After doing some research here is Dabo's 'Resume'.
Record against Clemson's 3 'Rivals'.
4-5 against Ga Tech
3-5 against Fla St
3-5 against South Carolina
Avg Record of Winning Opponent 9.8 Wins - 3.5 L's (.740)during Dabo's 27 Career Losses
Avg Record of Losing Opponents 6.3 Wins - 6.3 L's (.500)during Dabo's 75 Career Wins
Win record against opponents Ranked in the Top 25 at the time they played 14-17 (.450)
Win record on the Road during regular season 19-16 (.540)
ACC Title Game Record: 2-1 (.667) against three opponents with 11-3 record.
Hey at least that's finally a winning % against good competition.
Bowl Game/Post Season Record: 5-4 (.550) against Opponents with Avg records of 9.8 Wins 3.4 L's (.740)
Some more improvement over his success against regular season teams with almost identical W/L records.
He wins just above half (55%) of these encounters vs the 1 in 4 (26%) in the regular season!!!
So all in all color me so not impressed with Dabo. He doesn't have even a .500 record against even ONE of his three rivals. Imagine that here....if CNS has losing records to LSU, Tenn, and AU.
His 75 wins come at the expense of mediocre to poor ACC teams.
His 27 Losses are to 3 out of every 4 good team he faces.
He has a losing record against Ranked Opponents
He has a barely above .500 Road Record
In Championship Games ACC/NCG his is 2-2....again right at .500.
So tell me why exactly he's the 'Real Deal'?
You make some good points and I'm not a Dabo Swinney fan by any means of the imagination.
But yes I think he's the real deal and I think his Clemson teams will continue to get better and better.
Here's few facts to back up why I think so:
(1) Record against ranked teams is not really a good measure. There are only six current head coaches who have a winning record against ranked opponents since 2007.
Nick Saban(At Alabama) is best with a record of just 19-12.
David Shaw is 10-5
Les Miles is 18-15
Steve Spurrier (retired) was 17-16
Jimbo Fisher is 7-6
and Mark Helfrich(Oregon) is 2-1
Conversely,
Urban Meyer is 10-13
Bob Stoops 17-17
Mark Dantonio is 8-21
Bill Snyder is 4-12
and Bobby Petrino is 6-13
Those are five "real deal" coaches who also have losing records against ranked teams.
Dabo is also 9-7 when coaching against coaches who have won a national championship.
He has a 10-9 record against Southeastern Conference teams beating Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina, LSU, and Kentucky.
Since 2012, in bowl games, his teams have beaten:
Oklahoma 37-17
Oklahoma 40-16
Ohio State 40-35
LSU 25-24
and he gave us all we wanted and more before losing 45-41.
I don't see how it's possible to say he's not the real deal, but you have a right to your opinion and I respect that.
sip