Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers will face the South Carolina Gamecocks today. It’s rivalry week and these two teams don’t particularly like each other.

At this point in the season, both teams are fighting for their College Football Playoff hopes.

Heading into today’s game, Clemson is ranked 12th in the country. They are on the verge of being a contender to make the playoffs. South Carolina is ranked 15th nationally.

Both teams looked like contenders throughout the 2024 college football season. They should give the fans a good show this afternoon.

Ahead of this showdown, Swinney made bold statements about his Tigers. He firmly believes that Clemson can play and compete against any team in the country.

“I think we have one of the best offenses in the country,” Swinney said. “We have a quarterback who plays at a high level and is incredibly skilled. We have a Butkus finalist on defense. We are a good football team. We are not perfect, we have flaws like everyone else. I mean, everyone has some weaknesses, but we’re a team that I think can play with anyone in the country.”

There have been two games so far this season where the Tigers haven’t been very competitive.

Of course, those two games were their Week 1 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs by a score of 34-3 and their only other loss of the year to Louisville by a score of 33-21.

Unfortunately, these two losses have put them in a situation where they may not make the playoffs.

Swinney is 100 percent correct that Clemson has plenty of talent on both sides of the football. From a pure talent perspective, they should be able to play with the best teams in the country. However, they didn’t show it in their two toughest games of the year.

Today against South Carolina they have a huge chance. If they can completely dominate the Gamecocks, they could send a strong message to the selection committee as to why they should make the College Football Playoff.

A narrow victory may not be enough. If they beat South Carolina and prove they can dominate a ranked opponent, they might have a chance.

That being said, everything about their playoff hopes hinges on the Tigers’ ability to not only compete, but also soundly beat good competition.

Hopefully Swinney’s bold statement ends up being correct and Clemson is ready to prove they can win games like this.