Swinney has to double down, again, on Ohio State's No. 11 ranking
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In the state of Ohio, there are certain faces that aren’t shined upon in a flattering light. Dabo Swinney’s is undoubtedly one of them.
“I could probably run for governor in Michigan and might have a good chance, but I’m probably not very popular in Ohio,” Swinney remarked on Monday.
Swinney laughed as he spoke the humorous soundbite, but his hyperbolic statement may not be too far from the truth.
Swinney’s latest clash with the state — and Ohio State Buckeye fans in particular — stems from his placing of the Buckeyes at No. 11 in his Coaches Poll ballot.
As we wrote yesterday, coaches often pass the responsibility of voting to SIDs, but Swinney takes every opportunity he can to obtain his say in how competing programs are stacked up.
But he reaffirmed Monday that his opinions aren’t based on his perception of the Buckeyes’ talent, rather their lack of games played.
“There's no gamesmanship. I just didn't put anybody in there or consider anyone that didn't play nine games or more. It's really as simple as that. It just worked out we have got to play one of those teams. That's on the committee. that's what they decided to do. I think games matter. I don't think it's right Texas A&M and Oklahoma, that Florida, that Cincinnati got punished because they played more games. These games matter.”
Despite the belief that Swinney is showing bias against Ohio State — a perpetual foe of Swinney’s Tigers — he reiterated that even if Ohio State wasn’t the team in the discussion, his opinion would remain unchanged.
“As I said, you can change the name to any other name, anybody. Southern Cal had been 6‑0. I wouldn't have had them in there. So no disrespect. I mean, people can perceive and take things however they want, but for me, every year I take it seriously. But especially this year, I just don't think it's right. It's not that they're not good enough. I just don't think it's right that three teams have to play 13 games to be the champion and one team has to play eight.
“I just have a problem with the fact that three teams got to play 13 games and one has to play ‑‑ I don't care what the name is. Change the name. Ohio State, whoever. Fill in the blank, Penn State, Michigan, Southern Cal, I don't really care. That's just my standard that I put in place. And I wasn't going to change that because of being politically correct, well, and trying to appease people. It is what it is.”
Swinney said that even though Ohio State appeared to be one of the nation’s four best teams on paper, the game “isn’t played on paper.”
“And I know we can say, well, yeah, but they should be one of the best teams. The game's not played on paper. You can go back and look at the top‑ten preseason rankings every year for the last 20 years, there's a lot of those teams that finish the season not even ranked. The game's not played on paper.
“Some people take it personal, but it's nothing personal at all. So that's up to the committee.”