Dabo Swinney brings back the disrespect narrative for the College Football Playoff

Did you really think that Clemson coach Dabo Swinney would lay off the disrespect narrative after his team made the College Football Playoff?

Swinney said during Thursday’s College Football Playoff news conference that he was fueling up the “ROY Bus,” a term he coined to describe the “rest of y’all” who doubted Clemson in the past.

“The ‘ROY Bus’ is fueled up, for sure,” Swinney said, via Garrett Stepien of 247Sports. “It’s been easy this year. I really haven’t had to do a whole lot. Pretty well stated on that, I think, on the record on all that stuff. I think, as a coach, you take free fuel any time you can get it.”

Clemson is the lowest-ranked unbeaten in the 2019 field, ranked third behind LSU and Ohio State. Subsequently, Clemson will have to face the Buckeyes in their playoff opener.

Clemson has been dogged by doubters all year due to the lack of top-quality opposition in the ACC. That’s not a problem that LSU and Ohio State have had to deal with, but Swinney has used it to fuel a disrespect narrative that he openly admits is a tactic to motivate his players. If it works, it works, and we’ll find out just how good Clemson really is when they play Ohio State.