To the uninitiated (which may certainly include many Ohio State partisans), Dabo Swinney may not strike them as a (noted Michigan Man) Les Miles type. But given the chance, the Clemson CEO will certainly come through with every bit as much aplomb. Sometimes con gusto.
When asked during a media session Friday about Clemson's perceived inconsistency in recent years, Swinney went on the defensive. The result was this gem (Emphasis ours):
"If you just judge us on the last five years I think that we've become one of the most consistent programs in the country. More consistent than Ohio State, if you will. There's a lot of teams out there that would love to have the accomplishments that this team has had in the last few years. And as far as consistently being ranked and school things that we've done here, records that we've set here at Clemson, and all that kind of stuff. But that's what you got to do."
Swinney went on to add, "This is our 6th top 12 matchup in our last 15 games."
Clemson's record in those contests? 2-4, with scores including a 51-14 loss to Florida State, and multiple two score losses to in-state rival South Carolina. The wins? A one-point Chick fil-A Bowl upset over LSU and the season opening 3-point home win over currently unranked Georgia (admittedly the current iteration of the 'Dawgs is far more injured than that one, but we digress).
Granted it's not like Ohio State's been beating world beaters; the loss to Michigan State certainly added fuel to the naysayers' argument that the Buckeyes' 24 consecutive victories were aided by only facing a small number of truly quality opponents. But if you go back even further, particularly over the five years Swinney specifically mentioned, Ohio State went 54-11 (83% winning percentage) including 2 BCS bowl wins while Clemson went 46-20 (70% winning percentage) with a 70-33 loss to West Virginia in the last BCS bowl they played in during the same stretch.
We get defending your own program's progress, but ol' Dabo might want to get his facts straight before making such a lofty claim next time.
(H/T, Garnet & Black Attack)