Clemson is now off to its worst start in the Dabo Swinney era and its worst start in 21 years.
The Tigers suffered a 34-21 loss to Syracuse on Saturday at Death Valley, falling to 1-3 – something that had previously never happened under Swinney.
Before now, Clemson had never started worse than 2-2 through four games in a season under Swinney.
The 1-3 start also marks Clemson’s worst since 2004, when the Tigers started 1-4 when Swinney was the Tigers wide receivers coach under Tommy Bowden. Clemson finished that season 6-5 (4-4 ACC).
Here’s a look at Clemson’s record, through four games, in every season since 2009, Swinney’s first full season as the Tigers’ head coach:
2009: 2-2
2010: 2-2
2011: 4-0
2012: 3-1
2013: 4-0
2014: 2-2
2015: 4-0
2016: 4-0
2017: 4-0
2018: 4-0
2019: 4-0
2020: 4-0
2021: 2-2
2022: 4-0
2023: 2-2
2024: 3-1
2025: 1-3
As for Saturday’s loss to Syracuse, it marked Clemson’s first-ever loss to the Orange at home.