What Dabo Swinney said after Clemson’s rivalry game loss to South Carolina

The Clemson football team just lost a home heartbreaker to South Carolina.

Here’s what Tigers coach Dabo Swinney had to say after the 17-14 loss to USC, which dropped Clemson to 9-3 (7-1 ACC) and hurt its College Football Playoff chances.

The Tigers are still alive, though, because Syracuse upset Miami later Saturday afternoon to send Clemson into next week’s ACC title game against SMU.

Swinney’s postgame presser was held around halftime of that game.

▪ “We had a good year. We could’ve had a great year. We got better this season — a lot of positives to build on ... But this one is tough. It’s tough. It hurts”

▪ “Incredibly physical game. Games like this come down to one or two plays and they made them. We didn’t trail until the final minute ... We had every opportunity”

▪ “I thought our crowd was awesome. It was as loud as I’ve heard the Valley in quite a while. I thought it was an incredible environment and it was really disappointing we couldn’t reward them with a win.”

▪ On South Carolina: “They’re the state champions for this year. Shane deserves a lot of credit ... We’ll give them credit and keep moving”

▪ On USC QB LaNorris Sellers: “He was special.” Says the Tigers had three sacks and “we probably should’ve had six, but he just escaped ... those couple of runs were just huge.” Sellers had 16 carries for 166 yards and two touchdowns today.

▪ On Clemson QB Cade Klubnik: “We’re not 9-3 without our quarterback.” Praises QB Klubnik for what he did Saturday with two rushing TDs — and his improvement as a junior this season, despite Klubnik’s game-ending interception late in the fourth.

▪ On officiating: “There were several things that were questionable, but we had plenty of opportunities. ... “All the reviews went against us today.” He’s unhappy with the fumble call on RB Phil Mafah in the second half and the incomplete pass call on WR Bryant Wesco Jr. that nullified a pre-halftime scoring opportunity.

▪ Swinney said he’ll go home and watch the second half of the Syracuse-Miami game. If Syracuse wins, Clemson advances to the ACC Championship game: “Whatever God’s got for us, he’s got for us ... we’ll know our next steps here soon.” He added that the team isn’t gathering or anything to watch the second half of the Syracuse-Miami game: “Everybody’s pissed.”

▪ On the trick play gone wrong, “we had it set up, we just got stepped on.” QB Cade Klubnik got stepped on by an OL’s foot from under center, leading to him stumbling and tossing it to RB Phil Mafah, who then threw a backward pass. “It was the right situation and I think we were gonna have a good play there. A tough break.”

▪ On the failed 4th and 1 run in Q1: “They made a good play. It was a huge missed opportunity right here.” USC came through and stuffed RB Phil Mafah for no gain. “When it comes down to two plays, those are things you look back on”

▪ “It’s rare that we win the turnover margin and we don’t win. That’s a rare thing.” Tigers were +2 in that category today vs. South Carolina but lost for only the fifth time when doing so. In 90 previous instances since 2011, Clemson was 86-4.

▪ How does Swinney square with the stakes of today and Tigers coming up short? “It’s a missed opportunity. I’ve done this a long time. There’s been a lot of opportunities that haven’t gone my way ... You only really lose in life if you quit.”

▪ “Sometimes you get beat. I wish I could tell you that every year we’ll go undefeated and not lose a game. That’s not reality ... You pick yourself up, you get back in the fight and you keep on moving.”

▪ “That’s why we have a great program: Because we’ve always kept going. That’s what we’ll continue to do.”