After the Ohio State beat Clemson 49-28 in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said it was clear the better team was winning. But that wouldn’t change Swinney’s opinion of where he ranked the Buckeyes on his voting round in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
Swinney was criticized for putting Ohio State in 11th place for the playoffs, a decision he says he made solely because the Buckeyes played only six games, and he said after Friday’s loss that he has doubts about that. generated a lot of motivation.
“I don’t regret that, and polls have nothing to do with motivation,” Swinney said. “Both teams were very motivated to play.”
Swinney reiterated that his ranking was not intended to diminish Ohio State’s talent, but rather a decision not to place a team with fewer than nine games in his top 10.
After the game, Ohio State coach Ryan Day said his team was highly motivated to play, partly because of the rankings, but mainly because of the memories of last year’s playoff defeat to Clemson.
“I don’t know if we’re more excited about a chance to play for a national championship,” said Day, “or if we’re avenging that loss.”
Day said he had no concerns about Swinney’s rankings, and that Clemson’s coach told him to “go out and win it all” after Friday’s game.
Swinney downplayed any idea that Ohio State added the motivation to win, saying that his team was prepared and focused, but just didn’t perform well against a talented Buckeyes squad.
“They are a great team,” said Swinney. “[The ranking] had nothing to do with the state of Ohio. I said they were good enough to beat us, good enough to win the whole thing. But I didn’t think that someone who didn’t play at least nine games in my poll that I wouldn’t put them in the top 10. So I wasn’t going to change that just because there was a chance we could play them. So I don’t regret that. The only thing I regret is clearly that I didn’t prepare my team well enough. But I don’t regret that at all. “
A higher ranking by Swinney certainly wouldn’t have changed the outcome, said Jeremy Ruckert, Ohio State’s tight end, but it did help sweeten Friday’s dominant performance a bit.
“Everything motivates you, whether it’s what they say or what we say,” said Ruckert. “This is the biggest stage in college football. If that doesn’t motivate you, I don’t know what you’re doing here. We certainly heard what he said and used it as motivation, but the podium, the platform of the playoff and the chance to continue, that’s motivation in itself. Now we just have to keep that energy going. “