North Carolina didn’t leave Keenan Stadium with the upset, but the Tar Heels did leave with something more tangible than moral victory talk usually allows: proof they can stand in the ring with a heavyweight and make it uncomfortable.
No. 3 Notre Dame still walked out with a 37-26 win on Saturday in wet conditions, but the game never turned into the runaway that many expected. The Irish had to keep punching after their lead was trimmed to one point on a kickoff return score by North Carolina, and for long stretches the Tar Heels made them earn every inch.
That alone matters. Bill Belichick didn’t get the signature win, but the performance showed real progress.
North Carolina stayed within seven points for a good chunk of the afternoon, and that kind of fight should count for something for a team trying to climb toward relevance. It also gives the Tar Heels some momentum heading into a likely-ranked Pittsburgh team in the Steel City.
The biggest positive on the North Carolina side was competitiveness. The biggest concern was still obvious: the quarterback play keeps capping the ceiling.
Bobby Petrino’s offense has clearly moved forward. The unit looks more efficient in 2026, and there’s a better sense of structure and purpose.
But Billy Edwards Jr. remains too inconsistent in the pocket and too shaky as a decision-maker. That volatility keeps the passing game from becoming what it could be, because the talent around him is enough to support a much more dangerous attack if the play under center were steadier.
There’s also no hiding from the trenches. Once the rain started coming down hard, Notre Dame leaned on Ashton Craig and the ground game took over.
The Irish finished with well over 200 yards of total offense on the ground, and North Carolina’s interior defense couldn’t hold up long enough to slow the surge. Xavier Lewis has been off to a terrific start, but his size showed up as a problem, and the same was true for the rest of the interior defensive line.
That middle of the defense looks like a clear transfer portal priority this winter.
Even so, this was not the kind of game that leaves a program feeling flattened. North Carolina was in it.
It made Notre Dame work. And compared with where the Tar Heels likely would have been last year, that alone signals vivid growth and overall improvement.
The offense also got real production from its top weapons. Jordan Shipp caught seven passes for 109 yards, while Jelani Thurman finished with five catches for 50 yards and two touchdowns. Those two are the most explosive players on the roster, and against a Notre Dame defense that can punish mistakes, they showed exactly why they matter so much.
The result still counts as a loss, and an 11-point defeat at home to a top-ranked team never feels good. But this one didn’t look like the kind of game North Carolina used to get buried in. This time, the Tar Heels made the Irish fight.
In Other News...
UNC Suddenly Has A Billy Edwards Problem It Cant Ignore
The night at Notre Dame laid bare a few issues North Carolina can no longer treat as one-off problems. Billy Edwards was under constant pressure, the Tar Heels struggled to protect him, and early turnovers helped tilt the game before it ever settled in. With the rushing attack limited and the defense stretched, it was the kind of performance that can leave a coach sorting through more than one concern at once.
Bill Belichick pointed straight at the passing game and the offensive line afterward, and it was hard to argue with the diagnosis. The Tar Heels need cleaner pockets and a steadier start from their quarterback, but they also need the offense to give the defense some help after a night when both sides were exposed. What happened against a top-three opponent may end up looking less like a bad loss than a warning about what still has to be fixed. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Just Changed The Season Debate In A Way Fans Noticed
North Carolinas loss to Notre Dame still left room for a different kind of takeaway. The Tar Heels were beaten 37-26, but for long stretches they were more competitive with the third-ranked Irish than many expected, giving the game a very different feel than a routine blowout against a top-tier opponent.
For a team trying to steady its season, that matters. Even with the mistakes that surfaced along the way, this was the kind of showing that can change how the rest of the schedule is viewed, with the conversation shifting toward whether Carolina can still get to .500 and keep a bowl bid in reach. [Read more 🡒]
North Carolina Just Lost A Recruiting Battle Fans Were Watching
Jordan Page made his choice after taking official visits to both North Carolina and UConn, and the five-star wing has now given the edge to the Huskies. The 6-foot-5 standout from IMG Academy is ranked No. 10 overall in the 2027 class, which made this one of the more closely watched recruiting battles for Tar Heels fans looking to see how the program stacked up against another national power for an elite perimeter talent.
For North Carolina, the miss lands with extra weight because Page brings the kind of length and two-way profile that fits the modern game and would have been an appealing addition on the wing. The scouting read on him points to a player whose competitiveness meshes well with UConn's style, even as his offensive game still has room to grow, and that combination helped shape a recruitment the Tar Heels were in until the end. [Read more 🡒]