Swinney is hoping to improve on the Tigers last trip to Chapel Hill

The No. 1 ranked Clemson Tigers (4-0, 2-0 ACC) take their perfect record and national championship hopes on the road this week, as they travel to take on the Mack Brown led North Carolina Tar Heels in front of a sold-out Kennan Memorial Stadium Saturday (3:30 p.m., ABC).

CLEMSON—The No. 1 ranked Clemson Tigers (4-0, 2-0 ACC) take their perfect record and national championship hopes on the road this week, as they travel to take on the Mack Brown led North Carolina Tar Heels in front of a sold-out Kennan Memorial Stadium Saturday (3:30 p.m., ABC).

This week, head coach Dabo Swinney is hoping for a better outcome than his first trip to Chapel Hill—a 2010, 21-16 loss that Swinney descibed as his fault.

"I'm excited about this trip. I've only been there one time, 2010, maybe the worst coaching job I've ever done," Swinney said. ""We just weren't ready to play. We turned the ball over. I didn't have them ready. Simple as that. Missed kicks."

Even though the Tigers are four touchdown favorites over the 2-2 Tar Heels, he is not doubting that the Tar Heels will come ready to play. Because that is the nature of how Brown's teams have always played.

"You can tell and see the new influence of Mack Brown and his new staff and what they're trying to do with building a culture there. Those players play incredibly hard," Swinney said. "Very well-coached team. They have a good plan and have a great spirit to them. They'll be excited to play us. We'll get the very best version of North Carolina. They're definitely good enough to beat us, no doubt."

The Tigers will have their hands full this week if they are to escape the Tar Heel state with a victory this week–especially on the defensive side of the ball, where they will face true freshman Sam Howell, who Swinney believes is one of the best young talents.

"Offensively, they're very young. They've got talent and they're explosive," Swinney said. "Everything goes through the quarterback. He's kinda like Baker Mayfield. He's not as fast, but he's got that kind of toughness and grit. The bigger the moment, the better he plays. He's got some savvy to him. He makes a lot of plays with his legs. He has a good feel for the pocket. They'll run some option and quarterback draws and lots of RPOs. He has been really good in the fourth quarter. He's like 70-something percent on passes of 10 yards or more.

"When the game has been on the line, he has been really good."

The goal for the Tigers this week is simple. Swinney wants to see his team get better than they were last week and build on the great play that they showed in last weeks 52-10 win over Charlotte. 

"For us we need to build on what we did this past week," Swinney said. "We have played four games now, so we need to look like we have played four games. We need to be more consistent with our technique and fundamentals. We need to play fast and be who we are and get the turnover margin back on the right path."