RALEIGH, N.C. – When B.J. Goodson was a kid running around tiny Lamar, S.C. looking for pickup games, a college football playoff as a proper name with a billion dollar TV deal, was an almost surreal concept.

Florida State was royalty in college football, the king of the ACC, and for anybody to flirt with a national championship they probably had to deal with the Seminoles, either during the season or in a bowl game.

Around the same time Dabo Swinney came out of a self-imposed hiatus from football to join the Clemson coaching staff. The hope at Clemson then was that Tommy Bowden would lead them from the wilderness, but Swinney inherited the job and while so much has changed in such a short time, Florida State has remained one of the constants.

Swinney intends to win another ACC title, and if Clemson has any shot at reaching the College Football Playoff this year, then the Tigers must take down Florida State next Saturday.

All that must have crossed Goodson’s mind in the fourth quarter Saturday after leading with his right shoulder in an effort to drop N.C. State quarterback Jacoby Brissett, a 240-pound quarterback who’s built like a gladiator.

Brissett had kept the Wolfpack in the game by refusing to wilt, standing like a redwood against a Clemson defense that hadn’t allowed more than 300 yards but once all season.

The game was stopped after Goodson’s tackle, and officials reviewed replays to determine if anybody was guilty of targeting, which draws an automatic suspension for half of the next game. Goodson, a linebacker on a defense with a reputation for toughness, teams with Ben Boulware to plug the leaks, and he doesn’t apologize.

“We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game,” Goodson said. “We knew they weren’t going to give us anything.”

Clemson doesn’t have the depth at linebacker like it has at running back, receiver and safety, so losing either of them – Goodson or Boulware – even for a half against Florida State would be a blow.

“You’ve got to make those plays,” Goodson said. “I was very nervous, but you’ve just got to be smart. I can’t put my teammates in that type of predicament.

“I knew it was a high hit, but I knew it was a possibility,” he said. “I thought it was clean.”

In the heat of the moment, Swinney didn’t have time to think about next week or the potential vulnerability to Clemson’s post-season resume. The CFP committee meets on Monday to compile its first rating for 2015, and very likely Clemson will have a shot at being in the mix near the top.

Before the weekend, Clemson was as high as number three, and several of the computers spat out No. 1. Swinney tries not to dwell on those things publicly because he understands that defending national champion Ohio State was 16th in the committee’s first list.

This is rarified air, and Swinney understands how little things can conspire to derail a juggernaut. “We made enough mistakes to lose,” he said Saturday night after a 56-41 win over an N.C. State team that lost to Louisville and Virginia Tech. “We made enough plays to win, too.”

Chief on Clemson’s resume is an 8-0 record. The last team at Clemson to open 9-0 won a national championship.

In Deshaun Watson, Swinney believes he has the best quarterback in the nation. When N.C. State began to clog the middle to stop Wayne Gallman, Clemson swung the pocket right and gave Watson the option to pass or run. The change opened the field and Clemson led by as many as 20.

“We got a chance to clinch our division next week with a win over the team that’s been the best team in the conference the last few years,” he said in an effort to deflect the question. “We’re just trying to win the division.”

Nevertheless, it’s difficult to deflect the attention that’s been heaped on his team after running up more than 2,000 yards over the last four opponents.

“I think we’re a team obviously that’s in the hunt. We’ve earned that,” he said. “It’s fun to be in November going into the championship run to be in the conversation. That’s where we want to be. We embrace that, but we want to be their on Dec. 6.

“To win the division, win that ACC championship game, win this conference,” he said. “We know that we’ve got all kinds of opportunities to come along with that.”

Goodson finished the game with 10 tackles, including a sack and forced a fumble. He’ll be on the field all four quarters next week.

“A lot of heart from this team,” Swinney said, “Good to see our guys not flinch and play all the way to the end.”