Dabo Swinney’s team will take on the New England Patriots in a two-week span this season. At least, that’s what it feels like for Clemson’s head coach.

During the ACC Huddle Special with Swinney and Bill Belichick that recently debuted on ACC Network, Swinney noted that Clemson will travel to play Belichick’s North Carolina team on Oct. 4 in Chapel Hill, N.C., before going on the road again the following week to face Bill O’Brien’s Boston College squad on Oct. 11 in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Of course, Belichick is entering his first season as UNC’s head coach after winning six Super Bowl championships during his 24-season tenure as the Patriots’ head coach from 2000-23.

O’Brien, meanwhile, spent six total years on Belichick’s Patriots staff (2007-2011, 2023). He was hired by Belichick as an offensive assistant in 2007, then worked his way up to receivers coach, quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator.

“We play the New England Patriots this year,” Swinney said during the ACC Network special with Belichick.

“We go to North Carolina, and then we go to Boston College to play Bill O’Brien. So, I feel like I’m playing the whole Patriots organization in about a two-week span there.”

When the time comes, Swinney says he has his “secret sauce” to take down Belichick’s Tar Heels.

As Swinney put it, the Tigers “went and got our own Patriot” last offseason, when Clemson hired Ryan Allen, a former NFL punter and three-time Super Bowl champion with the Patriots.

This year marks Allen’s second season serving in a special teams player development and specialists coach role for the Tigers. He was hired ahead of the 2024 season, after the NCAA rule change that was approved last June, allowing all football staff members to provide on-field coaching instruction during practice and games.

“We went and got our own Patriot,” Swinney said. “I think he’s got three Super Bowl championships – Ryan Allen, who was a punter for (Belichick). He’s our specialist coach and my secret sauce to finding a way to beat the Patriots in October whenever we play them.”

“They changed the rule in allowing everybody to coach. We brought him in last year. So, we’re going to lean on him heavy to figure out how to defeat y’all’s punt block team or whatever else,” Swinney added to Belichick.

An eight-year NFL veteran, Allen appeared in 107 career regular season games with the Patriots (2013-18), Atlanta Falcons (2019), Indianapolis Colts (2020) and Tennessee Titans (2020). He helped the Patriots to Super Bowl titles in Super Bowls XLIX, LI and LIII, garnering selections to the Patriots’ All-Dynasty Team and All-Decade Team for the 2010s as selected by the Patriots Hall of Fame committee.

You can hear more of Swinney’s conversation with Belichick about various topics in the following video: