CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Already twice this season, the Hurricanes have had to pack their bags and travel to face a conference opponent. Both times, they’ve come home with wins.

They’ll have another opportunity to do that again Saturday when fourth-ranked Miami travels to South Carolina to take on Clemson in one of college football’s more raucous venues.

Clemson Memorial Stadium – more commonly known as Death Valley – seats more than 81,000 fans and is widely regarded as one of the toughest places to play in the ACC, particularly at night.

And after stumbling in its season opener at LSU, Clemson has won three straight and is, undoubtedly, looking to make a statement against another conference opponent, particularly one ranked among the nation’s top teams.

The Hurricanes know they’ll be tested, and they’re embracing Saturday’s nationally televised primetime showdown as another opportunity to continue building on what’s been an impressive start to the season.

“They have a lot of talented players on defense and a lot of talented returners as well,” said Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah, who played at Clemson last season while at Duke. “So, yeah, I’m just excited to go play in that stadium. It’s very loud. Who doesn’t live for games like this?”

Added defensive back Bryce Fitzgerald, “It’s a blessing to play in Death Valley, just watching it growing up. [Miami head coach Mario] Cristobal, he gets us ready no matter what, atmosphere, weather, anything, he’s going to try to get us prepared. I feel like Coach has done a great job. We’ve just got to go in and just be ready to play.”

Through their first four games, the Hurricanes (4-0, 2-0 ACC) have been more than ready for the games that have been on their schedule.

Miami has outscored its opponents 207-36 and the Hurricanes rank among FBS leaders in several statistical categories, including both total offense (No. 1, 588.8 yards per game) and total defense (No. 2, 224.5 yards per game allowed).

The Hurricanes are also top five in scoring offense (No. 2 with 53.5 points per game) and scoring defense (No. 4, 9.0 points per game allowed) and they are one of just nine other teams who have ever ranked in the top five in each of those categories through four games.

Mensah, meanwhile, has thrown more touchdowns (14) than incompletions (12) and his 88.7 completion percentage leads all FBS quarterbacks.

But no one in Miami’s locker room is taking any of that for granted, including Mensah.

The expectation is that the Hurricanes should continue getting better in every facet of the game, and Saturday is their next opportunity to grow.

“[There’s] continued growth…and then a continued push to improve in areas, specifically pre-snap discipline [and] post-snap composure,” Cristobal said. “We [were] penalized for the most amount of penalties that we have had the entire season [last week against Central Michigan], so certainly a point of emphasis that’s not good enough. And also, a tremendous amount of emphasis on chasing, finishing, playing with physicality, just flat-out finishing plays, straining to get more out of each and every player to the best of their abilities.”

For Clemson, meanwhile, Saturday’s game is another opportunity to prove they’ve improved since a 51-10 loss to LSU on Sept. 5.

Since, the Tigers (3-1, 2-0) have won three straight, including conference victories over North Carolina and California.

They’ve held their last three opponents to a combined 37 points, with a revamped secondary holding the Bears to just 145 passing yards last week. And cornerback Elliott Washington II has three interceptions in Clemson’s last two games, including two game-clinchers in the fourth quarter of those wins over North Carolina and Cal.

“Their corners, Ashton Hampton and Elliott Washington were two really good players on film,” Mensah said. “They’ve got good linebackers and a good front. They’re stout up front, so I mean, if you look at the last three games, they’ve played really good defense and so we’re going to have to come out and be prepared for that.”

Offensively, the Tigers are coming off a season-high 257-yard rushing performance at Cal and Clemson has rushed for more than 150 yards in those three wins since the season opener.

Running back Gideon Davidson has a team-high 346 yards through Clemson’s first four games, with freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds – who was named the Tigers’ starter ahead of their Sept. 19 game against North Carolina – adding another 83 rushing yards.

The Hurricanes, though, will counter with the nation’s top run defense.

Through Miami’s first four games, the Hurricanes have held their opponents to an average of just 39.5 rushing yards per game and 1.9 yards per carry.

Continuing that trend will be key against the Tigers, especially if the expected rainy forecast holds.

“Being detailed in our movement, being detailed in our alignments, detailed with our hands, being very physical at the point of attack, going through people and our tackling in the box, I think it’s been very good right now,” said Hurricanes defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman of Miami’s run defense. “We’ve got to continue. There’s always room for improvement. There’s things that showed up this [last] weekend that we’ve got to clean up in we’ve got to get fixed, but just the buy-in from the team – and it’s been all the guys, the staff has been unbelievable, the players have been really good – and [we’re] continuing to get that better as we keep going.”

Between the opponent on the field, the environment and potentially the weather, the Hurricanes know they’ll have to – once again – put their best effort together when they take the field against the upset-minded Tigers.

But they’re confident if they build on what they’ve done through their first four games and rely on their preparation, they’ll be ready to handle the challenges that await in Death Valley.

“I think teams are getting better, places are getting tougher to play at and like we just mentioned, [we’ve] just got to be on edge, man,” Cristobal said. “There’s no ‘we’ve got this.’ That doesn’t exist. We’ve got to go prepare our butts off to give us the best chance to be 1-0 on Saturday.”

Added tight end Elija Lofton, “Clemson’s a good team. It’s a good opportunity to go against a good defense…just an opportunity for us to go out there and play football, the game that we love. So, I’m just focused on practice, one day at a time, one play at a time and go 1-0 in everything we do.”