Vindication for Dabo Swinney comes with winning. If there’s evidence that he carries grudges it’s disguised by the big smile, the inspirational rhetoric and the stiff dance moves.

Those five straight losses to South Carolina are on him. Needled by former head coach Steve Spurrier, Swinney showed he was willing to dish smack back, so they struck an accord rather than allow it to further incite the acrimony between fans, played it for laughs and he took one back.

Swinney insisted, not quite convincingly, he doesn’t bother himself with the coach on the other sideline. Urban Meyer, Bob Stoops, Brian Kelly, Jimbo Fisher, Steve Spurrier or Shawn Elliott, it doesn’t matter.

After Scott Shafer cursed at Swinney during Clemson’s first game at Syracuse, he found common ground, won a new friend and beat him three times. Karma can be brutal. Shafer will coach his final game for Syracuse this week.

Swinney empathized with Elliott. Been there, done that. Interim head coaches don’t have much shelf life anyway so there’s no need to embarrass him. In a similar position seven years ago nobody took pity on him, but after it became his team Clemson won four of its final seven games and altered the course of the program. Elliott’s team has won one in five and it’s safe to say Gamecock Nation isn’t “all in.”

Clemson’s record against the line this season is 5-6. Swinney twice eased off the accelerator. Favored by as many as 18 this week, Clemson might not cover again, and most likely won’t repeat 63-17 on the 12th anniversary of the most one-sided score in the series.

Swinney isn’t into “beauty pageant” wins like a certain coach in West Texas. In 2012 Clemson scored 62 in an epic gunfight between quarterback Tajh Boyd and N.C.State’s Mike Glennon. Twice his teams scored 59, in a 2011 shootout with North Carolina and 2013 on a sad Virginia defense.

The 58-0 win at Miami was an aberration, and Swinney was bothered that it cost Al Golden his job. He tried to pump the brakes, using every player that made the trip, but backup quarterback Kelly Bryant and reserve safety Van Smith had career days.

If Bryant plays today it should be in late relief or in the package that pushes Deshaun Watson to wide receiver. Watson mightn’t be the best player South Carolina faces this season, but Nick Chubb hasn’t touched a ball in more than a month and Leonard Fournette hasn’t been enough to keep the jackals off Les Miles.

Watson was “awright” on one healthy knee last season, passing for two touchdowns and running for two to beat the Gamecocks, and he’s forced himself into the Heisman conversation by remaining erect behind five new starters on the offensive line including freshman left tackle Mitch Hyatt.

Since the stakes are higher Swinney won’t expose the franchise any more than necessary, which should keep the final score modest. Regardless what happens in Williams-Brice, Clemson plays North Carolina for the ACC Championship next week, the same team South Carolina beat the first week of this season, which seems eons ago.

Watson could be one of the marquee personalities in a College Football Playoff that does not apologize for weighing every variable in the selection process. How appealing would Oklahoma be without quarterback Baker Mayfield, or Alabama without running back Derrick Henry?

Four times this season Watson was named ACC offensive back of the week. He was national player of the week twice and this week he reached No. 2 in ESPN’s Heisman watch behind Henry. Watson has been No. 1 in the SI.com list for three weeks and seems at least assured a trip to New York for the presentation show. Two more big games – two more Clemson wins – and it’s anybody’s guess.

Though he’s thrown 10 interceptions, Watson’s passing efficiency ranked fourth nationally after last week’s win over Wake Forest. He has completed 70 percent of his passes for 26 touchdowns and rushed for 642 yards for seven touchdowns.

Watson’s leadership, command of the playbook and football intellect cannot be quantified, but it has been evident to his teammates, coaches and several former Heisman winners who understand the game’s nuances.

His performance in last year’s game with South Carolina at Clemson was the stuff of legends, playing on a torn ACL with a cumbersome brace. Watson shrugged this week when asked about it. His coach was far more impressed.

“I’d never seen anything like that,” said Swinney. “It was just incredible.”

Winning again remains the first goal, keeping Watson healthy would be the second, but beating South Carolina – with or without Spurrier – would be sweet on a couple of levels. It would be his third, Clemson’s 12th win of the season matching the total by the 1981 national championship team, and ultimately vindication because of those who criticize the value of an ACC schedule.

“We’re not going to worry about going undefeated and not going to the party,” Swinney said. “If we can finish, nobody can say anything about our schedule.”

Swinney pointed to the program’s steady improvement, the nation’s longest active wins streak now at 14 games. Some of the wins during that stretch are over last year’s South Carolina team, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Florida State.

“Because of the success, some of those perceptions have changed,” he said. “Now it’s a different conversation. Nobody can say anything to us.”

They may, still, but Spurrier won’t be the in stadium when the Tigers play the Gamecocks and it won’t keep Swinney from dancing.