Top-ranked Miami heads into Chapel Hill on Saturday night knowing North Carolina will treat this as its shot at a headline-grabbing win.
The Hurricanes are 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and they just claimed their first game as the No. 1 team since 2002 by blasting Pitt 52-23 at home last Saturday. Miami has topped 40 points in every game but one this season, and coach Mario Cristobal is making sure nobody in his locker room gets comfortable.
"You've got to come in every single time ready to play your best. If not, you're putting a win at risk," Cristobal said. "We're expecting a tremendous challenge and opportunity on Saturday."
North Carolina is 4-3 and 2-2 in the league, and the Tar Heels are coming off a painful 31-30 overtime loss to Syracuse that snapped a two-game winning streak. Even so, this matchup gives Bill Belichick’s team a chance to land a second win this season against a Top 25 opponent after beating then-No.
25 Pitt on Oct. 10.
That’s exactly the sort of stage North Carolina administrators envisioned when they brought in Belichick, and Cristobal believes the Tar Heels are much closer to the top tier than their record suggests.
"The play of his team, they are a couple plays away from either being a one-loss team or undefeated team," Cristobal said. "The level of personnel in the building has certainly elevated tremendously, their style of play, their physicality."
Belichick was direct in his own assessment of the challenge.
"They're the No. 1 team in the country and they should be," Belichick said. "They play pretty good on the road, too. They play good everywhere."
Miami quarterback Darian Mensah has been one of the most efficient passers in the country, throwing 22 touchdowns against only one interception while completing 81.4 percent of his passes. Mensah also knows Chapel Hill well, having helped power a 33-25 win there last year when he was at Duke.
Belichick singled out Mensah’s ability to keep plays alive.
"Mensah is dangerous in the scramble," Belichick said. "He's very good at extending plays. He's got a good group of receivers and they're all dangerous."
One of those targets, Malachi Toney, leads the ACC with 952 receiving yards and 11 touchdown catches on 66 receptions.
North Carolina’s defense has a standout of its own in linebacker Derek McDonald, who leads the ACC with 10.3 tackles per game after posting a career-best 16 against Syracuse. The Tar Heels have also taken the last two ACC Linebacker of the Week honors, with Peyton Seelmann earning the award two weeks ago.
Cristobal also acknowledged the pressure Miami’s defense can create.
"has several good players we have to be conscious of that are game wreckers," Belichick said.
For North Carolina, the red zone remains a major point of emphasis. Belichick said the Tar Heels have left points on the board by settling for field goals too often after reaching the 10-yard line, and that kind of mistake could be costly against Miami.
"We work on that every week," Belichick said. "We've moved the ball, but we've left some points out there on the field. Down there, everything just needs to be a little bit more perfect."
Miami’s trip to No. 5 Notre Dame is coming next week, but Cristobal said the Hurricanes cannot look past North Carolina.
"Watching them on tape and the things they've done and some of the players in their capabilities, it's going to take every ounce of preparation and a great effort to make sure we get to 1-0 (for this week)," Cristobal said.
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The search for a replacement is already underway, with former Michigan GM Sean Magee helping consult on the process. What makes the next hire especially interesting is the possibility that the role could be built to report to both athletic director Steve Newmark and head coach Bill Belichick, a structure that would say a lot about how much influence Belichick is expected to wield in Chapel Hill and how UNC wants its football operation to function moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
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UNC Misses On Five-Star As This Recruitment Slipped Away Fast
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For the Tar Heels, the miss adds another layer to a rivalry that tends to show up in the recruiting lanes long before it ever reaches the court. Dukes class keeps building around top-end talent, while UNC now has to keep pressing ahead with other targets and make up ground elsewhere in a cycle where every high-end decision matters. [Read more 🡒]