For the first time since 2023, the Victory Bell is headed back to Chapel Hill - and this time, Bill Belichick got to ring it.
North Carolina beat Duke 24-20 on Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium, holding on after a second-half collapse and then finishing the job when the Blue Devils’ last possession ended with an interception. The Tar Heels built a 17-0 cushion, watched it disappear, and then found just enough late to escape with the rivalry win.
Jaylen McGill delivered the punch that mattered most, ripping off a 24-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to put UNC back on top. After Duke pushed into field-goal range one final time, freshman defensive back Kenton Dopson III came through with the game-sealing pick with 19 seconds left.
“I did ring it. Absolutely,” Belichick said.
The win pushed North Carolina to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the ACC, matching its overall and conference victory totals from Belichick’s 4-8 debut season. It also gave the Tar Heels their second straight ACC road win. Duke fell to 4-2 and 1-2, losing its second straight conference game after opening 4-0.
Belichick didn’t have a lot of interest in extending the drama. With 3:48 left and facing fourth-and-4, he chose to keep the offense on the field rather than punt, a call shaped by North Carolina’s special teams issues. Aeron Burrell was already out with a back injury, and freshman Adam McCann-Gibbs had dropped a snap and been tackled on his only punt attempt just minutes earlier, setting up Duke’s go-ahead touchdown drive.
“I wasn’t punting again,” Belichick said. “It hadn’t gone well for us. … I didn’t want to give the ball back and thought we’d go down with [taking] our best shot.”
That shot stayed alive when Billy Edwards Jr. hit tight end Jelani Thurman for 12 yards over the middle on fourth down. Edwards finished 15-of-25 for 191 yards and described the offense’s approach simply: “We try to be an offense of just the playmakers making plays,” said Edwards. “I’m the distributor in that.”
McGill then helped keep the drive moving with a 16-yard run, and Edwards adjusted at the line before finding Trech Kekahuna for 16 more yards to the Duke 24. McGill, who had already committed a costly fumble in Duke territory earlier, made up for it one snap later with the go-ahead score.
“Way to step up when it was time to make a play,” Edwards said. “He was able to flush the bad mistake.
He knows he wants that play back. He knows that wasn’t the standard.
But his ability to bounce back, to have the right mental capacity - same with defense.”
UNC had looked in control early, scoring on its first three possessions to jump ahead 17-0 in the second quarter. A bad snap led to a blocked punt and a short field, and Jordan Shipp cashed it in with a 5-yard touchdown catch. Demon June added a 4-yard rushing score early in the second quarter.
But the Tar Heels knew this one was nowhere near finished. In the last meeting in Durham, UNC led 20-0 and still lost 21-20 under Mack Brown.
Duke started its comeback by stopping UNC on fourth-and-2 at its own 4, then capitalized when Shipp fumbled on the next possession. Andrew Pellicciotta scooped up the loose ball and returned it 9 yards for a touchdown.
Freshman kicker Gavin Strange then trimmed the margin with two second-half field goals, cutting it to 17-13. Strange had missed a game-tying 33-yard attempt in the closing seconds of last week’s loss to Pittsburgh.
Duke finally moved in front on a 7-yard touchdown catch and run by Nate Sheppard, who was a game-time decision because of an ankle injury. Sheppard entered as the nation’s leading rusher, but UNC held him to 77 yards on 20 carries. He still played a huge role in the passing game, catching 10 balls for 89 yards and the go-ahead score.
“I can’t say enough about Nate - his courage, his toughness, his love for Duke and just the way he played today, it was heroic in my opinion,” Diaz said.
Duke coach Manny Diaz also sounded the frustration of a team that has let two close conference games slip away in back-to-back weeks.
“There’s a good football team in our locker room that’s had two very, very difficult, heartbreaking results that have come down to the last drive of the game,” Diaz said. “We’ve prided ourselves on winning these types of close games and just let these two get away from us.”
UNC’s defense had one final answer. Duke drove to the Tar Heels’ 30, helped by a pass interference call on freshman defensive back Kenton Dopson III. North Carolina was already thin in the secondary with Kaleb Cost and Tre Miller sidelined, forcing Dopson into more action.
Then, on third-and-14 from the UNC 34, Walker Eget was under pressure and forced a throw that Dopson intercepted to finish it.
One Edwards kneel-down later, the Tar Heels were headed for the bell - and Shipp was ready with the quote that matched the moment.
“Go to hell, Duke. That’s why,” said Shipp, quoting the Tar Heels’ fight song.
“That’s what you do it for. Those games, stuff like that, you got to find a way to win games.
That’s what we found a way to do - just find a way to win the game.”
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