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Dabo Swinney and the unranked Clemson Tigers will kick off their season in Baton Rouge on Saturday against Lane Kiffin and the No. 11 LSU Tigers. LSU’s roster is up in the air as the courts and conference try to sort out whether or not the Tigers will be allowed to deploy players who were just on NFL rosters last month. These are the kinds of things the sport is dealing with, and Swinney doesn’t like it. Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Sept. 1, Swinney called the current state of college football “embarrassing,” per TigerNet writer and podcaster Grayson Mann on X, MORE: Clemson names starting quarterback for Week 1 opener against LSU “I’m at a loss for words. I would just say it’s kind of embarrassing,” said Swinney. “Honestly, it’s just embarrassing that’s where we are. I don’t blame the kids, but people trying to take advantage of the system. I just think it’s embarrassing for college football. And we’ve been there for a while. I just keep my energy and my focus on and my energy on the things that I control and the things that matter, and that’s these kids here and my team. All that outside stuff? We just kind of, no pun intended, we just stay in our lane here at Clemson.” ‘There’s no governance’ Swinney then turned his attention to the lack of rules governing the sport these days. MORE: Clemson’s Dabo Swinney calls team ‘bunch of nobodies’ at fall camp “We have no rules,” he said. “There’s no governance. I mean, it’s a joke. There’s zero rules and when you enforce rules somebody just goes and finds a judge and say no you can’t enforce that rule. Never did I think I’d be living in an era like this, but that’s where we are.” This is not the first time Swinney has been critical of the modern era of college football, but this time there are probably fewer people snickering about his complaints. When he didn’t recruit the transfer portal or think players should be paid, he was an old man shouting at a cloud. But guys coming back from NFL training camps to play a fifth year of college football seems to be a step too far for just about everyone. — Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter —