Syracuse head coach Fran Brown congratulated Dabo Swinney during a postgame interview, as his team's win over Miami helped Clemson immensely. Credit: ESPN
College FootballESPNBy Sam Neumann on

Fran Brown will be able to use some soap on Saturday night.

The first-year Syracuse Orange head coach previously admitted to depriving himself of suds if his team loses. Well, his team not only didn’t lose on Saturday, but it deprived the Miami Hurricanes of an ACC Championship Game berth in the process. And after the 42-38 upset win at the Carrier Dome, Brown had some shoutouts to hand out.

One was to Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart, whom he served under as the program’s defensive backs coach (2022-23) after stops at Temple, Baylor, and Rutgers. The other was to Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, and it’s not because they used a loss to the Tigers as a source of motivation or anything like that.

In fact, Clemson didn’t play Syracuse in 2024. So, the message directed toward Swinney was because of the favor Brown and his team had paid the Tigers. Following a 17-14 loss to South Carolina, Clemson’s College Football Playoff future was hanging by a thread. All the Tigers needed was a Miami loss to clinch a date in Charlotte with SMU for the ACC Championship Game.

And even after a 21-point deficit, Syracuse delivered.

“Hey, Dabo Swinney,” said Brown, “congrats, I got you in, baby!”

And sure enough, he did.

As did Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord and running back LeQuint Allen.

It’s the holiday season, after all.

If Brown wants to exchange pleasantries with Swinney, he’ll have to wait until the ACC Kickoff next July in Charlotte or at a future date at Memorial Stadium in 2025. Perhaps the Clemson head coach will come prepared, maybe even treating his colleague to a cornucopia of the finest bottles of body wash Upstate South Carolina has to offer.

Clemson thought its season was over, but the Tigers’ CFP hopes are still alive thanks to Fran Brown.

[ESPN]

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann