Clemson head coach and reigning national champion Dabo Swinney isn't buying the theory that Alabama ran out of gas when the Tigers pummeled the Crimson Tide 44-16 during the national title game in January.

In a recent interview with ESPN's Chris Low, Swinney said Alabama had no excuse for being tired because the SEC isn't what it used to be:

"Listen, the SEC is a great conference, but I don't think they've been as deep the last few years. I think they've had two or three really good teams and then it's kind of been hit or miss from there. It's an awesome league, for sure, and I know people say that Alabama was tired because they went through the grind and had to play all these teams. Well, they won by an average of 33.1 points per game [going into the playoff], so they ought to be well-rested.

"My thing on that is, 'Are you serious? They're tired?' Then you look at Clemson, and we won 12 games by 20-plus. Who really challenged Alabama in the SEC? They didn't get challenged by anybody until the Georgia game [for the SEC championship]."

Social media and the talking heads had a field day with that.

On the one hand, it's hard not to love Swinney's candid commentary, even if you disagree with his stance. At this time of year, most coaches are making vanilla statements to avoid controversy or aren't talking about starting jobs to prevent a wave of transfers from sapping the depth chart. Meanwhile, Swinney's out here shooting from the hip and throwing shade at a juggernaut that has gone 35-1 over the past three regular seasons.

It's a refreshing change of pace.

But between this and the whole 'Kelly Bryant didn't earn a ring' saga from the same day, it's starting to feel like Swinney has turned heel, to borrow a phrase from the WWE world.

Swinney used to be the good ol' boy who said things like "Bring your own guts" and "We're just happy to be on the 'rest of y'all' bus." Lately, he's coming off as petty and combative for no apparent reason.

Perhaps this is Swinney embracing his role as a villain. After all, you can't keep playing the underdog card when you sign the most lucrative contract in college football history a few months after winning your second national championship with a dominant quarterback who was one of the highest-rated recruits of all time.

Let's consider the legitimacy of his argument, though, since he's nowhere near the first nor the last to raise questions about Alabama's strength of schedule and the strength of the SEC as a whole.

Barrett Sallee of CBS Sports thinks Swinney hit the nail on the head here, but did he?

First of all, Swinney's assertion about the SEC not being as deep as usual is straight up poppycock.

According to the S&P+ ratings at Football Outsiders, the SEC had eight of the 12 best teams in the nation last year: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Georgia, No. 5 LSU, No. 7 Auburn, No. 8 Mississippi State, No. 9 Florida, No. 11 Texas A&M and No. 12 Missouri.

Your gut reaction to that information might be, "Yes, of course, the preseason polls and all of the subsequent data grounded in strength of schedule constantly overvalue the SEC," but eight teams in the top 12 is uncommonly deep and dominant.

The only other season in that FO database (dating back to 2005) with at least six teams from one conference in the S&P+ top 15 was the SEC in 2014, which ended with 10 teams in the top 21 and with Alabama losing to Ohio State in the CFP semifinals.

In 2017, the SEC had only four teams in the top 18. The year before that, there were two SEC teams in the top 14. It would've been more fair to argue that Alabama didn't have to work that hard to reach the College Football Playoff in either of those seasons.

But to say the SEC wasn't deep last year is laughably inaccurate, regardless of how badly Alabama spanked most of its competition. Factoring in the SEC championship and the College Football Playoff semifinal against Oklahoma, Alabama entered the title game against Clemson having already faced seven of the 12 best teams.

Did the Crimson Tide face a few cupcakes along the way and fill up their nonconference schedule with a bunch of guaranteed wins? Of course. However, Alabama's overall strength of schedule was much, much tougher than Clemson's.

Prior to defeating Alabama, the Tigers had faced only one of those top 12 teams, nearly losing to Texas A&M in Week 2. Clemson was also the only ACC team in the final S&P+ Top 25.

That means Clemson went nearly four months in between games against legitimate contenders while Alabama had to deal with LSU, Mississippi State, Auburn and Georgia in the span of 29 days.

That doesn't necessarily mean Alabama was more fatigued for the national championship than Clemson was, but it sure is bold of Swinney to waltz through what was perhaps the weakest schedule any College Football Playoff team has ever faced and then clap back with a "Well, they didn't play anyone either!" retort, especially when the data doesn't support that argument.

With that said, Swinney likely didn't mean for his comments to come across the way they did.

Clemson became college football's first 15-0 team since 1897, going through back-to-back undefeated teams to complete that journey. It was immediately heralded as one of the best seasons ever, in part because it was punctuated with a 28-point pummeling of the team that had been ranked No. 1 for the entire season.

It wouldn't make any sense for him to devalue that accomplishment by starting an "Overrated!" chant in the direction of Alabama and the entire SEC.

Swinney was presumably trying to silence the naysayers who want to put some sort of asterisk on Clemson's national championship—whether due to Tua Tagovailoa's ankle surgery, Clemson's strength of schedule or something else—and he did so by arguing that Alabama was (or at least should have been) at full strength.

Properly executed, it would have been a nice pat on the back for his guys, devoid of any collateral damage.

Instead, Swinney missed the mark and smacked an entire conference in the face, ensuring there will be bulletin-board material for Clemson's regular-season games against Texas A&M and South Carolina, as well as the potential CFP showdowns with some combination of Alabama, Georgia, LSU or Florida.

It's no wonder most coaches try to get through August—AKA #ContentSZN—by only speaking in cliches.

Kerry Miller covers college football and men's college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @kerrancejames.