With the beginning of fall camp at Clemson just a few weeks away, the start of the 2026 football season is inching ever so closer.
With that in mind, now is a good time to start diving into the opponents on the Tigers’ schedule.
2026 Schedule
- Sept. 5: at LSU
- Sept. 12: vs. Georgia Southern
- Sept. 19: vs. North Carolina
- Sept. 25 (Fri.): at Cal
- Oct. 3: vs. Miami
- Oct. 10: Open Date
- Oct. 17: vs. Charleston Southern
- Oct. 24: vs. Virginia Tech
- Oct. 31: at Florida State
- Nov. 7: at Syracuse
- Nov. 14: vs. Georgia Tech
- Nov. 20 (Fri.): at Duke
- Nov. 28: vs. South Carolina
Week 3: North Carolina
We get Dabo Swinney vs Bill Belichick 2.0 early on in the 2026 season. Clemson went into Chapel Hill and smacked the Tar Heels 38-10 during Belichick’s terrible debut season. This year’s matchup takes place in Clemson, meaning this will be the first time Belichick roams the opposing sidelines of Death Valley as a head coach.
North Carolina was just 4-8 in 2025, and patience is already starting to wear thin among the baby blue faithful, so the Heels need to show some marked improvement during the coming season or the Belichick experiment might end up being an extremely short one. More than 30 players transferred out over the offseason.
After struggling mightily on the offensive side of the ball, Bobby Petrino was brought in to provide a spark. Petrino’s offense at Arkansas last year finished 13th in the nation in total offense and seventh in yards per play, averaging close to seven yards a clip. North Carolina was 120th in yards per play, averaging 4.94, so Petrino has a lot of work to do here.
North Carolina’s quarterback room was remade in the offseason. Gio Lopez and Max Johnson both bolted, while Billy Edwards (Wisconsin) and Myles O’Neil (Texas A&M) were brought in from the portal. Freshman Trey Burgess, one of the Top 10 quarterbacks in the 2026 class, is also part of the mix. Edwards is likely to be the guy, at least to start the season. He missed most of last season after suffering an MCL injury in the season opener.
Leading rusher Demon June is back, as is second-leading rusher Benjamin Hall, giving the Heels some experience at running back.
The offensive line might be a work in progress, which includes former Clemson Tiger Rowan Byrne, who transferred to Chapel Hill after last season.
On the defensive side, Steve Belichick enters his second season as his dad’s coordinator. The Heels were not terrible on that side of the ball last year, but they weren’t great either. After forcing six turnovers over the first three games, they forced a total of just nine the rest of the way.
North Carolina lost a lot of production from last year’s unit, either to the portal or eligibility.
Edge rusher Jaylen Harvey comes over from Penn State in an effort to improve the pass rush. DT Tavorise Brown also comes over from Florida to help beef up the interior. Other portal additons include LB Derek McDonald from Syracuse, CB Ade Willie from Michigan State and edge rusher Donovan Hoilette Jr. from Richmond. Hoilette had nine sacks last season and the Heels are going to need that kind of production from him this year.
If this North Carolina team doesn’t find a way to put more points on the board, what the defense does is likely moot. Seven times in 2025, the Heels failed to score 20 points. They did not score more than 27 against any FBS team on the schedule.
However, with Petrino now running the offense, there’s bound to be some improvement. The questions is, will it be enough?
Clemson is an early two touchdown favorite in the game scheduled for a noon kickoff on Saturday, September 19.
