Dabo Swinney: I wanted to vomit watching last year's Clemson-Florida State game

No. 4 Clemson will head to Tallahassee this weekend for a rematch of a Clemson-Florida State game last year that still gives Tigers coach Dabo Swinney nightmares.

Swinney got colorful when describing the Tigers’ 30-20 victory a year ago, which required a go-ahead score inside the final three minutes of the game.

“Listen, I wanted to vomit watching the Florida State game last year,” Swinney said Tuesday. “I mean it was so painful to watch it. We were so bad. Oh my God. We won, which was a miracle, but we were so bad. Yeah, we don’t really have games like that this year.”

He’ll certainly be hoping to avoid one Saturday, with Clemson currently leading the ACC Atlantic with a 4-0 conference mark and Syracuse (2-0 in the ACC) the only other division team yet to take a loss.

The Tigers have everything in front of them.

And unlike last year, Swinney thinks this year’s team is better equipped to continue improving. A potential playoff berth looms, though that’s still a long, long way away.

“It’s never as good as you think and it’s never as bad as you think,” Swinney said. “That’s always been the case. There’s always stuff that you’ve got to do better and you’re always coaching, but grading our tape this year vs. last year is night and day. I mean night and day in every area. Again, you just watch our game from last year and you’re going, ‘Holy cow, we won this game?’ I don’t even know how we won the game. It’s crazy.”

Clemson-Florida State game has high stakes

Clemson has already dispatched two of the top contenders in the ACC Atlantic, taking down Wake Forest in a double-overtime thriller on the road and downing NC State at home.

Realistically Florida State is probably a long shot to win the division at this point, but the Seminoles are one of only two ACC teams left on Clemson’s schedule currently above .500.

With a win in the Clemson-Florida State game, the Tigers could essentially sew up a spot in the ACC title game the following week with a win over unbeaten Syracuse.

Of course, Swinney isn’t about to let his guys think this one will be a cakewalk. Not after last year. Even if he’s more confident in this group.

“We were very fortunate because we lost the turnover margin last year,” Swinney said. “They got a score on us on defense. It was a struggle. We were so unsettled. We were young and inexperienced. Looking at (Will) Shipley now compared to last year is night and day. Missed plays. It was a frustrating season as far as just grading and correcting and teaching week in and week out.

“This year it’s been better. It’s a lot every week still but it’s more stuff that you would expect. Normal corrections, normal teaching and not some of the just frustrating things that we did last year.”