CORAL GABLES, Fla. – As a South Florida native, Ryan Rodriguez has watched his fair share of Miami Dolphins games. That means he’s also watched his hometown team line up plenty against its AFC East division rival, the New England Patriots.

So, Rodriguez – like most football fans – knows full well what North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick accomplished during his legendary tenure as the Patriots head coach.

Rodriguez and his Miami Hurricanes teammates will have the opportunity to line up themselves against a Belichick coached team when they take the field at Kenan Stadium on Saturday night in Chapel Hill.

It’s an opportunity the center says he is fully embracing.

“I always watched him growing up. He’s a great coach, well respected. He’s brilliant,” said Rodriguez, a sixth-year redshirt senior and one of the anchors of Miami’s offensive line. “I’m just happy to get an opportunity to show what I [can] do and get a chance to go against his defense and go 1-0.”

Rodriguez isn’t the only Hurricane excited for the chance to see how No. 1 Miami matches up against Belichick and North Carolina this week.

Both head coach Mario Cristobal and offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson had high praise for the veteran coach and see progress in the program he is trying to build during his second year in Chapel Hill.

“You can see in the play of his team. They’re a couple of plays away from either being a one-loss team or an undefeated team,” Cristobal said. “The level of personnel in the building has certainly elevated tremendously. Their style of play, their physicality. I mean, he’s only been there for a couple of years, and this is year two and they’re already a contender, not only in the conference, but at every level. I think everyone knew that it wasn’t going to be long before he got that team rolling and they are. So, again, we’re expecting a tremendous challenge and opportunity on Saturday.”

Added Dawson, “We’ve all watched [Belichick] coach for a long time and appreciated him and he’s obviously going to go down as one of the best, if not the best. But this game Saturday is this game Saturday. … We’re focused on this game Saturday.”

The team Miami (7-0, 5-0 ACC) will face Saturday has weathered challenges this season.

The Tar Heels are coming off a tough 31-30 overtime loss at Syracuse but won two straight before facing the Orange. Those wins? A 21-17 win over then-No. 25 Pittsburgh and a 24-20 road win over rival Duke.

Through its first seven games, North Carolina (4-3, 2-2) has shown its ability to make plays, particularly on the defensive side of the ball with linebackers Derek McDonald and Peyton Seelmann and defensive lineman Xavier Lewis – who was recently named a Sporting News and AP Mid-season First Team All-American – leading the way.

McDonald and Seelmann lead the ACC with 72 and 64 tackles, respectively, while Lewis is second in the ACC with seven sacks.

That trio, the Hurricanes know, can pose a challenge.

“They’re a really good defense. I think they do a lot of good stuff on that side of the ball,” said Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah, who faced North Carolina last season while at Duke. “Physical group that flies around and they have some good players in the back end as well. We’ll have to be ready.”

Said Rodriguez, “They’ve got [one of] the sack leader[s] in the ACC at d-tackle. They’ve got great players. They’ve got Coach Belichick. They’ve got good linebackers, good [defensive backs]. They’re a well-coached team. We’ve just got to come out there and execute and play our game.”

In the first seven games of the season, that’s exactly what the Hurricanes have done.

Miami enters this week’s game at North Carolina with the nation’s top offense, averaging 551.9 yards and 49.0 points per game.

Mensah, who has thrown for 2,151 yards and 22 touchdowns, leads the nation with his 81.4 completion percentage. Wide receiver Malachi Toney, who set a new Miami record for catches in a single game with 16 in last week’s 52-23 win over Pittsburgh, is third in the nation with 952 receiving yards.

And running backs Mark Fletcher Jr. and Javian Mallory have combined to be an impressive 1-2 punch for the Hurricanes in the backfield, combining for 858 yards and 14 touchdowns.

But for all of their success through their first seven games, the Hurricanes insist they can continue growing and be even better on both sides of the ball.

And finding ways to continue improving has been a focus, even after last week’s victory over the Panthers.

“Just like every week, there’s stuff we kind of tune into and focus on when we try to get better,” Mensah said. “Obviously, the pre-snap penalties were a focus this week and I think we’ve done a good job of cleaning that up.”

Said defensive back Zechariah Poyser, “We’re just never really satisfied with the good or the bad. We’re always trying to get better. Even when stuff is happening in the game, as a player you have to [have a] … next play mentality. Never be satisfied with the good or the bad. Of course we’ve got to clean up a lot of stuff, but overall, we just listen to the coaches and [they’re] on us heavy about our mistakes and stuff, especially mistakes that keep happening. So, it’s just us listening to our coaches and not being satisfied as a team to continue getting better.”

Miami’s next opportunity to continue improving will come on Saturday, on the road, in a place where the Hurricanes have struggled in the past. Miami hasn’t won a game in Chapel Hill since 2017, and the Hurricanes will be working to snap a five-game losing streak against North Carolina.

But there’s been little talk of any of that ahead of this matchup against the Tar Heels.

Instead, the Hurricanes are trying to keep the focus on what it’s been all season long: finding a way to go 1-0 on the day.

“They’ve definitely got playmakers and they definitely have a lot of talent, so it’s going to be another test,” defensive lineman Justin Scott said. “We’ve got to come with our details and just focus on us.”