The undefeated Clemson Tigers are massive favorites in Saturday’s ACC Championship game against 9-3 Virginia, but a shocking loss against the Cavaliers would almost certainly drop the reigning national champions out of the College Football Playoff conversation. After his team destroyed rival South Carolina this weekend, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney railed on what he believes is a bias against his program, and complained that people don’t want to be in the Playoff in the first place.
“If we lose this game, they gon’ kick us out. They don’t want us in there anyway. We would drop to [No.] 20, you know? Georgia loses to this very same team, and the very next day it’s, ‘How do we keep Georgia in it?'”
Swinney was almost certainly just trying to motivate his team, but Clemson’s resume is unquestionably the weakest among the four current projected playoff teams, with just one win over a ranked opponent all season (against a Texas A&M team that is now 7-5).
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum blasted Swinney over his rant, and joked that somebody needs to give the coach a pacifier.
“I think that Dabo Swinney is the most annoying winner in all of sports. I mean the guy just can’t keep his trap shut. Somebody just give the man a pacifier, send him to timeout, and we’ll check in with him on December 28th when he finally plays a legitimate team during this entire college football season.”
