Dabo Swinney doesn't care about your noon kickoff complaints

You could hear the collected sighs from Clemson fans everywhere.

At 12:30 Monday afternoon, the kickoff time for Clemson’s next home game against Louisville was announced. Another noon start.

That would be two consecutive noon kickoffs after the second-ranked Tigers’ matchup with Florida State, and the fifth contest overall to start before 1:00 PM this season alone.

Plenty of Clemson fans were - and still are- not happy about the next noon kickoff. The frustrations not only stem from the number of nooners, but the lack of primetime home night games being played in Death Valley.

The latest complaint was Clemson’s homecoming matchup with No. 16 North Carolina State in the last meeting between two undefeated teams in the power five. Rumors of ESPN’s College GameDay coming to Clemson's campus swirled, but nonetheless they chose a different destination.

“I thought they were going to make it a night game. I was hoping for that,” defensive end Clelin Ferrell said of the 3:30 matchup with N.C. State. “I think it’s time for a night game in the Valley, but they didn’t do it.”

That riled up the fan base even more. A noon kickoff on the road is one thing, but fans want to be able to enjoy an entire day of tailgating at Clemson before the main event. The last night game to be played in Memorial Stadium was against Georgia Tech in 2017 during a torrential downpour.

Fans may be chomping at the bit for a night game - or anything other than a noon kickoff. But Dabo Swinney isn’t going to complain. He couldn’t care less.

“Clemson fans, they don’t want to hear me say it, but I always say I don’t care,” Swinney said Tuesday. “Just tell me when to show up. I just don’t care. I just want to play.

“I know from a fan’s standpoint it’s probably very difficult because it’s hard getting into Clemson. A lot of people travel a long way. I get all that. But why am I going to worry about something I have zero control over? That is such a waste of my time. I couldn’t care less because I have zero control. None.”

Swinney went on to mention that at one point in the last three years, Clemson played 16 consecutive night games away from home (road games and neutral sites). Several of those matchups were featured as a College GameDay site and were extremely pivotal games in the makeup of the College Football Playoff. That streak ended last year when Clemson went on the road to N.C. State in early November.

“Man, we’ll play at 6:00 AM, noon, midnight, I don’t care,” Swinney continued. “My job is to get the team ready to play. And I don’t want my team worried about that stuff. It don’t matter.

“I think for a long time, that was one of the first things when I got this job. It was like, ‘oh my God, we don’t play good at this time.’ Or ‘we don’t play good when we wear this uniform. Oh, it's gonna rain today.’ Whatever. Who cares? Let’s play!”

Clemson’s next two noon kickoffs will be played on ABC. The last time Clemson played its noon contest on ABC was a few weeks ago against Syracuse. It was the second-highest rated game of the weekend behind Penn State vs. Ohio State.

For every week this season, the noon slot on ABC has been one of the top six games of the entire college football weekend in terms of ratings, per Sports Media Watch. That same noon slot is the second-highest viewed slot of the weekend.

So even if it’s not a night game, it’s still primetime television.

“I’m not going to complain. I’m thankful that we’re on TV,” Swinney added. “There’s a lot of teams out there that ain’t on TV. I’m thankful that we are one of those teams that they want to put on a primetime - I know people don’t like noon, but it is a primetime spot.”

In recent years, it’d be crazy to think a game between Clemson and Florida State or Clemson and Louisville would be at anything but a night game. But those times - unlike the noon starts - have changed.

But that doesn’t concern Clemson’s head coach one bit. Swinney doesn’t want to hear your complaints.

“The whole country is going to see Clemson,” Swinney added. “So I don't care. Let’s go play the game.”