Dabo Swinney doesn’t care he hurt Ohio State fanbase’s feelings
The fragile feelings of the Ohio State fanbase were thrown for a loop this past week when Clemson coach Dabo Swinney ranked the Buckeyes No. 11 in his final Coaches’ Poll for the 2020 season.
The entire nation was quick to blow up on the fact that Dabo Swinney had the Buckeyes outside of his top-10 behind names like Coastal Carolina and Cincinnati.
Since that point, Swinney has been asked multiple times by reporters about his decision to put Ohio State 11th and we all know that this is ammunition being used by Ryan Day heading into the two team’s matchup with one another on New Year’s Day.
Despite the constant criticism, Swinney has stood by his comments:
"“There’s no question Ohio State is good enough to beat us, to beat any of these four [playoff teams] and be the national champion,” Swinney said via ESPN. “That’s not a question at all. I didn’t rank anybody who didn’t play nine games or more in the top 10. That’s why they were 11. I have all the respect in the world for Ohio State.”"
Swinney also pointed out his 2017 ballot where he ranked Ohio State No. 4 over Alabama.
"“To me, right is right,” he said. “I knew I’d be the poster child. I could probably run for governor in Michigan and have a good chance.”"
It’s not a good enough explanation for Ohio State fans, though.
Quick reminder that Dabo Swinney had Coastal Carolina ranked above Ohio State 🤡 pic.twitter.com/QwKM9q0TB9
— Barstool Ohio State (@BarstoolOSU) December 27, 2020
I get it. He knows he should have lost last year to the bucks. He wants nothing to do with them. Trying to use his status the last couple weeks to convince the selection committee of the bucks lack of competition.
— jason grunden (@ghogginit) December 21, 2020
— Hunter Smith (@futurebuckeye32) December 21, 2020
https://twitter.com/graybill_jodi/status/1341088324862291968?s=20
https://twitter.com/BuckeyevsTworld/status/1343325614510637062?s=20
Dabo Swinney isn’t done hurting the fragile feelings of Ohio State fans, either
No one can really argue against Swinney’s logic, except those who want to take the poll as a sign of disrespect (ie Ohio State fans). It’s easy to see why they would, after all Clemson football fans would do the same thing if the shoe was on the other foot.
That being said, it’s become increasingly clear that Swinney doesn’t care if he steps on the toes of Buckeyes fans.
He’s grown tired of hearing the endless whining and complaining from that fanbase and he’s not going to just step away or apologize for what he believes is right simply because they push back. Swinney could say that the ‘sky is blue’ and there would be 100 OSU fans lined up on Twitter ready to blast him for being insensitive and a terrible human being with no morals or character.
He simply doesn’t care and, in my opinion, I think he’s having a little fun playing the ‘troll’ after having to hear from the ‘thumb gangsters’ all spring and summer long.
One thing that an Ohio State fan on Twitter- and it seems to be going around quite a bit- is that Trevor Lawrence shouldn’t win the Heisman by Dabo’s logic. That makes absolutely no sense. Despite what the user tweeted, Lawrence has played in nine games– not five- and that’s more than any team in the Big Ten played this entire season.
Swinney ranked teams based off the amount of games they played and that hurts Ohio State’s feelings, but really the Buckeyes should direct their anger away from him and place it on the Big Ten for making so many poor decisions over the course of the last five months.