Swinney was lucky to get out alive after the post-game altercation

CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney said he was lucky to make it out alive during South Carolina’s postgame celebration Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

With thousands of Clemson and South Carolina fans on the field, players from both teams nearly got into an altercation when Gamecock players attempted to place a Gamecock flag in the middle of the Tiger Paw at Frank Howard Field.

“It was dangerous. It was scary,” Swinney said Sunday during the coaches’ Zoom call to preview next week’s ACC championship game against SMU. “We have to make sure this doesn’t happen again. And we can’t be hypocrites either.”

The Clemson coach admitted he only realized one of his players put a flag in the Gamecock logo after the Tigers’ 2023 victory in Columbia. The player returned the favor after South Carolina players did the same after their win at Clemson in 2022.

“Obviously I haven’t been involved in much of it, but this is something that happened a few years ago and then last year we went there and asked a player to plant a flag. I didn’t know about it until after it happened,” Swinney said. “I’m disappointed about that and it seems to be a thing again this year. Listen, this just shouldn’t be happening.

Swinney says he plans to discuss the matter with South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer to ensure this doesn’t happen after future games.

“Shane and I will talk about it and make sure that doesn’t happen in the future. This is dangerous and people could have been hurt,” Swinney said. “It could have been a bad situation. I know you’ve seen a lot worse in other places for the same thing, but Shane and I both have to do a better job at this and we’re going to do that.”

It was worse and fortunately no one was seriously injured at the time. In 2004, both teams got into a brawl at Memorial Stadium that took more than 20 minutes to resolve.

As punishment, both programs agreed not to play in a bowl game, even though they were both bowl eligible.

“I promise you, if we win down there next year or whenever we win there again, we won’t do that. I’ll make sure of that,” Swinney said. “You win, you have bragging rights and you definitely want to celebrate it like you should, but it just can’t happen. It really could have gotten out of hand yesterday. There were a lot of people down there and I think we can all be better there.”

Clemson and South Carolina weren’t the only teams at play on Saturday. Alabama-Auburn had a few scuffles in the Iron Bowl. Players from North Carolina and NC State participated, as did Florida and Florida State.

The worst incident occurred after the Ohio State-Michigan game, when police used pepper spray to break up the melee. A reporter was sprayed while attempting to film the incident.

“We’re also in it because I know we had a player down there last year who did that,” Swinney said of raising the flag. “We don’t necessarily have to participate in that. Let’s win the game, celebrate with our team, shake hands and move on.” That’s what we have to do.

“There are a lot. Everyone in college football can learn from yesterday because that looked bad for college football.”