No. 2 Clemson head coach gave the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes plenty of bulletin board material ahead of their College Football Playoff semifinal when he ranked OSU at No. 11 on his coaches poll ballot.
Now Swinney is wondering what the big deal is.
Speaking to ESPN's Tom Rinaldi in a Saturday interview, Swinney said the ranking wasn't personal but that he wanted to reward teams for playing nine or more games (h/t 247Sports' Garrett Stepien):
"Obviously, they're a great team. They're plenty good enough and talented enough to beat us and good enough to win the national championship.