Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney fired back after Paul Finebaum called him 'the most annoying winner in all of sports'
- Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney and ESPN TV analyst Paul Finebaum are feuding.
- Swinney publicly charged the College Football Playoff committee with disrespecting his team after it consistently ranked Clemson below the also-undefeated LSU Tigers and Ohio State Buckeyes.
- In an appearance on ESPN's "Get Up!" Tuesday morning, Finebaum implied Swinney was a sore winner by suggesting that "somebody just give the man a pacifier [and] send him to time out."
- Later in the day, Swinney said "you don't worry about criticism from people you wouldn't seek advice from" in response.
- Finebaum doubled down Wednesday morning by saying Swinney "does come off as a sniveling little kid sometimes."
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With the race to the College Football Playoff coming to a head, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and ESPN TV analyst Paul Finebaum are feuding.
Swinney - who has led the Tigers to four consecutive appearances in the playoff and national championship victories in 2016 and 2018 - publicly charged the committee with disrespecting his team. Clemson has been ranked behind the LSU Tigers and Ohio State Buckeyes in each of the College Football Playoff rankings released this year despite all three teams boasting perfect records on the season.
"I'm not going to let anybody diminish what we've accomplished as a program," Swinney said during an ACC teleconference Sunday. "It's my job to speak the truth and stand up for this program when it's necessary... They want to throw us out [of the Playoff] because they don't respect who we will play which is another joke itself."
Finebaum didn't take kindly to Swinney's comments, implying that he was a sore winner by referring to him as "the most annoying winner in all of sports," and suggesting that "somebody just give the man a pacifier [and] send him to time out" on ESPN's "Get Up!" Tuesday morning.
Swinney responded to Finebaum's criticism in a press conference later in the day, claiming that he didn't know nor care about what the ESPN commentator said but that "you don't worry about criticism from people you wouldn't seek advice from."
The head coach also joked that he would "like some time out" and would "like to take a nap" before lobbying for "adult time out time."
Later in the evening, the ordinarily even-keeled Reece Davis poked fun at Swinney's complaints while revealing the latest iteration of the College Football Playoff rankings on ESPN.
And on Wednesday morning, Finebaum returned to the small screen to double down on his critiques of Swinney. In an appearance on ESPN's "Golic and Wingo," Finebaum said Swinney "does come off as a sniveling little kid sometimes."
"It really did turn my stomach to hear him go off on that, because it was just unnecessary," Finebaum added. "When you're in his position, act like you've been there before."
Clemson is slated to take on the Virginia Cavaliers in the ACC title game Saturday. The Tigers opened as a whopping 24-point favorite to repeat as conference champions for the fifth straight year, a fact that Finebaum emphasized Wednesday morning.
"Back to my original point that [Swinney] can't shut up, he still couldn't shut up yesterday," Finebaum said. "Do you know why he's talking so much? Because there's nothing to say about the ACC championship. What's he supposed to do, break down the defensive line for Virginia and talk about how this is an epic matchup in Clemson history? I mean, it's a blip on the radar screen."
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