By Ed McGranahan.

Dabo Swinney admitted it was hard to get his arms around everything he saw on the field in Tallahassee, Fla., though he doesn’t believe a gut-wrenching loss to Florida State should come back to bite Clemson in this week’s game with North Carolina.

“I can’t explain it,” he said Tuesday of a game in which Clemson mishandled several easy chances to ice a victory before totally losing grip in overtime.

“I can’t explain why crazy things happen,” Swinney said during his weekly media briefing. “That’s what makes the game so fun, and the agony of defeat and the thrill of victory.

“We’ve won games we probably shouldn’t have won,” he said. “How we played was incredible.”

In his opinion Clemson’s performance against the nation’s top-ranked team – without its Heisman Trophy quarterback – surpassed those in games his teams won including the last two bowl games. “We played a great football game,” he said. “We played a lot better than we did in the Orange Bowl. We played better than we did against LSU. We played a lot better than we did against Georgia.

“But we lost.”

The outcome spun on either the low pass near the goal line that could have been a touchdown or another much later on which the receiver was pushed out of bounds inside the one-yard line. The two missed field goals or the egregious snap on third down at the lip of the end zone. The blown cover leading to Florida State’s only backbreaking play or the fumble at the FSU 14-yard line with 1:36 to play.

“It’s unfortunate because if you change one of four or five things we’re having a different conversation,” Swinney said. “I don’t think we can lose sight of that as a coaching staff. I know this is a bottom line business and you’d rather win and correct mistakes from that, but I think we have to recognize our guys played well. So let’s be positive.

“Let’s build on it.”

Coaches always try to protect against letting one emotionally draining defeat linger to where the malaise carries to the next game. Swinney believes the culture he’s spun protects against it. As well, he pointed out how sometimes it’s not always about how a team handles adversity, but how it manages success.

“I think that has got to be a culture in your program,” he said. “In 2010 we had a similar loss at Florida State … the next week we went up there and lose to (Boston College) and just play horrendous. We were just getting going and we didn’t have the culture we have now.

“That’s why you have to have the mentality. It’s what’s ahead of us,” he said. “The biggest win we had last year was at Maryland because we got embarrassed on national TV by Florida State.”

Swinney doesn’t take North Carolina for granted despite the ugly loss last week to East Carolina. With former Clemson assistant Vic Koenning as defensive coordinator, the Tar Heels are last in the ACC in every major defensive category including points per game (42.0) and total defense (548 yards).

Offensively the Tar Heels run a non-stop scheme similar to Clemson’s, deploying two quarterbacks “for no rhyme or reason.” Clemson is No. 12 nationally in total defense.

Along with soothing the psyches of players guilty of game-changing mistakes, Swinney said he would look at a potential change at kicker though Ammon Lakip “is the most talented guy.”

“What happened the other night, don’t like it but we’ll grow from it,” he said. “If we don’t show up Saturday we’ll get beat, that’s for sure.

For a 1-2 teams with big goals, it’s been humbling. Swinney often says the season has never been cancelled after September.

“I was not happy after the Georgia game,” Swinney said. “I wasn’t sure we cared enough.

“We’re good enough and I know we care enough,” he said. “I think we are a heck of a football team.”