It’s funny — Duke has only won two football games in a row over Carolina, but the last Tar Heel win feels like ages ago. Honestly, the context of that last win may make things feel worse. It was November 11th, 2023, in Chapel Hill, a night game on the ACC Network that would be Drake Maye’s final home game. When Carolina won, everyone rushed the field and Maye soaked the atmosphere all in.
It has been downhill since. Carolina would follow that win by getting blown out in Clemson, embarrassed at State, and Maye’s tenure at UNC was done. The next year, Mack Brown took a limping Carolina team to Durham and choked away a lead to lose 21-20. It wouldn’t even be the bottom of a mediocre year that saw Carolina lose games in excruciating fashion and had Brown fired before the end of the season. Last year was Bill Belichick’s first against the team that his “first words were about,” and while the game was close it was a second win in a row for the Blue Devils.
Now, the Tar Heels enter the game on a bit of an upswing. They are still above .500 after a good win in Pittsburgh, meanwhile Duke took their first hit of the season with a loss to Georgia Tech. Signs are there that Belichick is more engaged, players seemingly love playing for him, and the game in Durham is always a bit more of a neutral site event than a true home game for Duke. All of a sudden, you look at the road ahead and with the exception of Miami, fans have a reason to think this team might actually compete in every game.
A win today would be especially important, as it would match Belichick’s win total from last year in only half the games. They’d take a win into a fun night game against Syracuse, then the big one on Halloween against Miami.
That’s the thing: a win today and now you look at that Miami game and think, “You know, Miami is good to trip over themselves at some point this year. They have a huge matchup in South Bend the next week, would that be the game where they have their glitch and give the Tar Heels their biggest win in decades?‘
Yeah, the stakes really are at that level when you map out where things are after this Duke game. This team had a genuine celebration on the field and in the locker room after the signature win against Pitt, and in every single one of their games they have fought back when last year they would have folded. You also wonder just how much Belichick was upset at last year’s game in which Manny Diaz out coached him.
Oh yeah, did I mention the weather is going to be a little squirrelly today?
It should be a good one. If you aren’t going to be in Durham to watch, here’s how you can catch the action:
- Time: 3:30 PM ET
- Location: Wallace Wade Stadium – Durham, NC
- TV: ESPN2 with Lowell Galindo handling play-by-play, Kirk Morrison doing color, and Dawn Davenport working the sidelines and trying to get something out of Bill Belichick. Good luck, Dawn.
- Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network with Jones Angell doing play-by-play, Joe Jauch with color, and Bryn Renner on the sidelines. Here’s a list of affiliates airing the THSN broadcast. You can also listen to them on GoHeels.com, The Varsity Network, Tune In, and Sirius XM on channel 266.
- Streaming: Watch ESPN
- Line: UNC +3, M/L +130, 46.5 O/U