Syracuse's Fran Brown Had Classy Message to Dabo Swinney After Upsetting Clemson

Syracuse upset Clemson on Saturday, earning a 34–21 win over the favored Tigers on Saturday. The Orange scored a touchdown on their opening drive, and held a two-score lead over Clemson for much of the afternoon en route to the win.

With Syracuse's win, the Tigers now fall to 1-3 after advancing to the College Football Playoff last season and ranking No. 4 in the AP Top 25 preseason poll. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney's seat will only grow warmer after this defeat, and his rant in the lead-up to the game is continuing to age poorly.

Though Swinney has come under fire as of late, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown expressed great gratitude to the Clemson coach after their victory.

"Wanted to thank Clemson, Coach Dabo, his staff, just the community here, we were welcomed with open arms coming in," Brown told reporters following the win. "I think he's a heck of a football coach. He does an amazing job, he's a guy that made me feel comfortable being myself, feel comfortable being me. I appreciate what he does, I appreciate how he coaches the game and what he's done in this game for years and years. It's a big thing for me to have the opportunity to come out here and compete against Coach Swinney and then for us to walk away with the win... hat goes off to him and his staff, first class everything."

Syracuse coach Fran Brown says he’s “in awe” of his team’s win at Clemson today. Also spends some time shouting out Dabo Swinney and says Dabo is a “first class” person and someone who helped inspire Brown to be his authentic self as a coach pic.twitter.com/syZx3NsQdu
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) September 20, 2025

Swinney has of course achieved great success as Clemson's head coach—including winning two national championships, but has seemingly struggled to keep up with the new era of the transfer portal and name, image and likeness in college football.

Meanwhile, Fran Brown is off to a strong start as Syracuse's head man. He led the Orange to a 10-3 record a season ago while winning the Paul Bear Bryant Newcomer Coach of the Year Award, and is now off to a 3-1 start in his second year. It's early in the season, but these two head coaches are trending in very different directions.