Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said that he opted out of voting in this year's Coaches Poll because of the drama that followed him last season.
Swinney made headlines when he ranked Ohio State No. 11 last year in the year's final Coaches Poll last December. It caught eyes because the Buckeyes were widely considered to be a top four team at the time. The two teams went on to meet in the Sugar Bowl and Ohio State came out on top 49–28. This led to Swinney being on the wrong side of a punchline.
After all of that, Swinney said he's not going to cast a vote this time around for the first time in his head coaching career.
"That was just a distraction for my team, based on what I felt," Swinney said. "So just something I would just eliminate. Who cares?"
The Tigers are currently 7–3 in what has been a significant decline from the perennial College Football Playoff teams of the last few years. Swinney still thinks the Tigers are one of the top teams in all of college football and believes his team is being criticized differently than others.
"It just comes with who we are as a program, and nobody wants to give our opponents any credit," he said. "I think it's more Clemson stinks as opposed to the opponents are good."
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