After North Carolina’s disappointing finish against Clemson, the Tar Heels get a weekend off, giving fans a rare pause after a rough stretch. It’s UNC’s second bye week of the year, coming after the Week 0 game in Ireland and the Week 1 off week that followed. The first time around, the break preceded an easy win, though Notre Dame figures to be a much tougher test than East Tennessee State when the Tar Heels return.
For now, though, there’s no Carolina game on the board, which leaves a Saturday hole to fill. So the question becomes simple: which game will have your attention instead?
One option that stands out is Ole Miss going into “The Swamp” to face Florida. Ole Miss was in one of last weekend’s biggest games and got revenge on LSU and former coach Lane Kiffin.
That win pushed the Rebels up to No. 4 in the AP Top 25 and earned them first-place votes. Florida, meanwhile, has started 3-0 under new coach Jon Sumrall after knocking off Auburn last weekend.
Even with other matchups involving more highly ranked teams, this one feels like the most intriguing. It has the best shot at producing an upset, and it also carries a UNC angle.
Sumrall was a popular name for the Carolina job after Mack Brown, including for me and, if some reports are to be believed, former AD Bubba Cunningham before he was overruled. That makes his early work at Florida worth watching, even if the odds of him ever ending up in Chapel Hill are basically zero now.
In Other News...
UNC Is Already In An Early Fight For A Massive 5-Star Center
A big man with a growing national market is already drawing plenty of attention, and North Carolina has made sure it is in the mix early. Dylan Betts, a five-star Class of 2028 center and 7-foot-3 prospect at IMG Academy, has taken an unofficial visit to Chapel Hill as part of a recruitment process that is quickly broadening beyond one region or one conference.
UNCs staff has been building a relationship with Betts while schools like Michigan and Illinois have already hosted him, and Alabama is also lined up for a future visit. For the Tar Heels, getting in early matters with a player of that size and ceiling, because the race for elite frontcourt talent tends to move fast once the major programs start pressing their cases. [Read more 🡒]
UNCs New Backcourt Duo Brings More Than Fans Might Expect
North Carolinas newest backcourt pairing arrived with plenty of intrigue during a recent media availability, as transfer guards Angelo Brizzi and Neo Avdalas were introduced to the Tar Heels audience. Brizzi brings a well-traveled resume, but also the kind of reliability UNC needs from a lead guard, having started all 32 games at Buffalo and finished with 14.5 points per game. Avdalas offers a different look entirely, a 6-foot-9 guard whose size and playmaking made him one of the more interesting additions in the ACC last season.
Avdalas started all 31 games at Virginia Tech, averaged 12.1 points and 4.6 assists per game, and earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors twice, which gives UNC a backcourt blend that is both experienced and unconventional. For a program always balancing immediate expectations with roster fit, the bigger question now is how quickly these two transfers can translate their production into chemistry, spacing and decision-making in Chapel Hill. [Read more 🡒]
Belichicks UNC Start Looks Worse As Passed-Over Options Keep Delivering
Bill Belichicks first season at North Carolina has already become a talking point across college football, and not in the way anyone around Chapel Hill would have wanted. As the Tar Heels try to settle in under one of the sports most famous names, the comparison game has only intensified, with other programs taking shape behind coaches who were in the same broader conversation before Belichick landed at UNC.
Those parallel developments matter because the coaches North Carolina did not hire keep stacking up results elsewhere. Jon Sumrall and Jake Dickert, in particular, have continued to build momentum, while Wake Forests early success under Dickert and quarterback Gio Lopez has only sharpened the optics. Even in games with uneven quarterback play, such as Clemsons outing from Tait Reynolds, the broader trend has been hard to miss for UNC fans watching the wider carousel. [Read more 🡒]