CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Granted, North Carolina has its issues. The Tar Heels are not a very good football team.

However, Clemson’s 38-10 victory Saturday at Kenan Stadium had nothing to do with the Tar Heels and everything to do with the Tigers.

From the start, Clemson played football the way it was supposed to play all year – confident, decisive and dominant.

“It was a glimpse of what this team can be,” head coach Dabo Swinney said afterward.

It was a glimpse of what the Tigers (2-3, 1-2 ACC) should have been all along.

On the first play from scrimmage, Antonio Williams took a backwards pass from quarterback Cade Klubnik and threw a perfect ball to T.J. Moore for a 75-yard touchdown. From there, they scored again, as running back Adam Randall made his way down the sideline on screen from Klubnik for a 35-yard TD.

Klubnik then threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to tight end Christian Bentancur, who spun around, stopped, made a would-be-tackler miss and rumbled the rest of the way for the touchdown.

On Clemson’s next possession, Klubnik found Randall again, this time from 23 yards, on a well-orchestrated play call from offensive coordinator Garrett Riley.

“Coach dialed that one up. That was pretty cool,” Klubnik said. “It was the ole easy hoop play that he had and that was one of my favorites.”

The Clemson offense scored 28 points in the first quarter and had 253 yards of total offense on 16 plays. The Tigers averaged 15.8 yards per play in the first quarter.

While the offense was rolling up and down the field, the defense was getting stop, after stop, after stop.

“We have not played much complimentary football this year, but that is what you saw from the opening snap,” Swinney said.

After giving up a 10 play, 58-yard drive that led to a 35-yard field goal on UNC’s opening possession, the Clemson defense smothered the Heels from there.

North Carolina’s next six possessions totaled 22 yards. At one point, the Tigers forced four consecutive three-and-outs, as the Tar Heels had minus-5 yards of total offense.

“The offense was scoring. It was just complimentary football,” Swinney said. “We had two punts, both inside the 20, one by (Nolan) Hauser and one by Jack (Smith). I am really just proud of our guys.”

Klubnik, who completed 22 of 24 passes for 254 yards and 4 TDs, threw an 8-yard toss to Bentancur in the second quarter, while Hauser added a 27-yard field goal in the fourth quarter for a 38-3 lead with 13:20 to play.

“Obviously, we have not had the start (to the season) that we want and we had a lot of disappointment,” Swinney said. “But for young people to be able to pick themselves up and process that and keep doing the work, it is inspiring.”