Head coach of Clemson Dabo Swinney made headlines when it ranked Ohio State 11th in its poll for the USA Today Coaches Poll last Monday. In a clip from an interview with Tom Rinaldi of ESPN that aired Saturday night on the College Football Scoreboard, Swinney explained the reasoning behind the ranking.
“You have been clear on this point throughout, Dabo, about the number of games as a metric has to matter – perhaps as much as ever – given how difficult the routine has been this season,” said Rinaldi. “So you ranked Ohio State 11th and it generated a huge reaction. Okay, how would you characterize the reaction to that ranking? Why Ohio State 11th?”
“Yes, overreaction,” said Swinney. “First of all, my vote doesn’t mean anything. But it means something to me, you know? It’s my poll. I do that. It creates a stir because we’re playing in Ohio. It has nothing to do with Ohio – absolutely zero. You can change the name to Michigan or Georgia or Florida or Tennessee or Nebraska. Whenever you are in the top 10 (ranking), it must be special. This year is like very, very, very special and I wanted it to be So, I wanted to recognize the teams that played nine games or more. So, if you didn’t play nine games, I just didn’t count you in the top ten. That’s why they were 11 years old.
“Obviously, they are a great team. They are good and talented enough to defeat us and good enough to win the national championship. But in my opinion, I don’t think it is right that three teams have to play 13 games to win everything and one team has to play eight. What universe am I living in? And it has nothing to do with them. It was qualification. And I didn’t think they were qualified, based on the number of games, against all these other teams. In my opinion – Texas A&M, Florida, Oklahoma, Cincinnati – they were punished for playing more games. “
Clemson won the state of Ohio 29-23 on December 28, 2019, CFB Playoff’s semifinal clash. The Tigers previously beat the Buckeyes 31-0 on December 31, 2016, a first CFB Playoff match between the two sides. Swinney also has a 40-35 victory against Ohio State on January 3, 2014, Orange Bowl.
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No. 2 Clemson (10-1) and No. 3 Ohio State (6-0) have a chance to resolve the dispute in the College Football Playoff semifinal game next Friday. The Sugar Bowl is set to kick off at 8 pm ET on ESPN at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.