Why Ohio State is better than most of Swinney’s top 10

#8: Iowa State

The next team that Dabo Swinney said was better than the Ohio State Buckeyes were the Iowa State Cyclones. There very well may have been a better case as to why Coastal Carolina deserved to be deemed “Better than Ohio State” than Iowa State did.

This argument could be as simple as Iowa State has lost three games this season. Ohio State has lost zero games this season. It should not matter that Iowa State played more games or that Ohio State had to miss a handful of games due to COVID-19. At the end of the day, Iowa State lost three games and Ohio State lost zero.

Along with this, Ohio State won their conference while Iowa State lost their second game of the year to the Oklahoma Sooners in the Big 12 championship.

The Cyclones finished ranked 10th in the playoff rankings. They are scheduled to play in the Fiesta Bowl against the Oregon Ducks.

However, if that argument is not convincing enough, there are countless metrics that say Ohio State is the better team than Iowa State.

Ohio State finished ranked 3rd in the AP poll while Iowa State is ranked 12th. Iowa State did have a better strength of schedule, however, the Buckeyes had higher ranks in strength of record and game control.

Lastly, Ohio State had a higher FPI rating which was 28.9 and a ranking of 2. While Iowa state had an FPI rating of 16.5 and a ranking of 12.