CLEMSON — North Carolina must be thrilled that Clemson is starting freshman Tait Reynolds at quarterback when the Tar Heels visit Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

Why?

Look up Bill Belichick’s record against rookie quarterbacks during his time as New England’s head coach. The Patriots were 22-8 under Belichick when facing a rookie quarterback – a 73.3 win percentage.

There is some good news, however, for Clemson fans. Belichick is 1-1 against rookie quarterbacks at North Carolina.

Last year, Cal’s Jaron Keawe-Sagapolutele took down the Heels at Memorial Stadium in Berkley, Calif., with Belichick on the sideline.

Can Clemson do the same in its own Memorial Stadium?

“There are things that we have to do,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “We are not going to sit up here and hash through that, but I will say, Coach Belichick, I mean, he is Bill Belichick.”

Those things are staying ahead of the chains, avoiding stupid penalties and keeping things simple for Reynolds. The freshman also has to do a better job of making the right reads in the RPO game and taking care of the football. He fumbled the ball on a quarterback power last week that ended a potential scoring drive.

Swinney beat Bill Belichick 38-10 in their first meeting in Chapel Hill, N.C., last year. But of course, the Tigers did not have a freshman quarterback making his first career start in that game. Instead, they had a three-year starter in Cade Klubnik, who now plays for the NFL’s New York Jets.

“This guy is a great football coach, and he is probably the best to ever to it,” Swinney said. “You can say he had great players, but not everybody can coach great players. I have seen a lot of coaches with great players, but they do not win. But he won at the highest level, over and over and over with some great players and with some other guys that became great players that maybe did not start out as great players.

“His legacy is what it is.”

And now Belichick, after a 4-8 season in his first year in Chapel Hill, has the Tar Heels playing with confidence and off to a 2-0 start. So far, he has done it by playing smart on offense and leaning on a solid defense, which is what he made his career on as a defensive coach.

In two games, UNC is allowing just 6.5 points and 268 yards per game. The Tar Heels are allowing just 3.9 yards per play in wins over TCU and East Tennessee State.

“This group is so much better from a fundamental standpoint, from a technique standpoint and understanding their system,” Swinney said about the UNC defense. “That is coaching and it has been easy to see his impact on those guys and helping them be better.

“They are playing hard. They are playing tough. Again, they are not beating themselves. I think that is where it starts.”

Swinney says he cannot believe, still, that Belichick is coaching at North Carolina, “that is crazy to me.” However, he is honored to coach against him. He just wishes, perhaps, his young quarterback was a little more seasoned, though.

“We got to go play against him,” Swinney said.