Dabo Swinney: Clemson disrespected by No. 3 seed in College Football Playoff
Leave it to Clemson coach Dabo Swinney to cast his undefeated, defending national champion Tigers as a disrespected underdog.
Shortly after the seedings for the College Football Playoff were revealed on Sunday, Swinney took issue with Clemson being seeded No. 3 — behind LSU and Ohio State — after coming off a dominant victory over Virginia in the ACC Championship game a day earlier.
Addressing his team, Swinney used the perceived slight as motivation.
"We started the season No. 1, went undefeated in the regular season and finished third," he said. "Okay, so that's history, first time that's happened. No. 1. So congratulations on that."
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The committee most likely downgraded the Tigers because of their weaker conference opponents, compared to LSU's in the SEC and Ohio State's in the Big Ten.
Clemson will face No. 2 Ohio State in one national semifinal on Dec. 28.
Interviewed on ESPN on Sunday, Swinney was asked about the Tigers finding extra motivation in their seeding. His response: "Y'all make it easy for me."
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