There is no more sugarcoating. There is no more one game at time clichés and things of that nature. For No. 1 Clemson, it’s time to embrace the possibility of making the College Football Playoffs.

“We have eighteen days left with a chance to punch a ticket to the college football playoffs. That is really all it comes down to,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “You talk about a fun time? It is something at this point in the season you have to embrace it.

“You can smell it. It is exciting because you work all year long and now you are right here. These guys have done a great job of just trying to do their best each and every day, each and every week. But where we are right now, just eighteen days away, man we have to maximize each day. We have to have a great day today.”

The Tigers (10-0, 7-0 ACC) have to have a great day on Saturday against Wake Forest in their home and conference finale. Then they have to follow that up with a great day against archrival South Carolina in the regular season finale and of course the ACC Championship Game on Dec. 5.

Win those three then they have punched their tickets.

It is a different approach for Swinney, who has cautioned his players about looking ahead and losing focus on the next opponent.

“I’m just telling you we have eighteen days left, and we have a lot of work to get done in eighteen days,” Swinney said. “We have to be workmen like. We have to be focused. We cannot waste one day. That’s what the message is about.

“We have to have the best Tuesday that we can possibly have. We have to be one hundred percent dialed in.”

Swinney says there is no sugarcoating the fact they are the top team in the country in every poll. They are right in the middle of the college football playoff talk. This is what they have worked for and now it is time to understand it is in front of them and they have a great opportunity to achieve it.

“This is still week-by-week. This is day-by-day. It is no different than what we talked about two weeks ago,” the Clemson coach said. “We talked about destinations, but if we want to get there here is what it is going to take. It’s the same thing.

“The finish line, we can see it. But we want to sprint through it. We cannot waste a step. Each day is a step. There are eighteen days left. We cannot waste a meeting, we cannot waste a practice and we have to have a sense of urgency to the nth degree. That’s what I want to see every single day because again, I want to see us sprinting through the finish line.”