Billy Edwards Jr. should get the nod when North Carolina hosts Miami on Halloween night, but that start ought to be the last one on his college ledger.
This is the moment to see what Travis Burgess can offer, just not in a game like this. Throwing a true freshman who has never taken a collegiate snap into a matchup with the No. 1 team in the country would tell UNC almost nothing. That assignment belongs to the sixth-year senior.
After Miami leaves Chapel Hill, Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels need to start looking beyond the next week on the calendar. Burgess is the future North Carolina is expected to build around, and the program should begin finding out exactly what it has.
That doesn’t mean Edwards is the only reason UNC is sitting at 4-3. He isn’t. Defensive lapses, injuries, questionable decisions, and other issues have all played their part in the Tar Heels’ uneven start.
Still, at some point the evidence in front of you matters. Edwards has completed 60.2 percent of his passes for 1,531 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions, and those numbers only tell part of the story. Too many throws have been missed, too many scoring chances have slipped away, and Saturday night offered another example.
Edwards went 27-of-44 for 271 yards and two touchdowns without an interception against Syracuse. On paper, that line looks solid enough.
On the field, the Tar Heels had chances to finish the job and didn’t. They led 20-10 going into the fourth quarter, then watched Syracuse erase that edge and pull out a 31-30 overtime win.
That collapse wasn’t on Edwards alone. But when you lean on a sixth-year quarterback because his experience is supposed to give you the best chance to win now, that experience has to show up somewhere.
At this point, UNC already knows what Edwards is. He is not part of the long-term plan, and the Tar Heels are not in College Football Playoff contention. The conversation has shifted to what comes next.
Burgess was never just a throw-in to the quarterback room. He arrived in Chapel Hill as one of the more intriguing passers in the 2026 recruiting class and was genuinely in the mix during the offseason competition.
He is young, he is inexperienced, and he missed most of his senior year of high school because of injury. That kind of profile usually needs time.
Now, months into his time at North Carolina, there is value in seeing him live. If the Tar Heels believe he can be the guy leading the offense in 2027 and beyond, they need real tape to evaluate. Otherwise, how can they honestly assess the quarterback room heading into the offseason?
The schedule after Miami gives UNC a window. The Tar Heels still have UConn, Louisville, Virginia and NC State left in the regular season, and none of those teams look like impossible asks.
One of them just fired its coach this weekend. If there’s a time to learn what Burgess can do, this is it.
There will be mistakes if Burgess gets the job. That comes with the territory.
The speed of the college game can hit hard, and he may go through growing pains that Edwards has already avoided. But those are the kinds of growing pains UNC would rather deal with now than in 2027, when the stakes are tied to a brand-new season and a quarterback with little experience.
Burgess also brings something the Tar Heels have not consistently gotten from Edwards this season: a willingness and ability to push the ball downfield. If that element shows up, it could change more than just the passing game. It would also help open lanes for the run game and give the backs more room to work.
So let Edwards have Miami. He earned that opportunity as the experienced option, and this is the sort of stage where that experience should matter.
Maybe he turns in the kind of night that changes the conversation. That would be welcome.
But if Saturday looks like too many other nights have looked, UNC would be wise to stop repeating the same script. Edwards is the present.
Burgess is the future. And after Halloween night, the Tar Heels should hand over the keys.
In Other News...
UNC Left Stewing Over Costly Collapse Before Huge Miami Test
North Carolina walked away from Syracuse with a 31-30 overtime loss that stung in every possible way, because it was there more than once for the taking. The Tar Heels led by 10 points in both halves, then built a seven-point cushion in overtime, only to watch the Orange keep hanging around until the final play flipped everything with a game-winning 2-point conversion.
For Bill Belichick and a UNC team heading into a huge matchup with Miami, the frustration was rooted in what the film will show: missed chances in the red zone and too many lapses in basic defensive execution. The loss left the Tar Heels stewing over how a game they controlled in stretches slipped away, and it makes the next one feel even bigger. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Has A Fascinating Frontcourt Question With Alex Samodurov
Alex Samodurov has arrived in Chapel Hill with a rsum that already looks different from most first-year frontcourt pieces. The 6-foot-11 forward from Greece comes to North Carolina after playing professionally for Panathinaikos, and his background includes international seasoning as well as a bronze medal at the 2025 senior EuroBasket. In the exhibition against USC, he gave a glimpse of what he might add, with rebounds and a three-pointer hinting at a skill set that could fit in more than one way.
Now the real question for UNC is how quickly that experience translates to the college game and where Samodurov fits in the frontcourt mix. The staff is still sorting out his role, which makes him one of the more intriguing variables on the roster as the Tar Heels look for reliable minutes inside and around the basket. His ceiling is easy to see, but the timeline for getting there is still part of the story. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Let A Needed Win Slip Away In Brutal Fashion
UNC had a chance to put a much-needed win in the books and spent most of the afternoon in position to do it, only to watch the game tilt late and turn into an overtime gut punch. The Tar Heels led for much of the contest, got a touchdown from Jordan Shipp, and seemed to have enough to finish the job before Syracuse surged with 13 points in the fourth quarter and forced the extra session after a missed extra point.
What made it sting even more was how many openings were there to close it out. Syracuse answered with a long catch-and-run from Umari Hatcher, UNC could not fully cash in on chances to regain control, and a game that had leaned the Tar Heels' way slipped into a 31-30 loss. For a team trying to steady itself, it was the kind of defeat that lingers because the win was there to be taken. [Read more 🡒]