UNC Football vs. Duke: Game preview, info, prediction and more

The UNC Football program hopes to get back on track this weekend as they battle rival Duke for the Victory Bell Saturday afternoon.

North Carolina has won two-straight in this rivalry under Mack Brown but the Tar Heels are coming off a bad loss at Georgia Tech a week ago that saw them get bounced out of the Top 25 and dropped them to 2-2 on the season. But UNC returns home for a stretch of three-straight games in Kenan Memorial Stadium and if they want to salvage anything this season.

For the Tar Heels, we’ve seen the positives on offense and defense this season as well as the negatives.

They looked good in the win over Virginia in the second half of that game, dominating on both offense and defense. But then looking at their two losses to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, UNC has looked bad on both sides of the ball.

On Saturday, they need to be good on both sides to pull this off.

Going into the season many thought this Duke squad would be the worst in the Atlantic Coast Conference, however, they enter this matchup at 3-1 overall. They did lose to Charlotte to open the season but have since beaten North Carolina A&T, Northwestern and Kansas since. Those aren’t juggernaut opponents but they enter the game with more momentum than UNC. And they are doing it on the back of their running game.

Running back Mataeo Durant has 522 yards on 87 attempts and 8 rushing touchdowns. He’s by far been Duke’s best player and if UNC cant slow him down, he could win it by himself for the Blue Devils. Quarterback Gunnar Holmberg is 17th in the nation with 1,140 passing yards but he only has 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Let’s get into our preview for the upcoming game.

Key to Victory for UNC

This one is easy. Slow down Duke’s run game and make Holmberg beat them. I just mentioned it but Duke’s offense has run through Durant and he’s a really good back. UNC must commit to slow him down and make the Blue Devils’ offense one dimensional. If they can do that, they should have a good chance to win this one.

Something to Watch

Get into a rhythm. Last week UNC got off to a hot start, scoring on their second offensive drive of the game. But after that? Georgia Tech put the clamps down and UNC’s offense wasn’t in sync for that one. The Yellow Jackets took Josh Downs out of the game for the most part and the Tar Heels had too many mistakes and penalties that cost them. Dropped passes, receivers not being where they should have been and quarterback Sam Howell fumbling twice led to their demise.

This offense needs to be firing on all cylinders and put it together in this one. Otherwise if they faulter and lose, this thing could go downhill in a hurry.

What you Need to Know

WHAT? Duke Blue Devils AT North Carolina Tar Heels (2-2, 1-2 in ACC)
WHEN? Saturday, October 1 at NOON  EDT
WHERE? Kenan Memorial Stadium
TV? ESPN2
RADIO? Tar Heels Sports Network
WEATHER? Partly cloudy high of 83 degrees
LINE? UNC -19
LAST MEETING? 11/7/202 – UNC beat Duke 56-24
ALL-TIME SERIES? UNC leads 61-41-4
PREDICTION? UNC 31, Duke 27

For more on this game including a recap, please check back with Keeping It Heel.