Despite their difficult 4-4 record thus far this season, head coach Dabo Swinney assured reporters on Tuesday that he isn’t allowing the detractors “steal my joy.”

According to ESPN’s David Hale, Swinney responded as follows to a query regarding the distinction between fair and unfair criticism:

“I still have a long way to go in my career. I’ll fight like a shit to bring this back up to par if they want me back here.”However, I refuse to let anything rob me of the joy I deride my work for. I enjoy what I do, but that doesn’t mean I’m content. I refuse to let victory turn into a sense of relief. That’s not going to happen, I promise. The enjoyment

“We’re at a point where If you don’t go undefeated—you are losers, you’re terrible …. and that is just such a terrible mindset,” Swinney stated at the time. To be honest, perhaps we should lose a couple of games to loosen up the group. The bandwagon can occasionally get a little too full.”

Thanks to players like standout quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson, Clemson enjoyed a lengthy period of success that lasted for more than ten years. Between the 2015 and 2020 seasons, the two guided the Tigers into each season’s College Football Playoff.

In 2016, Watson assisted Clemson in winning the national championship; the following year, Lawrence won another championship for the Tigers.

Since then, supporters have grown accustomed to seeing Clemson win, but in the past few seasons, the quarterback room has deteriorated. DJ Uiagalelei and, more recently, Cade Klubnik have been the program’s mainstays.

This season, Klubnik guided Clemson to a 4-2 start, but after back-to-back losses to the Miami Hurricanes and NC State Wolfpack in the last two weeks, he and the Tigers have come under heavy fire.

It’s probably time for supporters to lower their expectations now that Clemson’s chances of earning a spot in the CFP are gone.