No college football coach has leaned harder into the narrative that his team is getting disrespected by the national media than Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, who makes it sound like the entire college football reporting world has a huge vendetta against his squad.
Clemson made the College Football Playoff as the No. 3 seed when it was announced on Sunday, as most expected after their win over Virginia on Saturday night. Once it was official that Clemson was in, Swinney admitted he has a motive, and knows that the selection committee isn’t influenced by what the media says.
Dabo on the disrespect card: "Y'all make it easy for me," he says to ESPN. Of course he knows the media didn't actually do this and that it's the committee. But he's got a motive and he's going to stick to it.
— Grace Raynor (@gmraynor) December 8, 2019
Swinney is after bulletin board material. He’s trying to rile his team up and make them feel like the world is against them, putting a chip on their collective shoulders. That’s why he engaged one national media member who called him out for his narrative, and it’s why you can safely expect him to complain at some point that nobody thinks they’ll beat Ohio State.
