Dabo Swinney took a measured approach when he previewed South Carolina on Tuesday morning.

He spoke of the Gamecocks like they weren’t a 3-8 team in search of a full-time head coach.

“This is a team that went to Texas A&M and it was a seven-point game, had a chance to win it. Tennessee, a three-point game, had a chance to win it. Florida at home, had a chance to win it, so we’ve got a lot of respect for these guys,” Swinney said. “Bottom line, for us, it’s the next goal. We’ve got a chance to achieve another goal on our board. It’s something that’s important to us.

“Our focus is to finish strong, have a strong finish and really just trying to play the best four quarters of football this Saturday, just put our best four quarters together is what we want to do and continue to improve our team, and accelerate through the finish line.”

To do that, Clemson will have to handle a South Carolina offense that ranks 110th in the country in scoring with 21 points per game.

“South Carolina, obviously, a lot of challenges offensively, as far as our defense getting ready for them, because they present a lot of different things,” Swinney said. “Obviously, they’ve had two different coaches, different people calling plays. They’ve done a lot. We’ve seen everything, from the mid-line to zone-read, zone-read option, empty, power, you name it. We’ve seen it. So it’s a lot to get ready for with these guys. They’ve got some good players.”

There’s no debating which one is the best.

“Pharoh Cooper is as good a player as there is in the SEC and as good a player there is out there in the country,” Swinney said. “This is a dynamic guy. They’re going to make him touch the ball in a lot of different ways, whether it’s the wildcat, screening it to him, throwing it to him down the field, reverses, you name it. He is a heck of a football player.”

This season, Cooper has 62 receptions for 887 yards and seven touchdown. He’s fifth on the team in rushing with 121 yards.

Brandon Wilds leads South Carolina with 559 yards and three scores on the ground.

“Wilds is a top-20 running back in the history of the school. He’s got a ton of experience. He’s a great player,” Swinney said. “Shon Carson is a good player for those guys.”

He was also complimentary of the quarterback, whose quarterback rating of 123.32 is 85th in the country.

“I think Perry Orth has a good understanding of what they’re trying to do in the passing game,” Swinney said.

Jerrell Adams was another recipient of Swinney’s kind words.

“Jerrell Adams is a big, old giraffe running down the field. He’s long and can fly. He’s a problem in the passing game. He’s made some big plays for them, big plays,” Swinney said.

The praise for the Gamecocks’ defense was rather general.

“Defensively, a ton of depth on the defensive line,” Swinney said. “I don’t know that we’ve played anybody this year that has played as many guys. They’ve played 12 guys, every bit of it up front. They are three-deep at every position and they play them.

They play all those guys at some point. They’ve got a mixture of different things, as far as what those guys can do.

“They’ve got good linebackers. The secondary, they’ve, I think, gotten more aggressive down the stretch and been able to make some plays.”