Last Friday night’s win at Syracuse was capped off by a joyous scene in the Carolina locker room. After a difficult start to the season featuring both blowout losses and agonizing near-misses, the Tar Heels left little doubt in their 27-10 victory against the Orange.
game celebration was a portrait of a team letting out all of its frustrations from a four-game losing streak.
Happy Halloween from New York ? pic.twitter.com/HtUAs6AmYy
— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) November 1, 2025
“It’s good to have that moment with your teammates,” said sophomore linebacker Khmori House. “But it can’t last too long, because we’ve gotta beat Stanford this week. But it was great. It was a great feeling to get that W, and we’re chasing that feeling every other week going forward.”
House’s attitude is indicative of a team which knows it has more work to do. After all, Carolina is still only 3-5 on the season, needing at least three wins in its final four games to secure bowl eligibility. Up first this weekend is a home date with Stanford, where the Tar Heels find themselves in an unfamiliar position: betting favorites.
Carolina is favored by more than a touchdown against the struggling Cardinal, who themselves are 3-6 and feature the only offense in the ACC which could be called worse than UNC’s. With the Tar Heels playing better football over the past three weeks, many see this as an opportunity for Carolina to stack another win heading into a three-game rivalry stretch of Wake Forest, Duke and NC State to close out the regular season.
But offensive lineman Austin Blaske, who can be seen in the celebration video moving very nimbly for someone with heavy braces on his knees, said the Tar Heels aren’t putting the cart before the horse.
“Obviously, we want to win games,” said Blaske, “but that comes with focusing on today’s practice and prepping for Stanford Saturday and not thinking about who’s next or stacking wins. If you start thinking about stacking wins, then you’re worried about the wrong stuff.”
The challenge for UNC will be tapping into the same intensity which the team found when the sky appeared to be falling post-Clemson. At the time, receiver Jordan Shipp said the team adopted an “Everybody vs. UNC” mentality. A few weeks later, the narrative appears to have shifted slightly. Analysts (and sportsbooks) are taking notice of Carolina’s positive steps. The defense, once gashed by TCU, UCF and Clemson, now ranks fifth in the ACC in yardage allowed per game (11 spots ahead of Stanford). Reigning ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week Melkart Abou-Jaoude leads the league with seven sacks, including five in his last two games. That unit will take on a Stanford offense which averages only 17 points per game, fewest in the conference.
If House is to be believed, though, Carolina isn’t getting high on its own supply.
“No matter if we’re winning or losing, we don’t get too high, we don’t get too low,” said House. “We just stay right in the middle and keep building. And that’s how you win games. By never letting our emotions feed into how we work, how we come to practice, how we come to the games. That’s how we’re gonna keep attacking it.”
And in this way, House and Blaske are a reflection of head coach Bill Belichick.
“It’s great to win, and for a short time after a win it’s great to feel good and celebrate and all that,” Belichick said Monday. “But you’re back to work and you’re back to the next team on the schedule, win or lose. I try to turn the page relatively quickly, 12-24 hours after the game and get on to the next challenge. Because they’re hunting for us, and we’ve gotta be ready to compete with them. I just think those games that linger too long, good or bad, really aren’t good for the process.”
Belichick is smart enough to know a 3-5 football team can ill afford to waste time celebrating, especially with another desperate program visiting Kenan Stadium tomorrow. He also knows Stanford, for all of its struggles, still upset one-time ACC favorite Florida State in Palo Alto, holding the powerful Seminole offense to just 13 points.
Carolina is justifiably favored to win Saturday. But it will be up to the Tar Heels to play like it.
Featured image via Associated Press/Adrian Kraus
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