Dabo Swinney fires back at NC State coach Dave Doeren

Dabo Swinney came back at NC State coach Dave Doeren on Tuesday.

After Swinney’s Clemson Tigers beat Doeren’s Wolfpack over the weekend, Doeren, unprompted, called for an investigation into a laptop that was spotted on Clemson’s sideline during the game.

Swinney didn’t take kindly to Doeren’s intimation that Clemson, which said the laptop was being used by its social media team, may have been cheating. Swinney said Tuesday he was able to confirm the laptop “had nothing to do with football” before goofing on Doeren’s paranoia and NC State defensive lineman Bradley Chubb stealing Clemson QB Kelly Bryant’s towel multiple times during the game.

“Someone asked me about that the other night after the game. I had no clue. I knew it wasn’t anything to do with football. I did investigate. I did. I followed instructions to do some investigation,” Swinney said. “Turns out there was just a major crisis going on. There was a young guy trying to help a team in need. Trying to be helpful in the situation. Trying to get in touch with Amazon. We were in a crisis. We were in dire need of towels.

“We were trying to get one of them drones to come in and drop some towels on the sideline. Just didn’t work out. I want to launch an investigation, too. What do they do with those towels? Is it a towel wall of fame?”

Swinney, who said he hasn’t heard from Doeren since Saturday, then got a bit more serious.

“It’s disappointing because that was kind of a challenge to our integrity,” he said.

NCAA rules do not allow computers to be used “by coaches for coaching purposes any time during the game or between periods.” That prompted these comments from Doeren on Saturday:

“I’d like to know why there was a laptop on Clemson’s sideline that people were looking at,” Doeren said after the game. “I’d like that to be investigated. Maybe they weren’t doing anything, but I was told it’s illegal to have technology on the sideline. So I’d like to know that as well.”

Clemson told the Raleigh News & Observer that the team’s video staff has used a laptop on the sideline for the past two years in order to quickly get content onto Clemson’s various social media channels. The ACC said Sunday it was satisfied with Clemson’s explanation for the laptop’s presence on the sideline. After it was spotted, Clemson said it was removed from the sideline.

Swinney also noted other issues his team has had with NC State in recent years. In 2015, it appeared that NC State assistant Des Kitchings (who later apologized) shoved Deshaun Watson after he ran out of bounds.

And after Clemson’s K’Von Wallace sealed the win with an interception, another NC State assistant (in the black shirt) appeared to take a swipe at Wallace at the conclusion of his interception return.

“Two years ago we go up there and one of their coaches pushes Deshaun Watson. This year we have some guy take a swipe at K’Von (Wallace). What if he breaks a finger?” Swinney said.

“I think the investigation needs to be managing his sideline and not worrying about ours.”

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

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