CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney was in the middle of an interview with former Clemson star and ACCN analyst Eric Mac Lain on Wednesday when he received a text message from a friend about an article that basically said the Clemson coach “Predicts this year’s team to go 16-0.”

Swinney quickly showed the message to Ross Taylor, Clemson Football’s head of communications, and asked, “What are they talking about?”

“That is the most click-bait bull crap that I have ever seen in my life,” Swinney said after practice on Wednesday. “You talk about taking something out of context. I have no idea who wrote it. It is just the way it goes.

“That is so out of context. I have never said this team is going…I have said we were the first 15-0 team and I believe we can be the first 16-0 team. Why not? Let’s go do it, and I said, ‘it is a race to do that.’ Boy, somebody writes some jacked up click-bait article.”

Though the article that was aggregated was not revealed in Swinney’s rant, it was written based on Swinney’s comments to Chris Low in an article published on Aug. 4 on ESPN.com. In the article, Clemson, Dabo Swinney poised to get back on top of college football, Swinney made a bullish prediction for the future of Clemson Football.

“I’ve had one undefeated team,” Swinney said. “In 2018, we were the first 15-0 team in the history of major college football — ever. And I think we’re going to be the first 16-0 team. It’s a race to do that.”

However, Swinney was not saying the 2025 team is definitely going to do it, he was just saying the Clemson program in general, whether it is this year or sometime in the future.

“I don’t know what an aggregator is, but whatever. I mean, come on man. Can we just get something accurate,” Swinney said. “Yeah, I do believe we can be the first 16-0 team. We are the first 15-0 team, so why would I not believe that.

“I never said this team is going 16-0, like some jackleg who tries to create some article or followers on his twitter account or whatever.”

Swinney finished by saying, ‘Why not us?”

“Somebody has to be the first, so why not us. Why not? Somebody is going to do it, so it is a race to do it,” he said. “I believe we can do it. I don’t know if this team can do it. Ask me in January. We will find out. But somebody is going to do it, so why not.”