Dabo Swinney reflects on Sugar Bowl loss to Ohio State

Swinney gives his best attempt at a little humility as he reflected on the loss to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl while appearing on radio.

Dabo Swinney has had some time to think about the devastating loss at the hands of the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Sugar Bowl. Even though his Clemson Tigers were a seven-point favorite, the Buckeyes thoroughly dominated the game, winning by a margin of 21 points.

Swinney joined Mark Packer and Wes Durham Wednesday on ACC Radio on SiriusXM and the inevitable question of the Sugar Bowl loss was brought up. Dabo seemed to change his tune just a wee bit but still wouldn’t address the infamous No. 11 ranking.

When asked what he and the team had learned from the loss, although sounding somewhat forced, Dabo started off by saying “I learned that we got our butts kicked.”  Uh, yeah… I’d agree with that assessment captain obvious.

Swinney continued on:

“We didn’t play well. They played great,” Swinney said. “We just didn’t do the little things to win football games. We probably played well enough to win on offense with a normal defensive game, but they had five straight touchdowns. What I love about our team…those guys never quit. They always compete until the last play…those are tough games. I felt like a basketball coach. You get into the final four, if you don’t win it all, it’s a very disappointing thing. Especially if you feel like you didn’t play well enough in certain areas where you could have.”

It does feel like Swinney is more making excuses that his team didn’t win than giving credit to an Ohio State team that had an explosive offense and was highly motivated. I mean, if Dabo thinks that scoring 28 points was playing “well enough on offense”  to win the game, what is he really saying about the Buckeyes?

Seems to me that Swinney has a little more reflecting to do. Maybe the Buckeyes “scored five straight touchdowns” because they were the better team.

Or maybe Clemson and Ohio State were somewhat evenly matched, but the extra fule of a No. 11 ranking ignited flames that Swinney wasn’t prepared for. Thanks for the extra motivation coach. And I got a feeling if the two teams meet again this coming season, the guys in scarlet and gray won’t forget that you didn’t regret that ranking even after a butt-whooping.

 

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