Everything You Need to Know Before UNC vs Clemson

On this episode of the Tar Heels Insider Podcast, beat writer Grant Chachere previews the UNC-Clemson game.

To watch, check out the video below!

Here is a partial transcript of Bill BEelichick's presser from Sept. 30:

Opening Statement

UNC entering Kenan Stadium through smoke before its game against TCU on Sept. 1, 2025. | Jackson McCurdy, North Carolina Tar Heels On SI

Big week. Excited to get back on the field. Not that we weren't on the field last week, but we're really in direct competition in preparation for Clemson here. It's exciting to have our first ACC game. Clemson has a great program. A ton of respect for coach Swinney, his staff, players, the program they run there. I've had a lot of guys from Clemson through the years.

Those guys are tough, they love football. And they do it the right way, so a lot of respect for them. We're excited to get going. I think we made some improvements last week that we needed to make and kind of reset a few things. So, hopefully that'll show up this week, but it's a good football team that we're prepared for.

They've lost a couple of tough games, but obviously, they have a lot of talent. Some very explosive players on both sides of the ball. And they're a very experienced team as well. So they definitely know what they're doing. Turnovers have hurt them in a couple of those losses, probably all of them.

So a couple plays here or there and [Clemson] could be 4-0. We need to play a solid game all the way around. That's what we're getting ready to do. [We're] excited to prepare for these guys and be ready to go on Saturday. 12 o'clock kickoff, so a get ready and go game. A little different timing for us on the start, but we're excited and look forward to all of it.

On what he has seen with Gio Lopez along with health update...

UNC — Clemson wide receiver Tee Higgins (5) nearly catches a ball near North Carolina linebacker Dominique Ross during the third quarter at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina Saturday, September 28, 2019. Clemson Unc 1st Half | Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

We'll see what he's able to do today. He didn't do much last week, but he's been in here every day working hard getting treatment, and I'll see where he's at today.

I'd say related to that specifically, for each player, it's all going to be kind of about the same. There are things that the guys are doing well and need to be more consistent at. There are certainly things that we all can do better. Coaches, players, head coach, coordinators play callers, everybody. So we've taken a good look at where we're at, what we need to improve in.

What will help us the most? There's a lot of things we need to improve on, and we've dedicated time, energy and practice time to those things to try to improve them, and in some cases, change them. In some cases, throw them out, and move to something that we feel like will be a little bit more productive that maybe isn't working out well for us.

It's a little bit of all of those, but, for any specific player, after four games, there are certainly things that guys are doing well. We're doing things better than we did four weeks ago. There's certainly still a lot of room for improvement. And that's what we want to try to focus on from last week and then carry that over to this week.

His views on the bye week going into ACC play …

We can only worry about one game at a time. So our focus is on Clemson. We'll deal with the rest of the schedule when we come to it, but, again, it's a little bit of a reset. The end of training camp was one time.

And now, we've had four games, all out-of-conference games. [We] played a couple away, a couple at home; we've had a multitude of experiences. We've kind of recalibrated on that, and, as I said, reset a little bit on things that we need to do more of, things we need to do less of and things we need to improve.

It's kind of what I've always done with this kind of break. But after a third of the season, it's probably at the right time for all those things.

Please make sure you follow us today on our Facebook page when you click right HERE!

Please follow us on X when you click right HERE!