RALEIGH, N.C. — Don’t think for a second that NC State does not have third-ranked Clemson’s attention.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has paid very close attention to what Dave Doeren and his staff has done in Raleigh, N.C., the last three seasons.

“They’re a well-coached football team in all phases,” Swinney said. “I think they are taking the personnel that they have and are giving themselves a chance each and every week to win.”

So far, the Wolfpack is winning. After last year’s 8-5 campaign, which included a bowl victory to end the season, NC State is off to a 5-2 start this year. As Swinney said, they are doing it in all three phases of the game.

The offense, led quarterback Jacoby Brissett, is one of the more balanced in the ACC, while the defense ranks in the top 15 nationally in just about every statistical category. On special teams, the Wolfpack rank in the top 15 in both punt and kickoff returns.

“If you just look at them statistically, they’re really performing at a high level,” Swinney said. “Defensively they’re active and disruptive. Their end leads the league in sacks. They don’t make a lot of mistakes. Special teams, they’ve taken kicks back, taken punts back, been very effective punting the ball. They’re doing what they need to do.

“Then offensively they really, really create some challenges as far as just their presentation of how they get to their plays. All the different formations, shifts and motions, you have to be very disciplined against these guys.”

If anyone can appreciate what Doeren is doing in Raleigh, it is Swinney. The Tigers’ head coach has slowly built his program into a national power through recruiting, making good coaching hires and changing the culture in Tigertown.

Clemson (7-0, 4-0 ACC) heads into Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. ACC showdown at Carter-Finely Stadium as the face of the league as it sits right in the middle of all the College Football Playoff talk. The Tigers have won 10 straight games dating back to last season, and 16 of their last 17, including a 41-0 victory over NC State in Death Valley.

Following last week’s 58-0 win at Miami, media – nationally and locally – have already punched the Tigers’ ticket, but Clemson insist it is not about to fall into that trap.

Swinney has warned his players that they have not arrived. They have not even won the ACC Atlantic Division yet, much less earned the right to be in the College Football Playoffs.

“You can’t sit back and think because you had a good year last year that you’re going to have a good year this year. It’s the same thing within the season. Just because you played well last week, that doesn’t mean you’re going to play well this week,” Swinney said. “It’s about what’s in front of us. That’s the approach that we take. We have a very systematic approach as far as how we prepare.”

Right now, the Tigers focus is solely on NC State.

“We put everything we got into each and every game, try to focus on playing our best, not get distracted along the way. You try to develop leadership within your team because that ultimately is what’s going to help you keep some of these young guys on track, grow ‘em up, teach them the culture of your program. Those are some of the things we do to try to stay consistent.”

Those are some of the same things Doeren is now doing at NC State, and Clemson is paying attention.