OFF THE WALL

Dabo says he has no regrets about Ohio St. poll snub

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney maintained he had no second thoughts about leaving Ohio State at No. 11 on his final coaches’ poll ballot, a snub that ultimately served as additional motivation for the Buckeyes in their 49-28 win in the College Football Playoff semifinal, writes Joey Kaufman of the Columbus Dispatch.

“Polls have nothing to do with motivation,” Swinney said during his postgame news conference. “Both teams were highly motivated to play.”

But the perceived disrespect did rankle many of the Buckeyes’ players and coaches, who were eager to bring up Swinney’s vote in tweets following Friday night’s triumph.

About a thousand of the Ohio State fans in attendance also taunted the Tigers’ outspoken coach late in the game with chants of, “Daaaaabo! Daaaaabo! Daaaaabo!”

None of the other 60 head coaches who participate in the poll had Ohio State ranked lower, but Swinney said he only wanted to include teams that had played nine or more games in his top 10.

He believed those teams were more deserving due to managing a larger schedule of games during the regular season, while the Buckeyes had played in only six games prior to the playoff.

“As I said, that had nothing to do with Ohio State,” Swinney said. “I said they were good enough to beat us, good enough to win the whole dang thing. But I didn’t think anybody that didn’t play at least nine games, in my poll, that I wasn’t going to put them in the top 10. I wasn’t going to change that just because there was a chance we could play them.

“So I don’t have any regret about that. Only thing I regret is obviously not doing a good enough job getting my team ready. But I don’t regret anything about that at all.”

Trivia question

Happy birthday to a pair of former NFL quarterbacks, Eli Manning, who turns 40 today, and Jim Everett, who turns 58. Which QB rushed for more touchdowns?

They said it

• From Swinney, to reporters, on the hubbub over his Ohio State ranking: “I could probably run for governor in Michigan and have a good chance.”

• From Dwight Perry of The Seattle Times: “Lions DB Mike

Ford got penalized for taunting after teammate Jamal Agnew’s 74-yard punt return cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 40-7. They had to rule it taunting, because there’s no such thing as 15 yards for stupidity.”

• From Steelers coach Mike

Tomlin, to reporters, on the cause of his team’s red-zone problems: “Us sucking.”

• From @Tierno158, via Twitter: “I tossed a Nerf football around with the neighbor kid yesterday and inadvertently won the NFC East.”

• Tweet from photographer David A. Smith, envisioning the spectacle of this year’s Rose Bowl being played in Texas: “I really hope we get a shot of the sunset over the Walmart in Arlington.”

• Tweet from musician Jason

Isbell, on the Seahawks’ QB: “Of course Russell Wilson is good — he’s named after two brands of football equipment.”

Trivia answer

Everett rushed for four TDS, Manning for seven, though Eli had the advantage in years, 16-12.