Scott Shafer made a mistake. That much is certain.

Yelling out, “F*ck you, Dabo, you motherf*cker,” to Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was out of line. Shafer was the first to admit his wrongdoing.

“I said a few things out there today that I feel bad about,” Shafer said in his postgame interview.

And after listening to his entire spiel, it’s evident that he really did regret his choice words. The spat shouldn’t be viewed as a big deal because frankly, it’s not. Swinney’s questionable call shouldn’t be blown out of proportion, either.

Swinney opted to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the Syracuse 5-yard line. The Tigers already held a commanding 35-7 lead and a mere 14 seconds remained in the first half.

A field goal was the simple choice. But Swinney rarely keeps it simple. Syracuse held Clemson out of the end zone, but Shafer’s choice words went viral within minutes.

The social media reaction is fine. That’s bound to happen in the 21st century. The fact that reporters wrote about it is fine, too. It’s something people care about, and it’s honestly rather humorous.

But what shouldn’t happen is people questioning Shafer’s ultra intensity, or Swinney’s aggressive play calling.

Going for it on fourth down fits into Clemson’s creative, “run-up-the-score” approach. Shafer’s fire fits seamlessly into the hard-nosed image he’s trying to infuse into the program.

That’s just who Shafer is. He’s a hard-nosed motherf*cker. Everything he does revolves around intensity. Even his press conferences are intense. His visor tosses aren’t for show. He probably goes through three of those things a week at the rate they’re hitting the ground.

It’s all genuine. Shafer’s wife Missy Shafer said her husband is extremely passionate and dedicated to everything he does. He cares about his family, his players and the image of Syracuse football. It was a mistake, but to err is human, and Shafer is the human’s human.

He’s a person driven by the values of family — both his team and his actual family — so he knows the importance of setting a good example. He cares too much about everyone around him and the message he gives off to let a similar situation unfold again.

That doesn’t mean what Shafer did was OK. It was worth all the Vines and tweets and warranted a post-game apology.

But the fun should stop here because it is excusable. Shafer mentioned that when he played basketball or football as a kid, he used to say similar things.

We’ve all been there. The intensity of sports brings out the best in people, but it also brings out the worst. It’s the nature of competition. Our playbook of spiteful, cockamamie insults is always expanding.

Shafer realizes that what he did was childish, though. It’s important to squelch the emotion and refrain from making a mistake. He really gets that.

It would be a shock if something similar happened again, so this really isn’t a big deal and shouldn’t be treated as such.

As for Swinney’s play call, that’s excusable, too. It makes sense that Shafer was fuming. His team was already down by 28 and Swinney was trying to push the lead to 35? That seems silly and over the top, but it’s really not.

With Clemson’s vast weaponry, and Tajh Boyd under center, going for it on fourth-and-5 isn’t ludicrous. In fact, it’s actually pretty savvy. The Tigers were 6-of-9 on fourth down this season entering Saturday’s game. Boyd’s completion percentage is 66.0. That’s nasty. The Clemson offense is disgustingly good.

It shouldn’t be looked at as running up the score. It should be looked at as a crafty strategy.

Neither Shafer nor Swinney is to blame long-term for their actions on Saturday.

Shafer handled the situation with class. He addressed the issue right away. He didn’t wait for a reporter to ask the question and he didn’t beat around the bush. Shafer owned up to the mistake and said he meant no harm in the comment.

He didn’t. As vulgar as the insult itself was, it doesn’t need to be discussed any further.

Published on October 7, 2013 at 12:31 am