CLEMSON — Though Clemson’s defense forced North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye to have the worst day of his college career last Saturday, Dabo Swinney was not completely happy.

Why?

Because Maye ran for 67 yards, including one 30-yard run as the Tigers continuously lost containment.

“They are not going to be really happy when they watch the tape because we did not do a great job with our rush lanes and we missed tackles,” the Clemson coach said. “We did not tackle him well.”

Swinney gave Maye a lot of credit for why he ran for so many yards in the Tigers’ 31-20 win, but he also acknowledged how his defense has to improve when they play at South Carolina Saturday night in Columbia.

Gamecocks quarterback Spencer Rattler is very similar to Maye. Though he wants to stay in the pocket and throw the ball, he will improvise if he has to, and he is more than capable of breaking off long runs like Maye did this past Saturday.

“We have to clean up some stuff for sure,” Swinney said. “The quarterback just made too many plays to extend plays. We did not keep him in the pocket on the one time when he scrambled off to the right and bought some time and then made a beautiful throw down the field on that touchdown.

“So, it is definitely a game that we can build off of as we get ready to play another really good quarterback in Rattler.”

Rattler has thrown for 3,074 yards this year, while completing 70.6 of his 367 passes. He is fourth in the SEC in passing yards and passing average (279.5). He has 19 touchdown passes to seven interceptions and is averaging 8.4 yards per attempt.

Though the Tigers have just 28 sacks this year, they still get after the quarterback as they are one of the top teams in the country when it comes to quarterback pressure and they lead the ACC with 83 tackles for loss.

Clemson and South Carolina are expected to kick off at 7:30p.m. Saturday. The game will be televised on the SECN.

To honor Clemson’s special senior class Dear Old Clemson is selling footballs signed by 7 of Clemson’s Avengers for only $100.  These limited edition footballs are signed by Thomas, Orhorhoro, Davis, Mascoll, Henry, Murphy and Williams.  Get one while supplies last.