Clemson’s Dabo Swinney Went on Fiery Rant About Officiating in College Football

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney was fined for his comments over a controversial pass interference call that ended up playing a significant part in their loss to Duke this past weekend.

Toward the end of the game between Clemson and Duke on Saturday, the Tigers forced a stop on fourth-and-10 that would have ended the game. However, Clemson was called for pass interference despite the Duke receiver appearing to almost push Tigers cornerback Avieon Terrell to the ground. Following the call, Duke went on to score a touchdown and win the game.

Clemson was called for pass interference on this 4th down stop. Duke went on to win the game pic.twitter.com/eIfbUlDCwT
— College Football Zone (@CollegeFBonX) November 1, 2025

After the game, Swinney called that penalty one of the worst he’s seen in his career. Now, he’s advocating for a reformed officiating system that would hold officials more accountable for their calls on the field.

“We had a game—I’m not criticizing, I’m not gonna say the game ... but there’s a system of accountability, and y’all don’t know anything about it,” Swinney told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s behind a curtain. How dare we have accountability. In the meantime we got gambling issues going on and people are being suspended, all that kind of stuff. Refs are people too. It ain’t just coaches and players and if they’re a game, then by God they ought to be a part of the game. And they ought to be part of the accountability and they ought to be a part of the consequences, not just behind some shadowy curtain. They ought to have to answer for it.”

Dabo Swinney says the state of CFB officiating is a bad system that needs change:

“In the meantime we got gambling issues going on and people are being suspended…refs are people too. If they are a part of the game they ought to be part of the accountability and consequences.” pic.twitter.com/6AMqIIp2VV
— Grayson Mann (@gray_mann21) November 4, 2025

Swinney went on to explain that in one game this year, there were 14 calls he wanted to submit to the ACC, but he was only allowed to send in 10. Of the 10 he sent, he believed eight were incorrect calls. The ACC disagreed, saying only five calls were wrong.

Swinney continued, “There’s also absolute flat-out misses with no consequences. ... These are game changing calls. Obviously pass interference, not called that’s takes you off the field. ... There’s no public accountability. The system needs to be changed. There needs to be challenge opportunities and we need full-time officials. If you’re gonna have these types of stakes, needs to be full-time officials.”

“They get to go home and drink and get on with their life and just leave the carnage that affects a lot of people,” Swinney said. “People losing jobs.”