on to play for the national title.

It has also worked the other way around for the Tigers over the last three years. After starting in the AP Preseason Top-10 in 2021, 2022, and 2023, Clemson finished 14th, 13th, and 20th respectively in the final poll of those years.

Preseason polls are a great talking point ahead of the season and give us all an idea of who fits where nationally going in. Beyond that, though, there’s only so much to get out of them before anyone takes the field, especially for a head coach like Swinney who has much bigger things to worry about.

“It ain’t about none of that. It’s about just having a great, trying to be the best we can be,” said Swinney. “That’s what we do year in and year out.”

“We just try to be the best we can week in and week out and control what we can control,” Swinney said. “You don’t control what other people say or write or predict or any of that stuff. That’s all just noise on the outside. What matters is how we prepare, how we think, and how we practice.”

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