Dabo Swinney blasts Florida State over canceled game
Dabo Swinney on Sunday blasted Florida State’s administration for postponing their football on Saturday at the last minute.
Clemson traveled to Tallahassee to face the Seminoles on Saturday, but the game was postponed at the last minute over a COVID situation (more details here).
On Sunday, Swinney was ticked off about things and made that known. He said the FSU administration used the COVID issue as an excuse to cancel the game.
Dabo Swinney: "This game was not canceled because of COVID. COVID was an excuse to cancel the game."
— Matt Connolly (@MattatTheState) November 22, 2020
Swinney says that FSU should pay for Clemson’s travel, or if they want to make up the game, they can travel to Clemson.
Dabo Swinney is really upset: "This game was not canceled because of COVID. COVID was just an excuse to cancel the game." Says FSU administration forfeited the game. If FSU wants to play Clemson, they can home to Death Valley, he says. Or they can pay for Clemson's travel.
— Grace Raynor (@gmraynor) November 22, 2020
Swinney says his players were ticked off about making the trip only to have the game not be played.
Dabo on players’ reaction: “They weren’t happy. They were ticked. Most people have no idea what goes into a week’s worth of preparation. We’ve gone to such extremes to be able to play.”
— Scott Keepfer (@ScottKeepfer) November 22, 2020
He also believes the standard to cancel a game was not met.
Dabo Swinney: "The standard to cancel a game was not met. A guy testing positive on Friday does not cancel a game. I was on every committee call for months since March and that was never the case."
— Grace Raynor (@gmraynor) November 22, 2020
FSU’s position of wanting to be cautious with COVID-19 makes sense, as does Clemson’s anger about making the trip and having the game scuttled at the last second. Swinney also rightly points out that they determined standards for playing and canceling games, and that schools knew the possibility of positive tests existed. That is why they expanded travel rosters so that teams could make contingency plans in the case of a positive test.
Clemson also offered to get tested again so they could play Saturday or Sunday and FSU wouldn’t agree to terms.
Clemson offered to undergo another round of testing to play Saturday or Sunday. Couldn't come to an agreement. "We did everything in our power to play." – Dan Radakovich.
— Grace Raynor (@gmraynor) November 22, 2020
Clemson is 6-1 and has games against Pitt and at Virginia Tech remaining on its schedule.