Clemson coach Dabo Swinney calls out officiating after controversial call in Pitt game

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney was happy about his team rallying for a thrilling 24-20 win against Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Something he wasn’t happy about?

A moment earlier in the game he said he’s “never” seen in which the referees flagged a Clemson linebacker for an unnecessary roughness penalty roughly three minutes after the play on the field was over late in the fourth quarter.

“I can’t wait to have a conversation on that one,” a visibly frustrated Swinney said postgame after the Tigers moved to 8-2 and 7-1 in the ACC.

The play in question came with roughly four minutes remaining in the game. No. 20 Clemson and Pitt were tied 17-17, and the Panthers had advanced the ball to midfield at Acrisure Stadium.

Pitt was facing a second and 9 on its own 46-yard line when QB Nate Yarnell dropped back and was quickly sacked by Clemson linebacker Dee Crayton, who came through on a blitz to drop Yarnell and set up a third and 12 from Pitt’s own 43.

Crayton appeared to make contact with Yarnell’s helmet and facemask on the sack, eliciting boos from the Pitt home crowd on a replay, but referees did not flag him.

The play stood as called and both teams were prepping for Pitt’s upcoming third-and-12 when a Pitt player was injured on the field, triggering an officials’ timeout.

As the player was assisted, referees huddled for a discussion as more boos rained down. Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi also expressed his displeasure to the officials about the lack of a penalty as replays of Crayton’s sack played on the videoboard.

About two to three minutes after the initial play was blown dead, a referee announced that “after discussion” Clemson’s Crayton had been assessed a personal foul penalty. The 15-yard penalty wiped the sack off the board and gave Pitt a first and 10 at Clemson’s 39 with 3:15 to go in the fourth quarter of a tie game.

So, what happened?

A no-call ... then a flag

Swinney said officials told him that they’d been actively discussing the possibility of a personal foul penalty on Crayton “the whole time” the game was delayed.

“I’ve never been a part of that,” Swinney said. “A guy comes from the end zone and all of the sudden drops a flag. But they tried to explain to me that, ‘No, I know it feels awkward but this is the right thing and we were discussing it.’”

Swinney said he doesn’t know the specific mechanics of refereeing and will defer to ACC coordinator of officials Al Riveron (who reviews controversial plays and gives feedback to coaches) on that point.

Clemson’s coach also didn’t dispute that Crayton got his hands into the face of Yarnell and grabbed his facemask on the sack, which constituted a personal foul.

“But you can’t review a hands to the face,” Swinney said. “And if a guy is not hurt, I think the ball’s probably snapped” on the next play.

Purely from an end-of-game result, the penalty didn’t hurt the Tigers. After getting a first down via penalty, Pitt ended up hitting a 47-yard field goal to go up 20-17 with 1:36 remaining on the drive in question.

Quarterback Cade Klubnik ran for a 50-yard touchdown on the following possession to put Clemson up 24-20 with 1:16 to go, and the Tigers defense intercepted Pitt QB Yarnell near the end zone on the last play of the game to preserve a win.

But Swinney remained concerned postgame with a sequence that was somewhat reminiscent of a moment in a Oct. 19 Georgia-Texas game earlier this year. In that high-profile contest, Texas picked off a Georgia pass but referees called the interception back because of a personal foul penalty.

In reaction, Texas fans threw trash onto the field and, during that delay, referees huddled to further discuss the fall before ultimately ruling there was no pass interference penalty on the play and giving the ball to Texas, a decision that UGA coach Kirby Smart disputed.

One prominent former NFL referee, Terry McAulay, said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that Saturday’s Clemson-Pitt sequence was “complete chaos.”

Wrote McAulay: “Obvious missed unnecessary roughness foul. Coach on the field arguing officiating decision is not penalized. Unnecessary roughness foul eventually called minutes later during injury timeout. None of this is acceptable.”

Narduzzi said postgame he agreed with the officials’ decision and the personal foul penalty “came out like 10 seconds late.”

“That was like … I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you,” Narduzzi said. “It looked like an aggressive play to me. I don’t know. Sometimes I lose my mind.”

‘I’ve never been a part of that’

Swinney emphasized several times he’d “never” seen a late flag like the one that came late in the Clemson-Pitt game. The only other situation similar, he said, came during Clemson’s double overtime loss at Notre Dame during the 2020 season.

“They reviewed the play, changed it and then we’re getting ready to snap it and they review the review,” Swinney said. “I remember our white hat guy at the time, he said, ‘I’ve never been a part of it either.’ They’re calling him from NASA or wherever they are. I’ve never been a part of that.”

“And I’ve never been a part of what we were a part of tonight.”

The officials’ handling of the penalty sequence also drew criticism from the ESPN broadcast team of Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy calling the game.

Swinney also critiqued the refs’ decision to assess true freshman Clemson linebacker Sammy Brown with a targeting penalty for a hit on Yarnell, Pitt’s quarterback, in the second quarter.

Brown was ejected for the remainder of the game because of the penalty, which was initially called targeting on the field and upheld after a review.

“I don’t know what targeting is anymore,” Swinney said, later adding sarcastically: “I’m gonna have to go to a seminar in the offseason. ‘Targeting Anonymous’ or something. I don’t know what it is. I really don’t. I have no idea.”

That targeting penalty was clearly still bothering Swinney postgame — as was the aforementioned penalty on Crayton.

“I’ve just never experienced that. Ever. Like, ever,” Swinney said. “That was a new one, like the review of the review in 2020. Those were two of the most unique experiences in my life. I’ll write about them in my book one day.”

Next game

• Who: No. 20 Clemson (8-2, 7-1 ACC) vs. The Citadel (5-6, 3-5 SoCon)

• When: 3:30 p.m. next Saturday, Nov. 23

• Where: Memorial Stadium in Clemson

• TV: The CW