Carolina fans likely need to meditate after having witnessed such a wild game against Duke. All the high blood pressure and broken objects in Chapel Hill wasn't for nothing, though, because the Tar Heels are now the owners of the Victory Bell for the first time since 2023 after beating Duke 24-20.
Things seemed way too easy for UNC at the beginning of this game. Billy Edwards Jr. was able to march the Tar Heels down the field in their first drive, but they had to settle for a field goal to go up 3-0. Duke tried to answer with points of their own, but they ended up having to punt on fourth down. During the punt attempt, the ball was bobbled and blocked, and the Tar Heels were able to recover it to give the offense a short-yardage situation. Demon June capitalized by running the ball in for a touchdown to push the Heels further ahead 10-0.
The Heels would eventually go up 17-0 with Duke reeling on the ropes, but then things just got weird. During a Carolina possession, Edwards connected with Jordan Shipp who immediately had the ball ripped out and returned for a Blue Devil touchdown. It felt like that would shift the momentum heavily in Duke's favor, but both teams went into the locker room with the score 17-7.
During the second half, the Blue Devils controlled time of possession largely thanks to their running back, Nate Sheppard. He found a way time and time again to bail out the Blue Devils in late down situations, and UNC's defense stayed on the field for what felt like forever. Meanwhile, the Heels' offense basically stalled out thanks to the adjustments that Duke made coming out of the locker room. Duke ended up taking a 20-17 lead with about seven minutes left in the game, and things were starting to look all too familiar for a Carolina team that has developed a habit of losing close games to this team in Durham.
Thankfully, though, the Heels were able to move the ball down the field effectively, and Jaylen McGill once again made it into the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown. With less than two minutes left, Duke had no choice but to try to get the ball down the field for a touchdown, but their efforts were stifled by the Heels' defense. Duke QB Walker Eget dropped back on 3rd and 14 for a pass, but his attempt was picked off by Kenton Dopson to put the final nail in the coffin. The Tar Heels left Durham with a win, and most importantly, the Victory Bell.
There's a lot to unpack from this game, but the biggest takeaway is that UNC had an awful time dealing with how Manny Diaz was using Nate Sheppard. He ran the ball 20 times for 77 yards, but he also was heavily involved in the passing game — Eget was able to connect with him 11 times for 98 yards and a touchdown. UNC died on the hill of playing man defense when Sheppard was cooking, so he was able to slip out quite a bit when Eget needed a check down. It's unclear who on the coaching staff is doing a majority of the play-calling for the defense, but whoever it was refused to adjust for most of the game, and it almost cost them dearly.
Speaking of lack of adjustments, it felt like when Duke figured out what UNC was doing on offense, Bobby Petrino had a bad time dialing up something for Edwards & Co. that actually worked. Edwards also ended up on the run quite a bit thanks to Duke's defensive pressure, which didn't help matters much. Thankfully they were able to score in the most critical moment of the game, but again, this game almost had an extremely frustrating ending, and the offense sputtering down the stretch would've been one of the primary storylines.
All criticism aside, this was a much-needed win for a Carolina team that couldn't afford to go another year without beating Duke. It's one thing dealing with the NC State stuff, but it would've been another thing to have a three-game losing streak to a team that the Heels beat up on more often than they don't. Next up on the schedule is Syracuse next Saturday night in Kenan Stadium.
