UNC will make a visit to Death Valley this Saturday to face Clemson at 12 p.m. The Tigers are 1-1 to start the 2026 season, with a blowout loss to Lane Kiffin and LSU in Week 1 and a low-scoring win against Georgia Southern at home last weekend.
Leading the Tigers in his 19th season is head coach Dabo Swinney, who has won two national championships at Clemson and helped usher in a new golden age for the program. But all is not well in Death Valley. Clemson won just seven games in 2025, its fewest in a single season since 2010. Since a College Football Playoff berth in 2020, Clemson has averaged 9.4 wins per season across the ensuing five years. That sounds pretty good — until you consider that in the five years prior, the Tigers had averaged 13 wins per season. From 2023 to 2025, Clemson lost nine ACC games; that’s the same amount it lost across the preceding 11 seasons (2012-2022).
What’s the history?
Clemson holds a 41-19-1 edge in the all-time series with the Tar Heels, a record which includes an active seven-game winning streak. The most recent meeting in 2025 saw Swinney’s Tigers laid the boom on Bill Belichick’s squad, as Clemson led 28-3 after just one quarter inside a morose Kenan Stadium. Swinney mercifully called off the dogs shortly after, and Clemson went on to win 38-10.
A change at quarterback
Barring an unexpected change at the eleventh hour, Clemson will trot out true freshman Tait Reynolds as its starting quarterback Saturday. Reynolds replaces Christopher Vizzina, who started the first two games of the season but is reportedly dealing with an elbow injury and is considered week-to-week. But even with Vizzina healthy, it was clear the Clemson offense needed a change. The Tigers managed just 10 points in a demoralizing 41-point loss at LSU, and Vizzina had just 19 passing yards with a touchdown and an interception in three drives against Georgia Southern before Reynolds relieved him.
Reynolds is a former three-star prospect who starred with Queen Creek High School in Arizona before coming to Clemson. He put together a productive junior season in 2024 which ended in the state semifinals, but was limited by a hamstring injury in his senior year. A dual-sport athlete, Reynolds has also expressed interest in playing baseball for Clemson.
“Tait is a guy we spent some time on last year in the recruiting process,” Belichick said Monday. “Really athletic kid. Very, very productive in some of the high school tape that we saw. I’m sure that he’s gonna be a really good quarterback in the ACC and college football.”
Clemson quarterback Tait Reynolds (2) passes against LSU in the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026 in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Truly ‘offensive’
Two games are not enough to draw big-picture conclusions about any team, but Clemson has not begun the season well on offense. The Tigers rank dead last in the 17-team ACC in both scoring offense (16.0 points per game) and total yardage (246.0 per game, the only ACC team under 300). The Tigers are also dead last in passing offense and just barely above the bottom in rushing, with their 95 yards per game beating out Georgia Tech and Cal’s 93.
It should be noted that the Tar Heels aren’t much better. Carolina ranks 11th in scoring offense, 13th in yardage, ninth in passing and 12th in rushing. It could be a rock fight in the stadium which holds a place of honor for “Howard’s Rock.”
History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes
UNC has had some recent experience playing against a fresh-faced Clemson quarterback, and none of it is good. In the 2022 ACC Championship Game, the Tar Heels led 7-0 early and had shut down starting QB D.J. Uiagelelei, forcing consecutive Tiger three-and-outs. Swinney promptly made the change to backup Cade Klubnik, and Clemson would score on its next four drives. Klubnik finished 20-for-24 with 279 yards and a touchdown, plus 30 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground. He was named the game’s MVP.
The next example comes from the 2014 season, when the Tigers hosted the Tar Heels in Death Valley after dropping two of their first three games. Making his first collegiate start that night would be Deshaun Watson, who would go on to be one of the most prolific college quarterbacks of his era. Watson torched Carolina to the tune of 435 passing yards, six touchdowns, 12 school records and a 50-35 shellacking.
‘Death’ Valley indeed
Clemson’s Memorial Stadium has been a house of horrors for many ACC teams, the Tar Heels included. UNC has lost its last five games in Death Valley, with those five losses being decided by an average of 20 points. That includes a 31-20 loss in Carolina’s most recent visit in 2023, when two Omarion Hampton fumbles at the goal line proved costly.
UNC’s last win at Clemson came in October 2001, when Julius Peppers and a tough Tar Heel defense held the No. 13 Tigers off the scoreboard for the final three quarters in a 38-3 rout. That win capped off a five-game winning streak for UNC, and the Tar Heels would eventually go on to play in the Peach Bowl that December. Carolina has only beaten Clemson once, regardless of location, in the quarter-century since then.
What are the odds?
At the time of publication, Clemson is a 3.5-point favorite in the game.
Featured image via Associated Press/Gerald Herbert
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2026 UNC Football Opponent Preview: Clemson Chapelboro.com.
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