Ohio State vs. Clemson Sugar Bowl odds, spread, lines: Dabo Swinney provides bulletin-board material by ranking Buckeyes 11th in Coaches Poll

The final USA Today Coaches Poll Top 25 of the 2020 college football regular season mirrors the College Football Playoff Top 25 at the top: Alabama No. 1, Clemson No. 2, Ohio State No. 3 and Notre Dame No. 4. However, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney may have provided Buckeyes counterpart Ryan Day with some nice bulletin-board material to fire his guys up for the New Year's Day Sugar Bowl semifinal between the schools as Swinney ranked OSU just 11th in his Top 25. Clemson is a 7.5-point favorite on the William Hill Sportsbook college football odds.

Swinney has long argued that team should be rewarded for playing as many games as possible during a COVID-disrupted season and that schools that started later than others and didn't play as many games should be penalized by CFP selection committee. Including the Big Ten Championship Game, Ohio State only played six games. Clemson played 11. Unbeaten Cincinnati played nine yet was eighth in the CFP Top 25 and sixth in the Coaches Poll.

There's no question that Day will use Swinney's ranking to motivate his players; it's not often that Ohio State can play the "world is against us" underdog card. If this spread doesn't drop, it will be the first time the Buckeyes are at least 7.5-point underdogs since New Year's Day 2015 when Ohio State was +7.5 against No. 1 Alabama in a Sugar Bowl semifinal – that was the first season of the College Football Playoff. OSU won that game and then upset Oregon for the school's last national title.

Last season, Clemson was a 2.5-point favorite when it beat Ohio State in a terrific Fiesta Bowl semifinal. Trevor Lawrence threw for 259 yards and two scores and rushed for 107 yards and a touchdown – he had a stunning 67-yard TD run near the end of the first half. Ohio State's Justin Fields threw for 320 yards and a score but was picked off twice – Fields had only three picks all of last season. This rematch will be the collegiate finale for either Lawrence or Fields, who seem likely to go No. 1 and No. 2 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft – currently the Jaguars and Jets, respectively, hold those spots.

A total of seven coaches ranked Ohio State outside the top four in the Coaches Poll, but 11th by Swinney was by far the lowest ranking of any of the 61 FBS head coaches who voted in the poll. Swinney had Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Texas A&M in his top four, in that order.

Georgia's Kirby Smart had the Buckeyes sixth, with Alabama's Nick Saban, Coastal Carolina's Jamey Chadwell, FIU's Butch Davis, UTEP's Dana Dimel and TCU's Gary Patterson all ranking the Buckeyes fifth. Ohio State's Ryan Day isn't a voter yet. After winning the Big Ten title game, Day launched into a tirade captured on social media saying: "You give us one game against Clemson, against Bama or against Notre Dame, we're gonna [expletive] beat their ass … I promise you."

Twenty-three coaches ranked Notre Dame outside the top four after the Fighting Irish lost to Clemson 34-10 in Saturday's ACC Championship Game. Twenty-three coaches also had Texas A&M ranked inside the top four, and seven had Cincinnati in the top four. Virginia Tech's Justin Fuente & Maryland's Mike Locksley were only Power 5 coaches ranking UC in top five, though.

At William Hill, Alabama is the -175 title favorite, followed by Clemson (+280), Ohio State (+500) and Notre Dame (+2000). The lone time a top-ranked team like Alabama won it all was last season with LSU. A third seed is the only one yet to win a title in the CFP era.