North Carolina’s 37-26 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday came with a little of everything, but Billy Edwards Jr.’s night ended up sitting near the center of it. The Tar Heels showed flashes, yet the mistakes piled up fast enough to leave them staring at a double-digit hole early in the second quarter.
Edwards finished 17 of 28 for 208 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. That line looks respectable at a glance, but the turnovers did real damage and helped fuel North Carolina’s 14-point deficit before the game had settled in. For a sixth-year quarterback, the rough edges stood out.
The bigger issue is that Edwards has been too erratic too often. He’s missing throws and making mistakes that are hard to ignore at this stage of his career. Injuries have limited the kind of experience that usually comes with being a sixth-year player, but that hasn’t changed the reality of how uneven his play has been.
His inconsistency also affects everyone around him. Because Edwards rarely delivers a high completion rate, the Tar Heels’ receivers don’t get enough chances to pile up production. That leaves the passing game leaning heavily on just a couple of targets, and that was the story again against the Fighting Irish.
Shipp finally broke through with his first 100-yard receiving game of the season. The junior wideout’s opportunities have been capped by Edwards’ uneven quarterback play, but the talent is obvious.
With steadier passing, Shipp could put up elite numbers, and North Carolina will be hoping this performance gets his season moving in the right direction. At 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, he also looks like a receiver who should be finding the end zone more often.
Thurman continued to function as the security blanket in the middle of the field. The Ohio State transfer has quickly become a key piece of the passing attack, especially with Jaxxon Warren out after a significant offseason injury that could sideline him for the entire 2026 campaign. Easter, meanwhile, had been mostly quiet in the passing game, but he played a major role on the opening drive and finished it off with a touchdown.
There were moments when Edwards looked in rhythm and others when he fell apart. In the end, those swings helped North Carolina drop its second straight game, with the Wisconsin transfer again factoring into the result in a big way.
Week 6 now looms as a real turning point. Another poor outing, combined with another loss, could put Edwards in danger of losing his starting job the following week. If the Tar Heels keep throwing it, Shipp and Thurman should remain the main options in the passing game.
In Other News...
UNC Has A Bigger Problem Than Just Losing To Notre Dame
Jordan Shipp gave North Carolina a reason to keep watching, and Billy Edwards Jr. found ways to keep the offense moving, but the larger picture from the Notre Dame game was hard to ignore. The Tar Heels showed a few flashes from key players, and Jordan Faisons work stood out on the other side, yet the game kept circling back to the same concerns that have shadowed UNC for stretches this season.
The rushing attack never found much traction, which put even more weight on the passing game, and the defense had its own trouble handling the Irish. For a team trying to sort out what it really is, the loss looked less like one bad afternoon than another reminder that the issues run deeper than the final score. [Read more 🡒]
Clemson Just Made Miamis Poll Rise Even Harder To Ignore
Miamis rise in the polls got another push after a convincing win over Clemson, while Notre Dame also climbed following its 37-26 victory over North Carolina. For a Tar Heels team trying to keep pace in a difficult stretch, the loss to the Fighting Irish fit into a larger picture of how much every result is being magnified in the rankings race.
The updated AP Top 25 and AFCA Coaches Polls reflect that ripple effect, with both Miami and Notre Dame picking up points as the seasons weekly pressure keeps building. Their upcoming games and strength of schedule figures only add another layer to the conversation, because for North Carolina and the rest of the ACC, every matchup now carries the kind of weight that can reshape what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
ACC Teams Keep Winning But The Polls Still Say Otherwise
Miamis lopsided win over Clemson has only deepened the sense that the ACC has more quality than it is getting credit for this fall. Even with injuries on the field, the Hurricanes handled one of the leagues biggest names 41-13, a result that should have carried weight beyond the conference race and into the national conversation. Add in the leagues mixed but not empty out-of-conference rsum, including some victories over Big Ten opponents, and there is at least a case that the ACC has been better than the poll numbers suggest.
Still, the rankings have not budged much, and that is where the frustration really starts to show. Wake Forest, SMU, Pitt and Duke have all put together solid seasons, yet they remain either unranked or buried well below SEC and Big Ten programs that keep occupying the top spots even after taking losses. For ACC teams chasing respect as much as playoff positioning, the gap between what is happening on the field and what voters are rewarding is starting to look like the story of the season. [Read more 🡒]