CLEMSON — Something happened Saturday afternoon in Clemson that a lot of you probably did not think could happen – me included.

Dabo Swinney and the Clemson coaching staff outcoached a Bill Belichick-coached football team. Yes, the same Bill Belichick that won six Super Bowls for the New England Patriots. And the same Belichick, who will likely be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the near future.

Swinney and his coaches deserve credit for having the Tigers ready to play following a two-and-a-half-hour weather delay at Memorial Stadium.

With 8:11 to play in Clemson’s 28-20 victory over the Tar Heels, play was stopped due to lightning and bad weather that hit the Clemson area. Leading 17-15 at the time, UNC was knocking on the door for another possible score when the officials stopped play.

North Carolina (2-1, 0-1 ACC) had a second-and-goal at the Tigers’ 7-yard line. If there was no lightning delay, does Carolina score a touchdown. Maybe? I do not know.

I do know this, though. When the two teams came out of the locker room to finish the game just after 5 p.m., Clemson was ready to play. The Tar Heels were not.

The game resumed with the Tigers stuffing two UNC runs on second-and-third down. That led to a field goal and a 20-15 Tar Heels lead with 6:34 to play.

Clemson (2-1, 1-0) dominated the game from that point.

Chris Johnson, Jr., returned the ensuing kickoff 30 yards to the Clemson 32-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Tait Reynolds found T.J. Moore for 14 yards. On the next play, Davidson broke the ball outside and ran 45 yards down the far side to the UNC 9-yard line.

Two plays later, Davidson went up the middle for an 8-yard TD, giving the Tigers their first lead of the day, 21-20 with 5:01 to play.

However, there was plenty of time for the Tar Heels to move into field goal range and win the game. That never happened, though.

After the two-minute timeout, Carolina went for it on fourth-and-one from its own 45. Everyone in the stadium, that was still there, knew what was coming next. The Tar Heels were going to run the football.

We were wrong.

Despite averaging 5.5 yards per carry, quarterback Billy Edwards play faked the ball to his running back and threw a deep ball down the middle of the field to tight end Jelani Thurman, who was well covered on the play by safety Jerome Carter III.

Turnover on downs. It was Clemson’s ball at the UNC 45 with 1:54 to play.

A few plays later, after the Tar Heels burned their final timeout, offensive coordinator Chad Morris called for a reverse to Tyler Brown. The Greenville, S.C., native, who arguably played his best game since his freshman season, made two defenders miss and then broke a would-be-tackle at the second level before turning on the jets for a 34-yard TD.

Though Brown should have gone down after getting the first down so the Tigers could just run the clock out, it did not matter. A few plays later, Elliot Washington II intercepted Edwards’ pass downfield to secure the win.

Clemson did not just outcoach the Tar Heels in the last 8:11, it happened in the last 35 minutes of the game, as the Tigers outscored Carolina 25-3 during that span.

However, the way in which the Tigers played coming back out of the locker room in those eight minutes was impressive. UNC managed just 36 total yards after the weather delay and just 3.0 yards per play.

Clemson on the other hand, tallied 112 yards. The Tigers averaged 12.4 yards per play and when it mattered the most, they ran for 98 yards and averaged 12.3 yards per carry.

According to ESPN, Clemson snapped a streak of 67 consecutive games that Belichick-coached teams had won when leading by 14 or more points across the NFL and NCAA levels. Carolina owned a 17-3 lead with 8:36 to play in the second quarter on Saturday, and lost.

Swinney, Morris, defensive coordinator Tom Allen and all the Clemson coaches deserve credit. They put on a clinic on how to come out of a lightning/weather delay and Belichick and the Tar Heels were their students.