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This is why UNC football can’t have nice things. Mack Brown tried to warn us. He tried to warn his team. He told the famous Bill Parcells poison cheese story. He put cheese in the team’s lockers. And his team responded with an absolute stinker of a game, leading to perhaps one of the most disappointing losses in Carolina football history.
CHAPEL HILL — What most figured would be an easy night for No. 10 North Carolina turned into a frustrating evening of survival.For most of the season, these Tar Heels looked like a team that could weather a bad day, but longtime UNC football fans were reminded again that it’s never that easy with this program.
When the ACC announced that No. 10 North Carolina’s Saturday night game against Virginia would air on The CW, that immediately confused some Tar Heels fans. Most have heard it but have no idea where to find it.
Sam Howell threw three touchdown passes with a 119.7 passer rating Sunday, both career-highs, to help the Washington Commanders snap a three-game losing streak with a 24–16 road victory over Atlanta. Josh Downs, one of his former targets at UNC, scored his first NFL touchdown.
Undefeated North Carolina moved up in the AP Top 25 poll for the fifth consecutive week, becoming a top-10 team for the first time since the preseason 2021 poll. The Tar Heels (6–0, 3–0 ACC) are up two spots to No. 10 after their 41–31 home victory Saturday over Miami, which was No. 25 but is now unranked. UNC is 56–22 as a ranked team in 15 seasons under Coach Mack Brown.
Watch the players’ portion of UNC’s postgame press conference after the Miami win, with comments from Drake Maye, Tez Walker, Alijah Huzzie and Cedric Gray.
For a while Saturday night, it looked like UNC had gone back in time, and it wasn’t because of the ‘90s retro uniforms. For much of the first half, Carolina looked like the undisciplined teams of the early 2020s, complete with blown coverages, poor line play, head-scratching coaching decisions and mind-numbing penalties. Then the third quarter happened.
Watch Mack Brown’s press conference after UNC’s win over Miami.
CHAPEL HILL — As tempting as it might be to call it the Tez Walker Game, the spectacular effort by the recently “freed” wide receiver might just be a prelude to the explosiveness to come. In his second game since the NCAA ruled the junior Kent State transfer eligible, he caught a career-high three touchdown passes, with 132 reception yards. His two third-quarter scores ignited No. 12 North Carolina as the Tar Heels rallied from their first halftime deficit of the season to beat No. 25 Miami 41–31 on Saturday night before a raucous Kenan Stadium crowd.
Hear what UNC wide receiver Nate McCollum and wide receivers coach Lonnie Galloway ahead of Saturday’s Miami game.
Hear what UNC players Myles Murphy, Drake Maye, Marcus Allen and, Willie Lampkin had to say ahead of Saturday’s big clash with Miami.
Josh Downs had the best game of his rookie season, Cole Holcomb had a big day and Ty Chandler made a fake punt work on a Sunday with few bright spots for UNC alums. Although a touchdown still has eluded Downs through five games, the wide receiver caught all six passes targeted to him Sunday for a season-high 97 yards to put up a season-high 15.7 fantasy points in the Indianapolis Colts’ 23–16 home victory over the Tennessee Titans.
After a dominant 40–7 home victory over Syracuse on Saturday, North Carolina moved up in the AP Top 25 for the fifth consecutive week. The Tar Heels (5–0, 2–0 ACC) jumped two spots to No. 12, their highest rank since they were No. 10 in the 2021 preseason poll and their best ranking this late in the season since they were No. 5 on Oct. 11, 2020.
Should North Carolina need to win a tiebreaker with Louisville to make the league championship game, the Cardinals’ easy ACC schedule could be helpful for the Tar Heels. In the first ACC football season without divisions since 2004, the teams finishing first and second in the ACC standings will play in the ACC championship game.
Hear what UNC’s Drake Make, Tomari Fox, Tez Walker and Cedric Gray had to say about the Tar Heels’ game with Syracuse.
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