Sports losers of 2020: Dabo Swinney just handed Ohio State a Sugar Bowl win

,,, “clueless and classless”

One of the things that coaches tell players before an interview is this: Don’t give them any bulletin board ammunition.

That message is simple: Say nice things about your opponent even if you do not feel that way. 

However, some coaches’ egos are so great that they cannot resist doing it themselves. 

Enter Dabo Swinney, arguably one of the weirdest coaches’ names in history. Who would call themselves Dabo instead of his Christian name, William, or Bill?

Nevertheless, he became a hero in the eyes of many football fans when the Clemson coach defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide twice for the national title in the past five years. 

Now, the negatives are starting to pile up against Swinney, and he has made one of the stupidest moves in history. 

Perhaps he is right. I have argued for years that Ohio State is consistently overrated in the national polls. 

However, my saying it and a coaching saying this prior to the national semifinals in the Sugar Bowl are two very different situations. 

Voted them number 11

A few years ago when Clemson was just starting to become a national power, the only team in the ACC to do so in football in recent years, Dabo’s team blanked the Buckeyes, 30-0, showing that Penn State should have been the Big Ten rep in the playoffs that years. 

Today, Swinney is crying because his team played 11 games and Ohio State only 6. His team lost one, to Notre Dame, while the Buckeyes did not lose any. 

Sports Illustrated outlined the angst that Swinney has toward the Buckeyes, probably because the conference is so much wealthier than the ACC,

Tigers coach Dabo Swinney isn't hiding his feelings on which teams he wanted to see in the College Football Playoff.

In the final AP Coaches Poll ballot ahead of Ohio State and Clemson's Sugar Bowl meeting, Swinney voted for the Buckeyes at No. 11. The majority of the panel's 61 coaches placed Ohio State in the top four, and all but Swinney ranked the Buckeyes as one of the top six teams in the nation.

Swinney put Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Florida, Georgia, Cincinnati, Oklahoma, Iowa State and Coastal Carolina ahead of Ohio State.

Jenna West, “Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney Ranks Ohio State at No. 11 in Final Coaches Poll,” Sports Illustrated, December 21, 2020

Thus, he started one of those bulletin board discussions since that is certainly on the walls of the Ohio State locker room. 

Maybe he is right. Nevertheless, it is a stupid things to say for any coach. 

His “logic” is still stupid

Swinney has a point, but he and others have put the health of his players second, and that of his ego first in deciding to play this year. He will argue that football has been safe, but that is irrelevant. 

Education should be the primary force driving decisions at Clemson, but like most southern schools, it is football.

So, he said his stupid thing, and while I have not watched a college football game this year because of the school’s lack of priorities — Swinney is still earning more than the president of Clemson and gave back none of his salary — I still find it too difficult to root for a bigoted anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic person, 

Even before the College Football Playoff field was announced on Sunday, Swinney disagreed with the idea that Ohio State, who only played five regular-season games, could earn a semifinal spot.

"We're going to have 11 games as well as the SEC teams—I mean, you look at Florida and Texas A&M and Alabama. I mean, these teams are going to have 11 games this year. It's incredible and I think the Big Ten had the same opportunity and they chose not to play, and I think the only reason they ended up playing is because of the leadership of the SEC and the ACC and the Big 12, and have demonstrated that we can do it and do it in a safe way," Swinney said Thursday on The Rich Eisen Show, via 247 Sports.

Jenna West, SI, December 21, 2020

To go further, Swinney insists that all of his players, even those who follow the Islamic religion, be Christians. And his brand of Christianity despises Catholics, which made his loss to Notre Dame that much more ironic, though he came back in the conference title game. It ruined his run at an undefeated season. 

Should the Buckeyes have been in the Big Ten title game?

How did Ohio State make the college football playoffs this year despite playing only five games in the Big Ten’s abbreviated season?

They did not belong there because the conference has a six-game rule, which the league, always dominated by the Buckeyes, waived for them.

Former Coach Urban Meyer, who left OSU because a scandals, said this prior to the Big Ten title game last week,

Fox Sports analyst and former Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer responded to that take during Saturday's Big Noon Kickoff show, saying unbeaten Ohio State should undoubtedly get an opportunity regardless of total games played.

“I think, the job of the College Football Playoff committee: get the four best teams,” Meyer said. “There’s no doubt, they’re one of the four best teams. The argument should stop there. NFL talent all over the place. One of the best offenses in America.

"Defense has got to get better, but there’s no question I get what Reggie (Bush) says, and I think the College Football Playoff committee, like we’ve been saying, those two awful words, the ‘look test,’ they are going to have to look at the look test because everything is unequal.”

Brad Crawford, “Urban Meyer fires back at Dabo Swinney’s Ohio State take,” 247 Sports, December 13, 2020

The skinny on the controversy

How did Ohio State get into this controversy in the first place? Because of the Big Ten president’s concern about the health of their players, for one. Then, a number of their teams had to cancel games because of Covid-19 restrictions, which were tougher there than in the southern conferences,

The Buckeyes (6–0) played only five games in the regular season after their matchups against Maryland, Illinois and Michigan were canceled due to COVID-19 issues. Big Ten rules originally stated teams must play at least six games to qualify for the conference championship, but the league reversed the decision to allow Ohio State to play for the title. The Buckeyes beat Northwestern, 22–10, on Saturday to win their fourth straight Big Ten championship.

Meanwhile, the Tigers (10–1) only missed one contest in the ACC's 11-game regular-season schedule. Clemson defeated Notre Dame 34–10 in Saturday's ACC championship game.

Several coaches advocated for Texas A&M (8–1) to earn the fourth CFP spot over Ohio State since it played more games this season. The Aggies had three games postponed throughout the season and finished the year with a 34–13 win over Tennessee on Saturday. 

No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Ohio State will play in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1. It will be a rematch of last year's semifinal, which the Tigers won 29–23. 

Jenna West, SI, December 21, 2020

Clemson may well win that game, but nevertheless, for his clueless and classless approach to the game and football in general, I rank him as such:

One of 2020’s biggest losers