Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney called out the media for the way it has treated the Tigers in 2019, and Yahoo Sports didn’t particular like his comments.
The Clemson football team came away with a dominant 38-3 victory over in-state rival South Carolina Saturday afternoon, but the big news came after the game.
Dabo Swinney spoke to the media and gave his take on the CFB Playoff committee and the perceived double-standard the committee has in place for teams not named Clemson.
Swinney went on an epic rant discussing how Clemson football would be eliminated with a loss, but a team like Georgia is still squarely in the CFB Playoff race despite losing to South Carolina at home earlier in the season.
Following those comments, Swinney doubled-down and told the media on his Sunday teleconference that many analysts used to say that Clemson couldn’t win in the postseason because it didn’t have a tough schedule, but now they have flipped their narrative to say that the Tigers only win in the postseason because of their easy schedule.
Yahoo Sports took offense to the notion that Clemson football has been disrespected this season, especially when Swinney said that many didn’t expect the Tigers to be 12-0.
Dabo, please stop. https://t.co/edehKvylRJ
— Yahoo Sports College Football (@YahooSportsCFB) December 1, 2019
Dabo saying people have doubted Clemson this year is similar to Nick Saban and “rat poison.” Great coaches can get motivation out of anything.
— Yahoo Sports College Football (@YahooSportsCFB) December 1, 2019
But it’s also a bit over the top because, well, no one was doubting Clemson this year. https://t.co/tmPBzjLKkS
Last tweet on this:
— Yahoo Sports College Football (@YahooSportsCFB) December 1, 2019
Clemson being at No. 5 in the first CFP rankings behind two teams guaranteed to lose by the end of the season is not being doubted.
Minnesota and Baylor were both undefeated and outside the top 12. If anyone gets to play the doubt card it’s Baylor. https://t.co/EcqKT4Y3tK
Many fans on Twitter agreed with Yahoo, but they seem to forget that just a few weeks ago people were talking about how ‘there was something wrong with Clemson’ and how ‘the Tigers could miss the playoff even if they went undefeated.’ While there were only a select few analysts- Paul Finebaum, for example- to say that they actually thought Clemson could lose a game down the stretch, you could certainly feel the tensions flaring as the season progressed.
After the UNC win, many analysts didn’t have Clemson football inside their top-six. The Tigers continuously dropped in the polls and Dabo Swinney obviously took exception.
While Yahoo Sports- and anyone else- can say whatever they want to about how they’re tired of hearing Dabo Swinney’s rants, at some point you have to realize that Clemson is hearing what the media is saying. And it’s clear that the vast majority would prefer a CFB Playoff without the Tigers, and they’re not going to get that this season.
There’s a certain amount of Clemson fatigue around the nation and it has dwindled into the media. Swinney is also clearly upset that players like Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne aren’t getting national recognition, despite being two of the best in the nation. This is a way for him to stick up for his players, something everyone else seems to be forgetting.
People don’t like Swinney using the stuff they write as fuel for his team, but that’s exactly what he’s doing.
It’s easy now to see Clemson at 12-0 and say how ‘no one ever doubted them’ and how ‘no one ever said they were struggling,’ but that’s because you’ve already forgotten about the entire month of September and October. Dabo Swinney hasn’t and he’s using that as fuel for his team down the stretch.
Oh, and he’s not going to stop just because Yahoo Sports takes exception to what he’s saying.