Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney Places Ohio State 11th on Coaches’ Poll Ballot

Dabo Swinney
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Warner Todd Huston

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney took a swipe at Ohio State by placing his future College Football Playoff opponent 11th on his Coaches Poll ballot.

Swinney has insisted that schools that kept playing during the coronavirus scare and have more games under their belt should have been allotted special consideration and teams that canceled games should be penalized by the College Football Playoff selection committee, according to ESPN.

The Buckeyes have only played six games to Clemson’s eleven, and as far as Swinney is concerned that should disqualify Ohio from qualifying.

“I think the games matter,” Swinney said during Sunday’s conference call. “The mental and physical toll of a season — there’s nobody out there that would say that somebody who’s played 11 games versus somebody who’s played six is better physically or something like that because it’s a long season. We’re going on Week 21. These guys have had no break. It’s been a grind, not just football-wise, but the mental challenge and the personal sacrifice and commitment that everybody’s had to make to be able to play and continue to play. It’s been incredible.”

But the committee didn’t take Swinney’s advice and placed the Ohio State Buckeyes as its No. 3-ranked team. Still, Swinney had his say anyway by ranking the Buckeyes as his number eleven team.

Swinney wasn’t the only coach who left Ohio State out of the top four, though. “Georgia’s Kirby Smart had the Buckeyes ranked sixth, while six others had them fifth, including Alabama’s Nick Saban and Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher,” ESPN wrote.

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