Fresh off a loss to Georgia Tech, the Duke Blue Devils will try to hang onto the Victory Bell when they face off against UNC this afternoon in Wallace Wade Stadium. The Heels are coming off their first ranked victory in the Bill Belichick era, and now they are hoping for another first under the former Patriots head coach: beating the Blue Devils. The Victory Bell has been away from Chapel Hill for a few years now, and it is about time that it returns home.
To be very honest, it’s unclear what we should expect in this game. Duke has had an easier schedule that the Heels have had to this point, but things still aren’t sitting completely right with Carolina fans. It’s been pointed out that the games that they’ve won were against backup quarterbacks and former lacrosse players, and it’s hard to argue with facts. But Duke doesn’t have a CJ Carr at quarterback that will shred the Heels the way Notre Dame did. Is UNC’s defense good enough to deal with a good but not great starting quarterback? We’re about to find out.
UNC needs this win to not only restore balance to the universe that is the Tobacco Road Rivalry (if we’re allowed to use that title for football), but to get that much closer to becoming bowl eligible. Our staff was particularly harsh when predicting how this season will play out, but there are seven regular season games left including today’s game, and the Heels are halfway to eligibility. There’s a lot that can be said about how we got here, but perhaps we just wait to see how today pans out before we get carried away.
Anyways, come hang out with us in the comments section as we ban together to hopefully watch that team in Durham take an L. We’ll be back after the game with post-game analysis and takes. Until then, Go Heels, and Go to Hell Duke!