As sixth-ranked Clemson gets set to take on Miami at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Saturday, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was fending off questions on Tuesday about the College Football Playoffs, and if he could make a case for the Tigers’ chances.

Swinney did not oblige, but instead offered up this point – it’s irrelevant to discuss it because there is still a half of a year to go.

“I know it is fun for everybody to talk about,” he said. “I made the comment the other day. It’s like when everybody fills out their (basketball) brackets, and after that Friday night, you go ‘Crap!’ and you end up scratching everything out and you go like, ‘Okay!’ It never goes like you think it is going to go.

“How many people predict a (perfect) bracket every year? Very few, if any, it’s hard. That’s kind of the way it is because it looks good on paper, but you have to go play. It is fun to talk about all of that type of stuff. But every week in college football, it is a playoff game.”

Clemson (6-0, 3-0 ACC) knows that all too well. No one was really talking about the Tigers in the College Football Playoffs until they beat Notre Dame on Oct. 3. Since then, Clemson is in just about every analyst’s top four or top six.

“The picture changes each and every week,” Swinney said. “There are some teams that it was just a matter of fact this is what is going to happen, and they are not even in the hemisphere of the discussion now, so it is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter. It is worth a conversation in November, but sitting here at 6-0 in October, it is like halftime.”

Swinney always tell his team there is nothing more worthless in sports than the halftime score. He tells them not to pay attention to it regardless of what the score says.

The Tigers are at the halfway point of the regular season and Swinney is taking his own advice.

“It’s like going into halftime and saying, ‘Alright boys we are up 14-0 so …’ you have to go play the second half. The same thing when you might be behind,” he said. “This time last year, I don’t even know if Ohio State was in the conversation. They had a loss to an unranked Virginia Tech team, at home. I don’t know, I have no idea, I don’t know if they were even in the conversation of the final four, and they won the national championship.

“None of that stuff matters. You better stay dialed in on who that opponent is, keep your head down and keep chopping wood every single day. At the end of the deal, you look up, and you say, ‘Okay, here is where we are.’”

Swinney admitted he did keep up with the college football playoff selection show last year because it is his livelihood.

“It was interesting to follow. I did not agree with how it all played out,” he said. “My final four was different from their final four, but I’m not on the committee. I think, just like anything, they will probably be better this year having gone through that experience and all that type of stuff.

“It made college football, which is phenomenally popular right now, it made it even better. I think it is just right. I don’t think more is better. I think it is just right where it is.”