CLEMSON — This has been a weird year for officiating, at least that is the way Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney sees it.

There were two replays that went against the Tigers in last week’s loss to rival South Carolina. The Clemson coach said he did not ask for further explanation on the plays, but again, he said one of those replays was a first in his coaching career.

“It is what it is. Again, we had plenty of opportunities to win the game,” Swinney said Tuesday as the Tigers prepare to take on SMU in the ACC Championship Game. “It was disappointing because they were a couple of huge plays. I never been a part of a completion and then they blow the whistle to go back to another play.”

The play Swinney is talking about is a late second-quarter completion to wide receiver Bryant Wesco on the near sideline that went for nine yards. The play on the field was called a completion and then quarterback Cade Klubnik hit T.J. Moore for a long gain near the far sideline that had the Tigers with a first down inside the Carolina 40-yard line.

But the official, who was a part of the SEC crew, came in after the completion and stopped play to review the Wesco catch. Replay ultimately overturned the ruling on the field.

“I have never been a part of that, but I have had a few of those this year,” Swinney said. “‘Okay, I have done this a long time and this is a first.'”

Swinney continued to explain that officiating is just not an issue for Clemson games, but everywhere.

“It is a problem all over the country. It really is,” he said. “To me, it has been one of the worst years in my entire coaching career, and not just here, but across college football. It has been really bad. I mean bad.

“Targeting, don’t get me started. They have some targeting that they don’t even look at. They don’t even review them and then you have some that they make up.  It is a national problem for everybody. I mean everybody, on all sides. It has really been a tough year, I think.”