ACC issues public reprimand of Dabo Swinney for criticizing refs in Clemson's loss to Duke
- - ACC issues public reprimand of Dabo Swinney for criticizing refs in Clemson's loss to Duke
John Leuzzi, USA TODAY November 2, 2025 at 6:10 PM
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ACC issues public reprimand of Dabo Swinney for criticizing refs in Clemson's loss to Duke
The Atlantic Coast Conference has issued a public reprimand of Dabo Swinney for his postgame comments on the officiating in Clemson football's loss to Duke on Saturday, Nov. 1.
The Tigers were additionally given a $10,000 fine by the ACC for Swinney's comments in "direct violation" of the ACC Sportsmanship policy, according to the conference's news release. The fine is to be paid to the ACC's Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship account.
The punishment comes less than 24 hours after Swinney called out the officials in his postgame conference for giving Clemson a defensive pass interference penalty on fourth-and-10 on Duke's final drive of the game that led to an eventual game-winning touchdown and two-point conversion.
'THIS IS A LOW OF LOWS': Dabo Swinney's worst Clemson season continues in loss to Duke
The penalty was assessed to Avieon Terrell on an incomplete pass from Duke quarterback Darian Mensah to wide receiver Que'Sean Brown with 49 seconds remaining in the game. As noted by the Greenville News' Derrian Carter, Swinney believed a flag should've been thrown for offensive pass interference on Duke instead of defensive pass interference on Clemson.
"It shouldn’t come down to that. We had plenty of opportunity to win the game, but that’s one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen in my entire coaching career. Ever," Swinney said of the penalty on Nov. 1.
Here's a clip of the play:
This pass interference call cost Clemson the game. Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/gw3qvo3yxF
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 1, 2025
In its news release, the ACC mentioned Swinney's comments violated the conference's sportsmanship policy, which states: "Public criticism of officials or public comments evaluating the officiating of particular contests is not in the best interest of intercollegiate athletics. Individuals associated with the athletics program are prohibited, therefore, from commenting while acting in an official capacity on officiating other than directly to the Conference office."
As noted by the Greenville News, part of the USA TODAY Network, Clemson has now lost six consecutive home games against Power conference teams for the first time since the 1970-71 seasons and will finish with its worst home record and ACC record since 1999.
Up next for Swinney and Clemson will be a Week 11 home game against Florida State at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 8 at Memorial Stadium, where the Tigers will look to win back-to-back games against the Seminoles.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ACC issues public reprimand of Dabo Swinney for officiating comments
Source: “AOL Sports”
