The lead-up to Friday's Sugar Bowl featured plenty of drama stemming from Dabo Swinney.
He steadfastly denied that he ranked Ohio State 11th on his coaches poll ballot to get under the team's skin, and he defended any and all comments some might view as inflammatory by saying he made them out of principle. Those in the Buckeyes locker room, though, were listening to him. They heard everything he said and saw him rank them 11th.
Did that affect anything that happened on the field while knocking the Tigers out of College Football Playoff contention with a 49-28 win?