Ohio State will have its hands full on Friday night trying to stop Trevor Lawrence and Clemson, but Kirk Herbstreit believes Dabo Swinney has done the Buckeyes a massive favor with some of the things he has said about them leading up to the playoff game.
Herbstreit said on the ESPN College Football Podcast this week that Ohio State head coach Ryan Day should have an “easy job” preparing his team for Clemson. Herbstreit thinks the Buckeyes already feel they should have beaten Clemson in the playoff last year, and now they should be motivated by Swinney saying they don’t belong.
“Ohio State is gonna spin it into, ‘Not only should we have beaten them a year ago and we got jobbed on a few calls but now their coach is saying we’re the 11th best team in the country,’” Herbstreit said, as transcribed by Nick Kosko of 247 Sports. “Coaches are always looking for a reason to get their team collectively fired up and to get angry and Ryan Day has an easy job this time around to get his team ready.”
Swinney has said multiple times that he does not believe Ohio State deserved to get into the College Football Playoff due to their abbreviated schedule. He stood by that again on Monday, saying it is nothing personal and that he has “all the respect in the world” for Day and his program.
That respect isn’t going to mean anything to Ohio State. Not only does Swinney believe they haven’t done enough to earn a playoff spot, but he also ranked them shockingly low in the final coaches’ poll of the year.
Of course, Clemson may now have some bulletin-board material of its own to use. Day made a comment this week about the Tigers possibly stealing signs. It sure seems like there is no love lost between the two sides, which should make for another great game.
