CLEMSON — In the graphic novel Batman: Knightfall, Bruce Wayne suffers from burnout after spending all of his nights as the masked vigilante known as Batman. During this same struggle, Batman is attacked by an enemy named Bane, who wanted to break the Dark Knight’s spirit, as well as his back.

Bane’s attack on Batman worked for a short time, as Bruce Wayne struggled with the way things ended and how the man who replaced him, Jean-Paul Valley (a.k.a. Azrael), had become violent and was tarnishing Batman’s reputation.

Wayne eventually pulled himself up in order to save Gotham City from Bane and his own reputation from Jean-Paul. In the end, he realized he was Batman, and there was nothing that was going to stop him.

Prior to last week’s win at North Carolina, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney showed a clip to his team of a man explaining a similar story of the Dark Knight, and Batman’s journey to rediscover himself.

Swinney equated the story to his own team’s struggles this season, as he hopes it find its way back to respectability after taking a back-breaking fall in college football.

“When (Batman) realized, who he is, he just flew up out of there,” running back Adam Randall explained. “That is kind of the message (Swinney) was giving to the team, ‘just be who we are when we go up there this weekend, and everything will be okay.’”

The Tigers (2-3, 1-2 ACC) definitely rediscovered themselves in Chapel Hill, N.C., as they scored 28 first-quarter points en route to an easy 38-10 victory over the Tar Heels.

“I told these guys that when you get in these situations, you forget who you are because everyone is telling you what you are not. You can lose your confidence a little bit or try to do too much,” Swinney said.

One of the players Swinney was indirectly talking to was Cade Klubnik. At the start of the season, the Clemson quarterback was considered to be the top draft prospect in the country by some, as well as a Heisman Trophy candidate. But none of that came to fruition, as he struggled out of the gate, as did the Tigers along with him.

After a 1-3 start, Klubnik was wondering what went wrong. That’s when Swinney reminded him and his teammates, “You’re Batman!”

“My message was more, you’re Cade Klubnik. Just be Cade,” Swinney said.

And he was.

Klubnik had his best game of the season to date, as he completed 22 of 24 passes for 254 yards and 4 TDs, all in the first half.

“He was awesome. That was, obviously, a tremendous performance by him,” Swinney said. “Hopefully, that can get him back on track and play with the type of confidence we need him to play with.

“He is a really good player, and it is good to see him playing free.”

And playing like Batman.