Clemson coach Dabo Swinney celebrated his 49th birthday on Tuesday, and gave extended thoughts on how the Tigers will prepare for South Carolina this week at Memorial Stadium.

Swinney’s initial thoughts on the Gamecocks were that while they are 6-4, they could easily have eight wins.

“This is one of the better groups that we’ve seen,” he said of the offense, and added that WR Deebo Samuel is a game changer, along with the other receivers as a group.

The Alabama native said the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry and the Alabama-Auburn rivalry are essentially the same in his mind because of how similar the two states are: no pro teams, everyone picks a side, it’s personal all year long. The one difference is in the Palmetto Bowl, the teams are in different conferences.

Swinney, who is looking for a five-game winning streak in the series, is 5-5 against South Carolina as Clemson’s coach.

Here’s what Swinney told reporters at his weekly press conference: