North Carolina didn’t just walk away from its Week 5 battle with Notre Dame with a loss. The Tar Heels also got a fresh read on the ACC landscape, and a few teams came into focus fast.
Louisville is the clearest warning sign. The Cardinals have dropped consecutive games to Wake Forest and North Carolina State, and in those two matchups they’ve given up 30.5 points per game.
That number fits a bigger pattern, too: Louisville has allowed at least 30 points in four of its five games this season. The preseason ranking is gone now.
Louisville started the year in the top 25, but after a 2-3 start and an 0-2 mark in league play, it’s unranked. North Carolina won’t see the Cardinals until Nov.
Wake Forest, meanwhile, keeps offering a different kind of reminder. Lopez, the former Tar Heels quarterback, has become one of the ACC’s surprise stories.
He played a major role in the win over Louisville a couple of weekends ago, then backed it up against Stanford this past weekend with 20 completions on 27 attempts for 265 yards and two touchdowns. He also piled up 88 rushing yards and three scores on 12 carries.
That production lands with extra weight because of what happened last season in Chapel Hill. Lopez took plenty of heat while North Carolina’s offense sputtered its way through a 4-8 finish, a year that ended with the Tar Heels missing bowl eligibility for the first time since 2018.
Since he was made the scapegoat for those struggles, he’s going to keep getting measured against Billy Edwards Jr. Right now, the source material suggests Bill Belichick may have misread that one.
Florida State has also made its case as a team to watch. The Seminoles flashed early against Alabama in Week 2, grabbing a 14-3 lead before falling 50-36, and that game hinted at what they could be. They followed it by pushing SMU to the edge in a 27-24 loss.
Then came this past weekend’s statement: a 38-7 rout of Virginia. Florida State ran for 281 yards on 46 carries, with Ashton Daniels doing most of the damage.
He carried 17 times for 136 rushing yards and five touchdowns, while also going 12-of-19 for 183 yards through the air. The passing game isn’t the part that jumps off the page, but the ground attack is humming at 194.0 rushing yards per game, which ranks 60th nationally.
And for North Carolina’s sake, the Tar Heels don’t have to deal with Florida State in 2026, because that rushing offense would put their run defense under a harsh spotlight.
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Dean Smiths Pitch To Antawn Jamison Still Defines Carolina
Antawn Jamisons latest reflection on his recruitment offers a familiar reminder of why Dean Smiths pitch at North Carolina still resonates. Smith did not sell him on minutes or on a straight line to the NBA, but on what a UNC education and the broader college experience could do for him as a person, a message that stood apart even then and feels almost radical now.
Jamisons recollection is less about one recruitment than it is about a standard Smith set for generations of Tar Heels. The emphasis was on caring for the individual beyond basketball, and that philosophy helped shape the programs identity long after Smiths coaching days ended. In an era when recruiting often starts and ends with roster fit and pro potential, the old Carolina approach still has a way of sounding like the bigger promise. [Read more 🡒]
North Carolina Faces A New Problem In Undefeated Pitt Road Test
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For North Carolina, the challenge is layered. The Tar Heels are trying to prepare for a top-25 caliber opponent away from home while also managing an injury concern of their own at nose tackle, with Isaiah Johnson part of the conversation this week. It leaves Mack Browns team staring at a game that now asks for even more adjustment on both sides of the ball. [Read more 🡒]
North Carolina Just Showed Why ACC Defenses Should Be Paying Attention
North Carolina came out of its matchup with Notre Dame looking like a team the rest of the ACC will have to game-plan for a little differently. The Tar Heels handled one of the nations better defenses well enough to win 37-26, and the bigger takeaway may be how they kept finding ways to move the ball when the margin for error was thin.
Billy Edwards Jr. was right in the middle of it, finishing 17 of 28 for 208 yards with three touchdown passes and two interceptions. The challenge now is turning that kind of showing into something sustainable as Pitt, Duke and Miami come next on the schedule, with each game offering another chance to prove this was more than one strong afternoon. [Read more 🡒]