ESPN says Clemson, Dabo Swinney is 'the good guy' vs LSU, Lane Kiffin

Dabo Swinney is cool again, and the Clemson Tigers will the good guys when they roll into Baton Rouge for Saturday night's prime-time matchup against the LSU Tigers. That's the opinion of ESPN college football writer David Hale, who on Thursday praised Swinney for his less-than-subtle comments about

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Dabo Swinney is cool again, and the Clemson Tigers will the good guys when they roll into Baton Rouge for Saturday night's prime-time matchup against the LSU Tigers.

That's the opinion of ESPN college football writer David Hale, who on Thursday praised Swinney for his less-than-subtle comments about Lane Kiffin and LSU's attempts to roster NFL castoffs in 2026.

Swinney was asked about the topic during his Tuesday press conference and called the notion of players formerly on NFL preseason rosters returning to college "embarrassing."

"Honestly, it's just embarrassing that that's where we are," Swinney said. "I don't blame the kids and people trying to take advantage of the system. I just think it's embarrassing where we are with college football.

And we've been there for a while."

Swinney took a "no pun intended" swipe at Kiffin by saying the Tigers "try to stay in our lane here."

Swinney also quipped that he'd gone from watching preseason tape of Arizona State and former Sun Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt (now at LSU), Ole Miss, Colorado and Wisconsin to "spending this last week or so studying the Browns and the Cowboys and the Saints and the Bucs."

Dabo Swinney had jokes, but as the old saying goes, many a truth lie in jest. And to Hale, it makes Clemson-LSU, already a top-25 matchup of teams in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll, one of the must-watch events of college football's busy Week 1 slate.

The ESPN scribe said of Swinney:

"It took college football's most sacred tenets crumbling to dust this offseason, but here's the unassailable truth: Swinney's cool again, and in the battle of Tigers in the Bayou's Death Valley, Clemson is decidedly the good guy.

"It wasn't that long ago that Clemson was college football's biggest power, a school that made the four-team playoff six straight seasons, won two national titles and played for two more, and Swinney, its outspoken coach a lightning rod for criticism as he lauded all he found great about the collegiate model -- academics, amateurism, loyalty, playing for the love of the game. Swinney was decidedly out of touch with a world that saw so much inequity in that model."

To Hale, that perception of Swinney has changed entering the 2026 season as Kiffin and LSU have actively sought to break a once unfathomable notion: that no players who signed with professional football teams could simply return to college because they couldn't hack it in NFL preseason camps.

Hale said:

"Now, as the 2026 season begins, LSU is at the center of the sport after Kiffin abdicated his role with a playoff team, swiped a handful of the Rebels' best players on his way out the door, spent the rough equivalent of a SpaceX IPO to build a roster, then invited anyone who wasn't already collecting an NFL pension to fall camp. It is now LSU's outspoken coach who has become the lightning rod for criticism as he has exploited every loophole, gray area and worst-case scenario the crumbling infrastructure of college athletics has offered. Aaron Donald coming out of retirement to return to the Los Angeles Rams had to be a massive blow to Kiffin's plans to shore up his interior defensive line."

Clemson is undoubtedly the underdog heading into its season opener against LSU, and this is where the legendary Major League Baseball player and manager Leo Durocher comes to mind.

"Nice Guys Finish Last" was the title of Durocher's co-authored 1975 memoir with author Ed Linn about the former Brooklyn Dodgers and Chicago Cubs manager's five-decades career in baseball.

Citing the talent on LSU's roster that starts with Leavitt compared to first-year Clemson starting quarterback Christopher Vizzina, Hale acknowledges:

"If Saturday's showdown in Baton Rouge has become a de facto battle for the soul of college football, it must be said that the bad guys have the upper hand."

It brings to mind another fabulously written book by the sports author Jeff Pearlman: "The Bad Guys Won!" about the raucous 1986 World Series champion New York Mets.

"For years, Swinney has tried to remind the world that, in spite of all its success, this was still 'little old Clemson,'" Hale said. "People stopped buying the bit a long time ago.

"But now, here he is, a two-time national championship coach barely hanging on to relevancy in a system run amok, now clearly on his preferred side of a David vs. Goliath matchup."

To Hale, the battle between Swinney's Tigers and Kiffin's Tigers is about more than just about who wins or loses.

"Swinney needs to prove he can still win without compromising his morals. Kiffin needs to prove morals were a worthy sacrifice in pursuit of a ring. And for everyone watching without a dog in the fight, the outcome might just offer some idea of which way the arc of the moral universe is pointing."

Kickoff for Clemson-LSU is 7:49 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ABC. Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will have the call of the game.

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📸 Ken Ruinard, USA TODAY Network via Reuters Co https://t.co/MA9JZrYD1s pic.twitter.com/UKFD8lQJVJ
— Clemson Wire (@Clemson_Wire) September 3, 2026