LeBron James Trolls Clemson After Ohio State Upset

Friday night, the Clemson Tigers and Ohio State Buckeyes faced off in the Sugar Bowl. Many fans — including LeBron James — tuned in to see how the game would play out after Clemson coach Dabo Swinney listed his team’s opponent as No. 11 in the coaches’ rankings. The Buckeyes responded to the perceived slight with a decisive 49-28 victory, prompting several jokes from James.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what Dabo answer is when they ask him if he still think [Ohio State Football] is the 11th best team in the country,” James tweeted after the game. He also tweeted out a popular image that had been making the rounds on social media. The photoshop featured Michael Jordan’s body from The Last Dance with the Buckeyes’ mascot’s head. “…and I took that personally,” the caption read while referencing Swinney’s previous comments about the football team.

Following the blowout loss to Ohio State, Swinney and Clemson became the targets of several jokes and memes on social media. Several people used the Jordan photoshop to deliver their messages. Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe, on the other hand, went in a different direction. He posted a video of the infamous Twisted Tea fight that showed Swinney taking a can to the face.

Despite the number of jokes at his expense, Swinney reiterated that he would not change his rankings. He said that he put Ohio State at No. 11 due to the team only playing six games prior to the start of the College Football Playoffs. The coach explained that he would not put any team with fewer than nine games on the record in the top-10.

“They’re a great team,” Swinney said after the Sugar Bowl loss, per ESPN. “[The ranking] had nothing to do with Ohio State. 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.

“So 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,” Swinney explained. “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.”