There will be no bells on the line when Carolina takes on Syracuse tomorrow night. There is no fierce local rivalry with the Orange, whose tenure in the ACC still isn’t old enough to vote. The atmosphere in Kenan Stadium will likely not be as charged as it was in Wallace Wade Stadium last weekend.
So no one would be surprised if the Tar Heels dared to come out a little sleepy against the 2-4 Orange. But with hard-earned confidence and a very reasonable path ahead to a bowl game, head coach Bill Belichick’s team is sticking to the maxims which got it to 4-2 in the first place.
One of those is the “24-hour rule.”
“One thing that Bob [Diaco, defensive line coach] always tells the D-line is that you’ve got 24 hours to celebrate a win. You’ve also got 24 hours to mourn a loss,” explained defensive lineman Leroy Jackson. “The 24 hours is up, and now it’s time to focus on Syracuse.”
The 24 hours of Duke postgame glory expired right around the time Jackson joined his teammates and a group of Tar Heel fans around the UNC bell tower to spray paint the Victory Bell a lighter shade of blue. That very important task effectively closed the book on Duke week.
Now, the Tar Heels are moving on to Syracuse, which enters Saturday’s contest winless in ACC play. UNC is favored for the first time this season against an FBS opponent. Believe it or not, Carolina has surpassed enough expectations so far that it now faces what can be classified as a “trap game” – especially with a visit from No. 1 Miami looming Halloween night.
Belichick was as giddy as anyone had ever seen him in the immediate aftermath of Carolina’s win in Durham, and even participated in the ceremonial spray painting of the Bell the next day. Now though, he says the Orange has his team’s undivided attention.
“As a team, we talked about it. I said it, but honestly, they were saying it before I was,” Belichick said Monday. “This one’s in the books. It’s great to beat Duke, but we’re done with them and it’s on to Syracuse. We have a lot of respect for Syracuse. Every week, we try to go out there and empty the tank on the field on Saturdays and put everything we have into the game. Then you’ve gotta fill it back up. And if you try to shortcut the process, then it’s gonna catch up with you.”
Were this still the Mack Brown 2.0 era, the head coach would likely be regaling the media with stories of phone calls from Bill Parcells and poisoned cheese. Of course, Brown’s Tar Heels promptly lost at home to Virginia in a stunning upset the week he retold that story. And there are many other instances of Tar Heel teams – regardless of the head coach – with all the momentum in the world suddenly falling flat on their faces.
Perhaps this UNC team, led by a famously detail-obsessed head coach, can buck that trend. The 2026 Tar Heels are riding high after two gutsy road wins, with Jaylen McGill’s game-winning touchdown run at Duke serving as the highlight of the season so far.
McGill was all smiles Monday, and his confidence seems to have spread through the entire locker room.
“I feel a whole lot more confident,” McGill said. “I have a whole lot of answers that I didn’t have [in 2025]. I came in [during] fall camp last year, so I didn’t really have an offseason. Having this offseason was very beneficial for me, and it shows.”
The Tar Heels find themselves in an unfamiliar position: people are patting them on the back, instead of pointing fingers. The hope is that the Orange don’t crush the positive vibes.
Featured image via Associated Press/Ben McKeown
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