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Duke’s Week 7 matchup takes the Blue Devils back home for the much-anticipated Battle for the Victory Bell against the school’s biggest rival, North Carolina.
Duke’s had the Tar Heels’ number in recent meetings as the Blue Devils seek to hold onto the bell for a third straight year after back-to-back one-possession wins. Here’s everything you need to know about the school eight miles southeast ahead of 2026.
Back at the helm for the Heels is NFL legend Bill Belichick in the second year of his college coaching stint. Last year was a total failure for UNC. The team went 4-8 with just a pair of ACC wins in one of the most highly anticipated Carolina football seasons ever.
The team fired Mack Brown for doing much, much better, so Year 2 for Belichick will be borderline make-or-break if he wants to keep this circus running.
And The Ringling Brothers appear to have already lost an elephant or two.
On July 27, it was announced that UNC’s general manager, Michael Lombardi, was placed on administrative leave. The university announced Monday that Lombardi’s leave was effective immediately, and reports say that Belichick’s top aide is connected to an HR complaint. This is obviously not the type of distraction you want just a month away from kickoff.
Now onto what you clicked on this story for: football.
Many of us were fooled when the Tar Heels opened their season with a perfectly executed touchdown drive to take the lead against TCU last year. Who could’ve predicted that the unit would go on to reach paydirt fewer times than 128 FBS teams the rest of the year?
To revamp the offense this season, Belichick has turned to one of the most seasoned offensive coaches in the sport’s history in 65-year-old offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino.
Last season at Arkansas, the Razorbacks finished 13th in total offense under Petrino, meaning he will certainly have an impact on a Chapel Hill outfit that finished the year ranked 120th in yards per play.
Under center, the Tar Heels have a few options. UNC managed to pick up a pair of portal vets in Billy Edwards from Wisconsin and Miles O’Neil from Texas A&M. They’re also bringing in a talented freshman in Travis Burgess, who was the No. 9 QB prospect in last year’s class according to 24/7Sports.
Aside from what Belichick decides at signal caller, this year’s run game could very well decide the man’s entire coaching future.
Last season, Arkansas’s offense under Petrino ran for over 145 yards in 10 out of the team’s 12 regular-season games. UNC’s offense a year ago managed that feat just three times and went 3-0 in those contests.
There are still a lot of unknowns across this unit that should give UNC fans serious pause, especially at WR and OL, but Petrino was a genuinely good hire, which means this side of the ball should be much improved over what we saw Belichick trot out in Year 1.
The Tar Heel defense is a bit of a good news, bad news situation. Fortunately, this unit legitimately kept the team in games last year. Unfortunately, most of the starting production is gone.
UNC finished a jarring 0-8 when the defense allowed more than 15 points a season ago, which is more of an indictment on the offense than anything. However, the unit was not very good on third down and was unable to create very many game-changing turnovers.
They did a decent job of filling the holes on this side of the ball, and the group should be pretty good again, but if the offense isn’t able to give a little bit of run support, the defense and the team as a whole could be in for a rough season.
I expect another close game when these teams meet in Durham on Oct. 17, with both defenses operating at a high level, resulting in a low-scoring affair.
This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Early look at Duke vs. UNC football matchup
Continue reading...
Duke’s had the Tar Heels’ number in recent meetings as the Blue Devils seek to hold onto the bell for a third straight year after back-to-back one-possession wins. Here’s everything you need to know about the school eight miles southeast ahead of 2026.
Back at the helm for the Heels is NFL legend Bill Belichick in the second year of his college coaching stint. Last year was a total failure for UNC. The team went 4-8 with just a pair of ACC wins in one of the most highly anticipated Carolina football seasons ever.
The team fired Mack Brown for doing much, much better, so Year 2 for Belichick will be borderline make-or-break if he wants to keep this circus running.
And The Ringling Brothers appear to have already lost an elephant or two.
On July 27, it was announced that UNC’s general manager, Michael Lombardi, was placed on administrative leave. The university announced Monday that Lombardi’s leave was effective immediately, and reports say that Belichick’s top aide is connected to an HR complaint. This is obviously not the type of distraction you want just a month away from kickoff.
Now onto what you clicked on this story for: football.
Many of us were fooled when the Tar Heels opened their season with a perfectly executed touchdown drive to take the lead against TCU last year. Who could’ve predicted that the unit would go on to reach paydirt fewer times than 128 FBS teams the rest of the year?
To revamp the offense this season, Belichick has turned to one of the most seasoned offensive coaches in the sport’s history in 65-year-old offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino.
Last season at Arkansas, the Razorbacks finished 13th in total offense under Petrino, meaning he will certainly have an impact on a Chapel Hill outfit that finished the year ranked 120th in yards per play.
Under center, the Tar Heels have a few options. UNC managed to pick up a pair of portal vets in Billy Edwards from Wisconsin and Miles O’Neil from Texas A&M. They’re also bringing in a talented freshman in Travis Burgess, who was the No. 9 QB prospect in last year’s class according to 24/7Sports.
Aside from what Belichick decides at signal caller, this year’s run game could very well decide the man’s entire coaching future.
Last season, Arkansas’s offense under Petrino ran for over 145 yards in 10 out of the team’s 12 regular-season games. UNC’s offense a year ago managed that feat just three times and went 3-0 in those contests.
There are still a lot of unknowns across this unit that should give UNC fans serious pause, especially at WR and OL, but Petrino was a genuinely good hire, which means this side of the ball should be much improved over what we saw Belichick trot out in Year 1.
The Tar Heel defense is a bit of a good news, bad news situation. Fortunately, this unit legitimately kept the team in games last year. Unfortunately, most of the starting production is gone.
UNC finished a jarring 0-8 when the defense allowed more than 15 points a season ago, which is more of an indictment on the offense than anything. However, the unit was not very good on third down and was unable to create very many game-changing turnovers.
They did a decent job of filling the holes on this side of the ball, and the group should be pretty good again, but if the offense isn’t able to give a little bit of run support, the defense and the team as a whole could be in for a rough season.
I expect another close game when these teams meet in Durham on Oct. 17, with both defenses operating at a high level, resulting in a low-scoring affair.
This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Early look at Duke vs. UNC football matchup
Continue reading...
