I have never rooted for Ohio State in my life, going back to Woody Hayes, but on Jan. 1, 2021, I was thrilled that Dabo Swinney was pummeled by the Buckeyes

Domination: OSU destroys Clemson: Photo SI

… Dear Dabo, ACC football stinks, ACC football ranked last of all power conferences 

I am not certain why I despised Woody Hayes so much, but it was the primary reason that I never, ever rooted for Ohio State football, as a young boy or as a septuagenarian. 

Until New Year’s Day, 2021. 

Why? 

Dabo Swinney. 

It may be ranked as one of the stupidest comments by a football coach in history — at any level, in any game, in any situation. 

No coach should demean the other football team in a way that would motivate the opponent, yet that is just what Clemson’s Swinney did prior to his team’s national semifinal game against Ohio State. 

The result: The Buckeyes pummeled Swinney’s Tigers by three touchdowns, demonstrating that the ACC rankings by Jeff Gagarin are accurate. Sagarin’s power ratings had the two ACC divisions listed eighth and ninth in his 2020 rankings, far below the Big Ten and out of sight of the highest ranked conference, the SEC-West. 

Prior to the Ohio State game, Swinney had listed Ohio State as 11th on his ballot for USA Today in the coaches poll. 

On Twitter, OSU football posted this, “11.”

The final score was 49-28, but the game was not that close. 

What goes around comes around, and Dabo Swinney is left eating crow on New Year's Day. 


Just over a week ago, the Clemson head coach made his feelings known about who he thought should've been in the College Football Playoff. In the final Coaches Poll ballot prior to the bowl season starting, Swinney voted for Ohio State—a team that had only played six games, compared to his teams' 11—at No. 11 while a majority of the panel's 61 coaches placed Ohio State in the top four.


"There is no question Ohio State is good enough to beat us, any of us, to be a national champion," he later said, defending his ranking. "I didn't rank anybody that 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."


Madeline Coleman, “Twitter roast Dabo Swinney after Ohio State team he 

ranked 11th clobbers Clemson,” Sports Illustrated, January 1, 2021


Do they play defense in the ACC?

Sports Illustrated pointed out that the Clemson defense allowed almost 400 yards of offense — in the first half — but that continued a woeful set of appearances in CFP games that illustrated that maybe the Tigers, which had lost one game during the season, should not have even been in the playoffs, instead of Ohio State not being in it,

The game was messy for the Tigers, to say the least. They went into halftime trailing 35–14—the program's largest halftime deficit since the 2012 Orange Bowl against West Virginia. They allowed 394 total yards in the first two quarters, the most allowed in a half since Swinney became head coach in 2008. 


Clemson has now allowed at least 500 yards in three straight College Football Playoff games, including 628 to LSU in last year's national championship game.


Madeline Coleman, Sports Illustrated, January 1, 2021


Game belonged to Justin Fields


SI admitted that while the headlines would be focused on Swinney’s idiotic comments, the game belong to Ohio State QB Justin Field, who threw for 385 yards and six touchdowns. He led an offense that had 639 yards total, a tremendous embarrassment for Swinney.


He did that after absorbing a tremendous hit to his ribs by Clemson linebacker James Skalski. 


However, the motivation that Swinney provided to the Buckeyes was all over Twitter by the time that OSU had built a 35-14 halftime lead. 


Swinney tried to walk back his comments and action, but it was too late. 


The Buckeyes had lost four straight to the Tigers, including blowing a 16-0 lead last year. 


Would not happen this time. They simply overwhelmed Clemson, and for the first time since I first knew about Woody Hayes, probably sometime in the late 1950s or early 60s, I enjoyed seeing an Ohio State win. 


Swinney is an obnoxious, overbearing and arrogant person, and this one’s for the Buckeyes. 

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