Swinney ranked Buckeyes No. 11 knowing backlash would come: "Right is right"

Swinney spoke to the media Monday morning.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon Dec 28 11:12:16 GMT-04:00 2020

Don’t expect Dabo Swinney to be politically correct or not hurt anyone’s feelings when it comes to things he passionately believes, and when it comes to his recent poll ranking of Ohio State, Swinney said it came down one thing: Right is right.

Swinney met with the media Monday morning as part of the leadup to this Friday’s Sugar Bowl, and he was asked about his decision to rank Ohio State 11th in the Coaches Poll – five spots lower than any other coach with a ballot – and Swinney said he felt any team that played fewer than nine games did not belong in the top 10.

“It's a big deal because we are having to play them. As I said earlier, there is no question Ohio State is good enough to beat us,” Swinney said. “They are good enough to beat anybody of these four. They are good enough to be the National Champion. That is not a question at all. I didn't rank anybody who didn't play nine games or more in the top ten. Nobody. And then after that, I said, ok, anybody who played at all I will rank that group and that is why they were 11. I have all the respect in the world for Ohio State and for people not to think that (I don't), I can't do anything about that.

“I think the world of Ryan Day and we've talked many times. They are a wonderful program and we recruit against them because we have a lot of similarities in how we go about our business. There is really nothing to it. You can change the name to any other name, anybody. If Southern Cal had been 6-0 I wouldn't have had them in there. No disrespect. People can take and perceive things how they want, but for me, I take it seriously. Especially this year. It's not that they aren't good enough, I just don't think it's right that three teams have to play 13 games to the champion and one team has to play eight. If people have a problem with that, I don't really care. It's my poll. It has zero to do with Ohio State”

Swinney then said he expected backlash from his ranking.

“You don't think I knew that was going to be made public? But to me, right is right, and it's not always easy to do the right thing,” he said. “I can probably run for governor in Michigan and have a pretty good chance, but probably not very popular in Ohio. But listen, I don't live my life that way. I am not going to say, 'Well, let me put them here' and do something that I absolutely don't believe in. Again, it's not that they aren't good enough - they are good enough to beat us by two touchdowns and they are plenty good enough - I just had a problem with the fact that three teams have to play 13 games and one team has to play eight. And I don't care what the name is. Change the name. Ohio State, whoever, fill in the blank. Penn State, Michigan, Southern Cal, I don't really care. That is the standard that I put in place and I wasn't gonna change that because of being politically correct in trying to appease people. It is what it is.”

He then reminded everyone that in 2017, he voted Ohio State in his top four over Alabama because the Buckeyes had won the Big Ten and Alabama failed to win the SEC.

“And I also will remind the Ohio State that I voted for them in 2017 for the same reason and I voted Alabama out. And guess who was mad at me then? Alabama people,” Swinney said. “And it wasn't like Alabama wasn't good enough to win it, they won it. I just felt like Ohio State deserved it. They played more games and they were the Big Ten champ and to me that mattered. So that is why I put Ohio State in ahead of Alabama that year. I love Alabama. I played at Alabama. But I am an equal opportunity guy here, I guess. There is no gamesmanship, I just didn't put anybody in there or consider them that didn't play nine games or more. It's really as simple as that and it just worked out that we have to play one of those teams.”

Swinney then put the onus on the College Football Playoff Committee for adding Ohio State, saying that games are won on the field and not on paper and that simply passing the eye test is not a good way to choose playoff teams.

“Well, that is on the committee. That is what they decided to do. I think the games matter,” Swinney said. “I don't think it's right that Texas A&M and Florida and Cincinnati and Oklahoma got punished because they played more games. These games matter. That game against LSU, that was a big deal for Florida. I know, they say, 'Well, they should be one of the best teams.' But the game isn't played on paper. You can go back and look at the top ten preseason rankings for the last 20 years and a lot of those teams didn't even finish the season ranked. The game isn't played on paper. Guys can get injured, you can get beat, and there are a lot of games that we've won that we weren't supposed to win. And there are a few that we were supposed to win that we lost. That is football. And so to just say, 'Well, they would have won.' Well, I don't think that is right, It has nothing to do with Ohio State Give me another 6-0 team and it would have been the same result. People take it personal but it's nothing personal at all. That was on the committee.”