When second-ranked Clemson beat unranked North Carolina by a point this weekend, some in the national media called the Tigers out.

They thought Clemson should have overpowered the Tar Heels and beat them by at least four touchdowns. They feel like the Tigers are not performing this season. Some have even said Clemson is not even a playoff caliber team at this point time.

They want to see more from Clemson. They want to see the Tigers blow out what they think is inferior competition in the ACC.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney doesn’t care what the national media thinks.

“I could care less about any of that stuff,” he said during his teleconference with the local media on Monday. “Like I have said many times, I just want to win. If our biggest problem is, we are not winning by enough, then hey, you know what, I guess that is a good problem to have. But whether you win by 50 or you win by one, it is a win.

“They don’t count any different, zero!”

Before Saturday’s 21-20 win at Chapel Hill, Clemson had won 14 straight games by at least 14 points. Swinney agrees his team has to play better than it did against North Carolina. He agrees there were plenty of mistakes made by the coaches and the players.

But he also knows they still found a way to win the game, and at the end of the day, that is what it is all about.

“Like I said the other day. If I make a birdie and I hit a tree and it rolled up there (on the green) and somebody else made a birdie and they laid it perfect, they both go down as threes,” Swinney said. “I don’t get into that stuff and could care less about any of the media nonsense, as far as we don’t win by (a certain amount). That does not bother me at all.

“We can score hundred points sometimes, but that is not what we are about. We want to win the game and we want to dominate the opponent, but we are not out there to please the media and win by a certain amount or any of that stuff. We just want to win and get into the conference championship.”

Clemson has won 20 straight games, the nation’s longest winning streak. Despite the 20-game win streak and the 5-0 start to this season, the Tigers dropped one spot to No. 2 this week in both the Coaches and the AP Top 25 Polls.

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