Schoffel: Swinney's rant is self-serving and defies logic
Florida State officials chose not to respond to Dabo Swinney's little tirade Sunday evening, and I'm not entirely sure I blame them.
On the one hand, I wish David Coburn would have reprised the famous backhand from former FSU athletics director Dave Hart when Steve Spurrier complained that a Seminole player tried to intentionally injure his running back.
"I think he's a very good football coach, and he's got an outstanding football team this year," Hart said 19 years ago this week. "It'd probably be good if somebody just spanked him and put him to bed and hope that he wakes up all grown up."
On the other hand, I understand if FSU's leaders don't want to get into a public tit for tat with Clemson's head football coach.
The Seminoles already put out a statement early Saturday morning, and FSU coach Mike Norvell then answered questions on camera from an ESPN reporter. They feel like they've already explained why they weren't comfortable playing Saturday's game against the Tigers, and that they don't plan to respond every time Swinney flaps his gums.
Well, that doesn't stop us from discussing it here.
I understand why Dabo Swinney is mad about not getting to play Saturday's game.
He and his team practiced all week. They made the trip to Tallahassee. They were 35-point favorites and likely would have cruised to an easy victory in front of a national television audience.
Of course, they wanted to play. It makes perfect sense.
What doesn't make sense is everything else Swinney and Clemson A.D. Dan Radakovich have been saying for the last 48 hours.
Here was one of Swinney's money quotes Sunday night:
"This game was not canceled because of COVID," Swinney told reporters. "COVID was just an excuse to cancel the game. I have no doubt their players wanted to play and would have played. And same with the coaches. To me, the Florida State administration forfeited the game."
That makes for a great headline, and I'm sure it played well to the Clemson fan base. But it is based on some really faulty logic.
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