Finally beating a power conference team hasn’t changed Bill Belichick’s mantra. He still emphasized at his Tuesday press conference that North Carolina (3–5, 2–4 ACC) is on a steady climb and needs to keep showing incremental progress.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — For much of the first half, North Carolina’s offense put up numbers but looked stuck in neutral. Pressure collapsed the pocket, drives stalled in the red zone, and a costly fumble turned into a Syracuse touchdown.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The game’s turning point came on a simple screen pass. True freshman Demon June caught the ball near the line of scrimmage, slipped one defender, stiff-armed safety Braheem Long and accelerated down the left sideline for a 72-yard touchdown that gave North Carolina its first second-half lead against a power conference opponent since last November.

In a Halloween night game between two struggling teams, with all the horror movie cliches just waiting out there, it was only appropriate that it was a Demon who helped lead an exorcism.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — It took some explosives to blast Carolina out of its offensive struggles, a couple delivered by freshman running back Demon June.

CHAPEL HILL — As UNC quarterback Gio Lopez continues to navigate a challenging season, he’s faced mounting criticism from fans and media. But Lopez isn’t letting the “noise” shake his confidence or distract him from the work ahead.

Twenty years ago, the last time a ranked Virginia team faced an unranked North Carolina squad, the result was a 7–5 rock fight that ranks among the worst games in ACC football history. History did not quite repeat itself as the rock fight between the Tar Heels and Cavaliers did not rise (or sink) to the level of the 2005 tilt in Kenan Stadium; it was far from a thing of beauty.

North Carolina continues to lose in heartbreaking fashion, this time missing a potential game-winning two-point conversion by inches. After matching Virginia’s touchdown in the first overtime, the Tar Heels went for two and quarterback Gio Lopez passed to Benjamin Hall, whose knee went down just before he got the ball over the goal line.

CHAPEL HILL — Bill Belichick opened his Tuesday press conference discussing Virginia’s “impressive string” of wins, but it didn’t take long for the North Carolina coach to be asked about a report from The Athletic that Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris showed “extreme” interest in transferring to Carolina before this season.

With the near-daily drumbeat of coverage and drama surrounding the North Carolina football program, it’s been easy to forget that the actual team has only played one game in the past four weeks. The result? Pain and disappointment.