CLEMSON, S.C. — North Carolina left Clemson’s Memorial Stadium empty-handed once again.

Seeking their first win at Clemson since 2001 and their first win against the Tigers in eight tries, the Tar Heels faded in the final minutes — after a nearly 2-hour, 30-minute weather delay — of a disappointing 28-20 loss. Clemson scored two touchdowns in the final 5:01 to earn the victory.

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UNC led 17-3 in the first half and appeared on their way to the first three-game winning streak of coach Bill Belichick’s brief tenure in Chapel Hill. 

“We got to find a way to come back out here [after the delay] and just finish the game,” running back Benjamin Hall said. “We played a good game, but we needed to be our best. We weren't our best.”

Belichick didn’t comment on the university’s now-concluded internal investigation into his football program that resulted in the resignation this week of his son and defensive coordinator Steve Belichick.

“I’m just focused on the Clemson game. It just ended 10 minutes ago,” Belichick said when asked if he was satisfied with the results of the investigation. 

Asked next if he had any reaction about his son’s resignation, Belichick said: “I just talked about that.”

It was a long day at Memorial Stadium. Officials stopped play with 8:11 to play in the fourth quarter just before 3 p.m. after lightning was detected within eight miles of the stadium. The delay lasted until 5:25 p.m. and included heavy, heavy rain and whipping winds.

It was calm when play resumed with UNC facing a second-and-goal situation with a chance to nearly put the game away. But two rushing attempts yielded little, and the Tar Heels kicked a field goal to extend their lead to 20-15.

“We missed an opportunity down there,” Belichick said.

Clemson, perhaps invigorated by the stop or rest afforded by the delay, wasted no time in grabbing its first lead of the game. The Tigers went 68 yards in four plays to take a 21-20 lead.

The UNC offense, which scored touchdowns on its first two possessions but struggled in the passing game the rest of the game, failed to convert on a fourth-and-one on its next possession. Quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. overthrew tight end Jelani Thurman on fourth-and-one, giving Clemson the ball in UNC territory.

“I felt like it was a good play,” Belichick said.

UNC had three timeouts remaining, but Clemson’s Tyler Brown busted a 34-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 28-20 with 1:00 remaining.

Edwards threw an interception on UNC’s final drive to end their chances. Edwards was 5-of-8 for 70 yards and one touchdown in the first quarter. He was 8-of-22 for 65 yards and one interception the rest of the game.

“Billy did a lot of good things,” Belichick said. “We had a couple breakdowns here and there. Not all the same thing. We missed some blocks and fumbled the ball. It wasn’t perfect by anybody.”

UNC missed a field goal and fumbled deep in their own territory, which led directly to a Clemson field goal.

UNC is 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the ACC. Clemson improved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the ACC.

It was the eighth straight loss to Clemson, a span that included two ACC Championship games. UNC’s last win at Clemson came in 2001.

North Carolina’s offense, one of the worst in the nation last year, scored touchdowns on its first two drives. New offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino’s unit put together scoring drives of 47 and 75 yards in the first quarter. Running back Demon June’s 3-yard run opened the scoring, and Hall’s 15-yard catch and run on a swing pass from Edwards extended the UNC lead to 14-3 in the second quarter.

Hall rushed for 130 yards on 18 carries, and June added 57 yards on 12 carries. June had the fumble. UNC averaged 5.5 yards per carry in the game.

It was a complete reversal from last year’s game between the teams. Clemson led North Carolina 28-3 after the first quarter of the teams’ 2025 meeting in Chapel Hill. The Tigers led 35-3 at halftime and very few UNC fans returned for the second half.

On Saturday, it was Clemson fans that were left disgruntled by their team’s performance, booing at several times throughout the game.

In the end, though, the few that remained were left cheering at the gritty win.

"If you're going to be a great team, you've got to win some like that. If you're going to be a great program, you've got to win some like that," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said after the win. 

Swinney led Clemson to two national titles and seven appearances in the College Football Playoff between 2015 and 2024. But Clemson went 7-6 last year and opened this season with a 51-10 drubbing at LSU, leading some to conclude that Swinney hasn’t adapted well enough to the transfer portal age.

Still the Tigers found a way even with freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds making his first career start. Reynolds was 7-for-7 for 105 yards to end the game. He was 20-for-29 for 215 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the game. Swinney said he will remain the starter.

Clemson’s first drive of the second half ended with an interception — on a play where two Tigers’ receivers appeared to be running free in the UNC secondary — but June fumbled on the Tar Heels’ first play. Clemson converted the excellent field position into another field goal to cut the deficit to 17-9.

Clemson scored its first touchdown of the game on its next possession, a 27-yard pass from Reynolds to Christian Bentancur on a pump-and-go that brought up the UNC defender and left Bentancur running free.

That made it 17-15 before the weather delay.

“It was just us not finishing it,” UNC linebacker Derek McDonald said. “We just didn’t come out and finish it out of the lightning delay.”

Notes: UNC wide receiver Jordan Shipp wore a No. 13 Tylee Craft jersey for Saturday’s game, honoring his former teammate. Craft, who was from South Carolina, died in 2024 after being diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer in 2022.

The Tar Heels were without freshmen wide receivers CJ Sadler and Keeyun Chapman. Chapman has been suspended indefinitely after being charged with a gun and drug offense after a traffic stop. Sadler was cited for speeding, his third speeding offense since the beginning of August. Sadler has four catches on the season. Defensive end Melkart Abou Jaoude (right wrist), Sadler, Chapman were among 11 players listed as out on the team’s availability report.

On Thursday, UNC concluded its seven-week investigation into the football program and announced the resignation of Steve Belichick, effective at the end of his medical leave in late October. Steve Belichick hasn’t been with the program since early August. General manager Michael Lombardi previously resigned during the investigation, which “determined that certain actions demonstrated a disregard for Carolina’s values and standards of conduct. The investigation also found that these actions were isolated in scope and not a systemic failure.”

Contract Murphy at bmurphy@jshu.net.