During his weekly Tuesday press conference, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney had a message for Tiger fans heading into Saturday’s rivalry game at South Carolina.

Swinney recalled that when the Tigers lost five straight games to South Carolina from 2009-13, he had a bunch of fans tell him they’d rather go 7-5 and beat the Gamecocks than go 11-2.

With Clemson sitting at 6-5 entering Saturday’s game, “those people are gonna get their chance this year,” Swinney said, smiling.

“I got a lot of letters, I got a lot of emails, I got a lot of letters from people – I got a lot of people that came up to me and said, ‘Coach, I’d rather go 7-5 and beat the Gamecocks than go 11-2,’ or whatever,” Swinney said.

“So, all those people are gonna get their chance this year. We’re just trying to be an equal opportunity pleaser here. I had a lot of them people come up to me.”

Swinney added that hopefully those people will “still feel that way if we can find a way to win the game” on Saturday.

“My bet is they won’t,” Swinney said. “But such is our life in sports.”

Saturday’s game against South Carolina (4-7) at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia is set to kick off at noon and will be televised on SEC Network. The Gamecocks are currently a 2.5-point favorite at home.

The Tigers are looking to avenge last season’s 17-14 loss to the Gamecocks at Memorial Stadium. Clemson has won each of its last five road games at South Carolina across the 2015-23 seasons, and a win would give the Tigers six straight road wins against the Gamecocks for the first time since winning in Columbia six straight times across the 1989-99 seasons.