By Will Vandervort.

Sometimes Dabo Swinney wants to throw Vic Beasley off the practice fields. Why?

“He makes me lose confidence in my tackles sometimes,” the Clemson head coach said following the Tigers’ 50-35 win over North Carolina on Saturday. “I have to remind myself, ‘That is Vic Beasley. That guy is a great player.’”

Beasley was again great on Saturday in Death Valley. The senior defensive end dominated UNC tackles John Ferranto and Jon Heck all day. He got to Tar Heels’ quarterback Marquise Williams two times and had four tackles total, but it seemed like he was in the North Carolina backfield all night as he fought double teams and sometimes triples teams – when you count the running backs – to disrupt the follow of the offense.

“I’m glad he is on our team,” Swinney said.

It’s a good thing he is. Beasley’s two sacks were No. 5 and No. 6 on the young season, while they also marked sacks No. 26 and No. 27 on Clemson’s all-time career list. He is only one sack shy of tying Michael Dean Perry’s and the late Gaines Adams mark of 28 career sacks.

“I came back and wanted to break that record, and I look forward to doing so,” Beasley said.

The senior will try and get that record next Saturday in Death Valley when the Tigers take on NC State, who like the Tigers last week, nearly knocked off the Seminoles on Saturday afternoon in Raleigh, N.C.

The Tigers (2-2, 1-1 ACC) held the Tar Heels in check for much of the game, especially in the first half when they built a 20-0 lead.

“We played a great game,” Beasley said. “We played well as a defense in the first half, but we gave up a lot of points in the second half.”

Clemson held the Tar Heels (2-2, -0-1) to 136 yards in the first 30 minutes, but UNC had 342 yards in the second half, while scoring four touchdowns. Williams accounted for 345 yards and threw four touchdown passes.

“We’ve been battled tested in games like Georgia and Florida State, so we know what it takes to win the big games,” Beasley said.

That’s exactly what Clemson did when the Tar Heels got the ball back with a little more than 12 minutes to play Saturday and trailing by two scores. But Beasley had none of it. He first sacked Williams on the first play and then got after the Tar Heels’ signal caller on both second and third down.

Safety Robert Smith intercepted Williams late in the game to preserve the Tigers’ lead.

“As a team, we put it together and finished the job this week.”

Now it’s time for Beasley to finish the game and become Clemson’s all-time sack leader.

“He is just a guy that goes about his business,” Swinney said. “He does not say a whole lot, but he likes to play. He is very conscientious and is a great team guy. He has six sacks in four games, and we have played some people. It’s not like he is just running by a ghost out there. He has played some folks.

“I’m just really proud of him and he is going to get better. He has a long way to go and he is going to continue to improve. He wants to be great.”