North Carolina heads to Durham on Saturday with a tough run of games continuing and the Victory Bell waiting at the finish.
The Tar Heels are coming off a much-needed 21-17 win at then-No. 25 Pitt last Saturday, their first victory over a Top 25 opponent in two seasons under Bill Belichick.
That came right after a 37-26 home loss to then-No. 3 Notre Dame, and the road doesn’t get any easier from here.
North Carolina will also host current No. 3 Miami on Oct. 31, but for now the focus is on Duke.
“We embrace it,” North Carolina coach Bill Belichick said of the challenging slate. “It's a great opportunity.
We've gone up against good teams, and it looks like there's more on the schedule. Certainly Duke is one of them.”
Duke enters at 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the ACC after taking its first loss last week, a 28-25 defeat at Georgia Tech. Belichick has also made a point of noting that the Blue Devils won last year’s ACC Championship Game.
Saturday’s game in Durham, N.C., is about more than conference positioning. North Carolina and Duke will play for possession of the Victory Bell, and Manny Diaz made clear the matchup carries its own energy.
“It’s an exciting week here,” Diaz said. “One of the top weeks of the year, always. ... It doesn't take much to refocus when it is this game.”
One of the biggest individual tests for North Carolina will be slowing Duke running back Nate Sheppard. He has 743 rushing yards this season and 1,875 over his two-year Duke career, and he has also caught 17 passes this year and 54 in his career.
“It starts with him,” Belichick said. “If you let Sheppard out, you're going to pay for it. ... He's a good receiver, very good at breaking tackles, making yards after contact.”
The quarterback numbers are not especially eye-catching for either side. North Carolina’s Billy Edwards Jr. ranks 12th in ACC passing efficiency at 140.3, just ahead of Duke’s Walker Eget at 139.9.
North Carolina’s secondary could be a question mark after defensive backs Kaleb Cost and Tre Miller were injured against Pitt. The Tar Heels may need more from defensive lineman Xavier Lewis, who posted a career-high 12 tackles in that win and has 6 1/2 sacks on the season.
In Other News...
Tre Miller Gave UNC A Breakout Game And A Bigger Worry
Tre Millers day against Pitt looked like the kind every defensive back hopes for when the season starts to stretch into November. He piled up four tackles, knocked away two passes and came away with his first career interception, then collected more recognition afterward when he was named ACC Defensive Back of the Week and landed on PFFs National Team of the Week.
The bigger story, though, is what followed the breakout. Miller suffered a significant lower-body injury in the game, and the expectation is that he will miss the rest of the 2026 season, leaving North Carolina to absorb both the loss of a rising contributor and the frustration of seeing a milestone performance cut short. [Read more 🡒]
Billy Edwards Jr. Still Left UNC With One Big Offensive Concern
North Carolina got back in the win column with a 21-17 victory over Pittsburgh, snapping a two-game skid and giving the Tar Heels a much-needed reset. Billy Edwards Jr. did his part to steady things, finishing 18 of 26 for 249 yards with two touchdowns, and he got help from Jordan Shipp and Easter as UNC pieced together enough offense to survive a tight game.
Even so, the performance still left one familiar concern hanging over the Tar Heels. Edwards was inconsistent, and while he moved the ball effectively at times, he also showed a reluctance to challenge defenses vertically and threw two interceptions, reminders that the offense is still searching for cleaner, more complete rhythm. A win helps, but UNC will need more certainty from its quarterback play if it wants this improvement to last. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Suddenly Has A Depth Story Fans Can Believe In
Against Pitt, North Carolina learned something useful about its roster beyond the final score. Several starters went down during the game, which forced backups and freshmen into bigger roles than they were expecting, and the result was a reminder of how quickly depth gets tested in college football. Bill Belichicks long-standing emphasis on being ready when opportunity arrives fit the moment neatly, because UNC needed players who had not taken many practice reps to hold up in a tight game against a ranked opponent.
Those reserves answered the call well enough to help push the Tar Heels to a 21-17 win, and the best part for UNC is that the contributions did not come from one spot alone. Multiple less experienced players found ways to matter, which is the kind of development a staff can point to when injuries start piling up. The bigger question now is whether that showing was a one-game survival act or the start of a deeper rotation the Tar Heels can trust as the season moves on. [Read more 🡒]