Clemson goes Bananas as Swinney leads the charge down the hill

Swinney poses with members of the crew before the game.

David Hood - Senior Writer - Sunday, April 27 2025

CLEMSON – If Death Valley has the same emotion and energy against LSU that it had Saturday night for the Savannah Bananas, it will be a good night.

The Bananas brought their raucous and high-energy show to Memorial Stadium and 81,000 fans, and even head football coach Dabo Swinney was all smiles as he signed autographs for Bananas and Party Animals (the opposing team) players and support staff.

Swinney exited the field about 10 minutes before the first pitch, rode the buses around the stadium with the Bananas, and led the “home team” down Clemson’s iconic hill.

The Bananas beat their dance partners, the pink Party Animals, 4-3. Foul balls caught in the air by fans? An out. Trick plays counted in the scoring system. And fans lined up by the thousands to get in when the gates opened at 4:30 for the event.

C.J. Spiller danced at home plate and the Clemson band joined the Bananas band for a halftime show of sorts that saw both bands running onto and off the field at full speed.

Clemson football legend, C.J. Spiller, helped us rock out this run celly 🤝 pic.twitter.com/t2sZ9T942G
— Savannah Bananas (@TheSavBananas) April 27, 2025

There were a few hiccups along the way, as is expected when something new and unusual packs a lot of people into a small space. Concession lines were long (one friend texted that he stood in line for a hot dog, and another friend said her son stood in line for 45 minutes only to get to the front and find out they had run out of most items) and exiting Clemson after the game was a nightmare.

But for the few hours inside the stadium? A dance party.

“This is fun. This is special and this is what they do,” Swinney told TigerNet. “It’s fun to be a part of a first. First college football stadium and it’s a sellout. The first of many to come for the Bananas.”

Bananas owner Jesse Cole said after the game that the plan to include Swinney has been in the works for a while.

“We spoke months ago, and he said he wanted to be a part of this,” Cole said. “He loves the vision and what we do and he was All In and said, ‘What do you want me to do? I want to be a part of this.’ And talking with him, I was just grateful to be with him.”

Party Animal Jake Skole, who played football for Kirby Smart at Georgia but also collected over 2000 at-bats in the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees systems before returning to school (he was selected in the First Round, 15th overall, in the 2010 MLB Draft by the Rangers), said playing baseball in Death Valley was a unique experience.

“It’s been great. We’ve been welcomed with open arms here on campus,” Skole said. “Being from the South, I know what Clemson brings to the table in football and baseball. It’s been fun to be a part of. I played at UGA for three seasons, and this college football scene is a different world, and Clemson, this is their strength. Cool to see the facilities and cool to see it packed out, 81,000 fans, and it was nice to see that again from my UGA days. It was cool to this place rocking like this.”

Skole said Swinney spoke to the team Friday and it resonated with all of the players.

“It was beautiful,” Skole said. “It was spot on from some things I’ve heard about him from Coach Smart, and he is a talented speaker and a talented coach. Kudos to Dabo and Coach Smart, too, they really do an incredible job of turning these kids into young men and we heard of lot of that in his speech. Be uncommon in a world of uncommon people.”

The Bananas brought their uncommon brand of showmanship to Death Valley for one record-setting night.