Dabo Swinney made it clear last week that he does not feel Ohio State deserved a spot in the College Football Playoff, and the Clemson coach hammered that point home when he submitted his final USA Today Coaches Poll of the season.
According to his ballot, Swinney doesn’t even think Ohio State is a top-10 team. He ranked the Buckeyes 11th and teams like Iowa State and Coastal Carolina ahead of them.
Always interesting to look through the final coaches’ poll ballots. Dabo apparently doesn’t think much of the @OhioStateFB team he’s preparing to face in the CFP. pic.twitter.com/wwAqPKYfq9
— Dave Revsine (@BTNDaveRevsine) December 21, 2020
Swinney also ranked Indiana low at No. 14, so he can argue that ranking Ohio State No. 11 is nothing personal. He said earlier this month that he would not consider including Ohio State or any other team with a six-game schedule in the College Football Playoff. You can read Swinney’s full remarks here.
The interesting thing, of course, is that Clemson is facing Ohio State in the College Football Playoff. Swinney has now given the Buckeyes the ultimate bulletin-board material, and you can bet they are going to use it.
Texas A&M is probably the only team with a real gripe about not making the playoff over Ohio State. Their quarterback sounded off about that on social media.
Ranking Ohio State No. 5 or even No. 6 behind undefeated Cincinnati would have been reasonable. Swinney will almost certainly motivate the Buckeyes with his No. 11 ranking for them.
