It’s funny how we heard on Monday and Tuesday about Clemson’s loss to NC State in 2011. It was first brought up to a couple of players and co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott on Monday, followed by head coach Dabo Swinney being asked about it on Tuesday.

“It’s really irrelevant,” Swinney said. “It has nothing to do with this game or this team. If we go up there and get beat, it isn’t going to have anything to do with 2011.”

It wasn’t brought up by just one reporter either, it was several.

I guess I understand the context. The Tigers were ranked No. 7 when they went up to Raleigh, N.C. that afternoon and got hammered, 37-13. That was the last time a Clemson team was beaten by an unranked team. So I get the context.

But what I don’t understand is why does it matter? Why didn’t anyone bring up the 2013 game when a then third-ranked Clemson team went to Carter-Finley Stadium and held off an upset with a 26-14 victory?

Though it is still irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, it has more relevance than the 2011 game. A lot of guys on that 2013 squad, like Ben Boulware, Jayron Kearse, B.J. Goodson, Carlos Watkins and Shaq Lawson, played in that game.

Only Charone Peake, Eric Mac Lain, Joe Gore and Goodson were in the program in 2011, but they were all being redshirted at the time.

With Florida State coming to town a week from Saturday, and everyone nationally talking up the Tigers following last week’s romp at Miami, it is almost like the media wants to say Clemson is due for a letdown, but they will not come out and say it or ask it.

But here is the thing. There will not be a letdown. First off, even NC State plays its best game and really balls out on Saturday, it will not matter. Even if Clemson plays a B or C game, which I don’t think they will, it will not matter.

Nothing against NC State, but this is Clemson’s year. This is the most focused Clemson team I have seen play. It so balanced on offense and defense, it is almost ridiculous. Both units are playing well and they are both getting better each week.

Sure, anything can happen in College Football, but it doesn’t happen to the teams that are better than everyone else, especially when they are way more talented than their opponent and hungrier.

The difference between the 2011 Clemson Tigers and this year’s version is this. That Clemson team was just figuring things out. It did not know how to handle success. This year’s team has it all figured out. They know how to handle success – they don’t listen to it.

I can assure you, no one is the locker room patting those players on the back still for what they did at Miami last Saturday. They moved on to the next big game – NC State, not Florida State.

So when you sit down in the chair on Saturday afternoon, enjoy the game and enjoy another Clemson win. The way I see it, you have at least six more victories and possibly two more still coming your way this year.

And what happened in 2011 or any other year has nothing to do with it.