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CLEMSON -- Last week on his radio call-in show, Dabo Swinney was grousing once again about the outside skepticism of this team.

While assorted national voices seem excessively hung up on this blemish or that during Clemson's unblemished start, Swinney made the point that the coaches inside that football office know a thing or two about how to properly assess a team's progress.

Twice in the last three years, midseason lulls that were viewed as indictments to some were mere speed bumps on the highway to greatness.