On an almost perfect night in Chapel Hill and on the doorstep of getting the national spotlight, UNC football lost a game it should have won.
In a truly bizarre evening before a joyous capacity crowd in Kenan Stadium, the Tar Heels blew another double-digit lead. The loss was punctuated by a two-point conversion call that might have been right or wrong, but was upheld by officials who faced a potential riot by students in the Tarpit. Had this been an SEC or Big Ten game, who knows what might have ensued.
Instead, the bewildered crowd walked back to their cars for an interminable drive home or trudged across campus to dorms, apartments or Greek houses to begin a weeklong celebration of Halloween that will end against the No. 1 team in the country on another Saturday night at the Old Lady in the Pines. That one doesn’t figure it to be as close as the loss to Syracuse, but Carolina may need a great performance to recapture the sense that team had a sure bowl bid in the making.
Miami swamped Pitt behind ACC Player of the Year favorite Darian Mensah, the $8 million quarterback who completed 31 of 37 passes for 387 yards and four touchdowns. If Carolina finishes that game with a 4-4 record, the Tar Heels will need to find at least two more wins at UConn, at Virginia, at home vs. Louisville or vs. N.C. State on Thanksgiving weekend.
All of those opponents are interesting. Connecticut, 4-3, similarly lost to Syracuse by one point in OT and to Maryland which has subsequently fired its football coach. Virginia has lost three of its last four. Louisville is the best of the bunch with a 4-3 record that masks their talent, and N.C. State fired David Doeren halfway through his 14th season after Friday night’s loss at Stanford. The Wolfpack, which carries a four-game winning streak against UNC, is already eyeing All-American alumni quarterback and former NFL star Philip Rivers as its next coach.
The Carolina apologists are already ripping officials about the two-point conversion ruling, and there aren’t many videos showing that they are wrong. But with how UNC performed in the second half, Bill Belichick is already back on the hot seat after leading 20-10 in the fourth quarter against the 3-4 Orange. Yes, the loss comes after two straight close wins at Pitt and Duke — both creating positive feelings around the direction of the 2026 team. The Tar Heels had some great performances on Saturday, especially pass-catchers Jordan Shipp, Jenali Thurman and Trech Kekahuna who combined for 19 catches and 212 yards off throws made by QB Billy Edwards Jr. But the truth is: Edwards continues to be inconsistent and completed only 27-44 passes and threw for some bad balls. Carolina running backs carried only 21 times but averaged almost six yards per carry, so that balance needs to improve. After all, Belichick no longer has Tom Brady a quarterback.
Linebacker Derek McDonald, a transfer from Syracuse, led the Tar Heels with 16 tackles, followed by LB Peyton Seelman and DL Xavier Lewis. Their bend-don’t-break style of play was arguably tested more by the Orange than in the previously two weeks and UNC missed two or three interceptions it seemed to be grab-able. The offense under Bobby Petrino continues to struggle in recent games; instead of turning 10-point leads into three-touchdown advantages they find themselves in down-to-the-wire affairs. And you just can’t win all of those games. They will need to find a way to do that to get to a bowl and keep the conversation off Belichick’s future for another year.
Besides the dynamic C.J. Carr of Notre Dame, UNC had not faced particularly talented quarterbacks this season. On Saturday, Syracuse’s Steve Angeli, who is still recovering from a gruesome injury four games into last season, outplayed BEJ and didn’t turn the ball over like he had earlier this year. Angeli connected with receiver Umari Hatcher on a 76-yard touchdown pass against double coverage that put ‘Cuse back in the game and hit another highly-touted recruit Calvin Russell III on the fourth- down touchdown pass and the controversial two-point conversion. The workhorse of the game, out of both teams, was junior running back Ahmad Miller, who had 30 carries for 125 yards in his football-bicycle padded helmet.
The effervescent Syracuse coach Fran Brown, 44, was a hot commodity last season before Angeli got hurt and looks to be regaining the Syracuse tradition of getting big name recruits. Understandably, he was a breath of fresh air on the sideline compared to the soon-to-be 75 Belichick who keeps his eyes glued to the iPad when he is not complaining to officials. With SMU, Clemson, N.C. State, Boston College and Notre Dame left on their schedule, the Orange may be out of the bowl contention this season. But they showed Saturday that they can have a puncher’s chance in high-scoring games and look to have a bright future in years if they can replace their Angeli at quarterback.
Can the same be said for Carolina? We’ll see next week when the Hurricanes come to town.
Featured image via UNC Athletics Communications.
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs on 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro during football and basketball seasons.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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