Dabo Swinney shades College Football Playoff opponent Ohio State in final coaches poll

What's this all about?

Ohio State will face off against Clemson for a college football playoff semifinal on New Year’s Day in the Sugar Bowl, but Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney seemed to indicate he doesn’t believe the Buckeyes should be a playoff squad.

According to the ballots printed by USA TODAY Sports in the Amway Coaches Poll, Swinney didn’t have Ohio State in his top three, four or five. Nope. He had them ranked all the way down to 11th! ELEVENTH!! That seems a little harsh on the surface when you consider Ohio State won all of the games it played. Of course, the Buckeyes only played six games in 2020.

It seems like this is definitely Swinney and not a member of the Clemson public relations staff, per The Athletic’s Grace Raynor:

Swinney’s vote is definitely an outlier:

We don’t know the reasoning yet, but Swinney has talked recently to Rich Eisen about how teams in the Big Ten played fewer games and that could be a factor in choosing who goes to the playoffs:

So is it a statement about how Ohio State played fewer games and that’s a penalty against them? Some shade and bulletin board material ahead of their game? Hmm.