Skip to main content

Tar Heel Blog

https://www.tarheelblog.com/ | 187 entries published

Tar Heel born, bred, and working on that third thing

Latest Entries

Winners, Losers, and Honorable Mentions in UNC’s loss to Duke

Two times this season there was real hope and excitement inside Kenan Stadium. Two times those hopes were dashed in such a fashion that creates wounds that’ll fester and be tough to heal. On Saturday, Kenan Stadium was hyped up as the Tar Heels actually put together a couple of good second half drives and […]

17 days ago | 4 reads

Position Grades for UNC Football’s loss against Duke

I honestly don’t want to live in a football reality where UNC pays Bill Belichick $30,000,000 to get owned by Manny Diaz. That feels disturbingly wrong, like some mischievous quantum gremlin reversed the polarity of a few subatomic particles and unleashed coaching chaos. UNC took Duke to the wire in a game many expected to […]

18 days ago | 0 reads

Jordan Shipp is UNC’s Player of the Game against Duke

For the second year in a row, Carolina shot itself in the foot against Duke, and between stupid penalties, offensive letdowns and defensive busts, it felt like nearly every player helped pull the trigger.  One of the few who didn’t was Jordan Shipp. In just his second year of college football, Shipp has emerged as […]

18 days ago | 0 reads

Three Takeaways to North Carolina’s loss to Duke

Despite a strong third quarter, North Carolina lost for the seventh time this season, this time to archrival Duke 32-25. The Tar Heels — who actually took the lead by a point with a 12 yard run by Davion Gause a little under two minutes into the fourth quarter — couldn’t get the stops needed […]

18 days ago | 0 reads

Undisciplined Tar Heels lose to Duke, sinking bowl chances

If Bill Belichick’s first words were “Beat Duke,” he’s going to have to wait a year to do it in Durham—assuming he’s still here. The Duke Blue Devils rushed for 177 yards, passed for 175, and took advantage of a completely immature effort by UNC to score the go-ahead touchdown and two points with 2:20 […]

19 days ago | 1 read

UNC women’s soccer team advances to Sweet 16 on penalty kick

It’s rare the descriptor “Cinderella team” appears in the same sentence as the UNC women’s soccer team. As anyone who follows college women’s soccer or UNC athletics knows, the Heels are the gold standard in the sport. Carolina has won 23 national championships and 22 ACC championships. The professional ranks and United States national team […]

19 days ago | 0 reads

Seth Trimble: The Leader We Need Right Now

Seth Trimble, senior guard and Ben & Jerry’s owner, has stepped up his game. It was already known that he would be the elder statesman on this team, but even with his injury he continues to have a major impact. Recently, UNC basketball has had vocal leaders like Harrison Ingram and Cormac Ryan and leaders […]

19 days ago | 2 reads

How to Watch: UNC Football vs. Duke

After five consecutive wins, the North Carolina Tar Heels relinquished the Victory Bell last season on a dominant fourth quarter performance from Duke. The Tar Heels had their chance last season, but could not capitalize in the final minutes. The loss to the Blue Devils last season was a pivotal factor influencing the coaching change […]

19 days ago | 0 reads

From Whence They Came

Hell was the first curse word I was allowed to say, and even then only when preceded by “go to” and followed by “Duke.” It felt weird, as a child, to cheer the Tar Heel team like H-E-double-hockey-sticks while condemning the Blue Devils to a fiery oblivion mere minutes later. Kind of a psychic wince, […]

20 days ago | 1 read

UNC vs Duke: What Do the Numbers Portend?

Last week, I got the game half right. The offense did enough to put up 18 points except for two special teams failures on field goal attempts. Given how poorly Belichick and Lombardi assembled this offense, and against Wake’s defense (a national top 20 unit), that was about as much as one could hope for. […]

20 days ago | 1 read

UNC Football vs. Duke: Preview

Item List: A very good offense against an average defense. A lousy offense versus a lousy defense. A rivalry game. Belichick’s last shot at home to win back some goodwill from UNC fans who’ve grown increasingly pessimistic about this experiment. Let’s preview what Duke’s bringing to Chapel Hill and how it might all shake out. […]

20 days ago | 0 reads

UNC Field Hockey returns to Final Four, will play Northwestern on Friday

The UNC field hockey team defeated eighth-ranked Duke this past weekend to return to the Final Four for the program’s 29th time. This is UNC’s third win over the Blue Devils in 16 days, with two of them coming in overtime. The Heels beat Duke 2-1 in overtime during their regular season matchup just over […]

21 days ago | 2 reads

Three Keys to this weekend’s UNC vs. Duke matchup

On Saturday afternoon in Kenan Memorial Stadium, the Tar Heels and Blue Devils will battle for mediocrity. Both programs have fallen well short of expectations this season and find themselves fighting for bowl eligibility and, of course, bragging rights. Carolina is struggling to score, and Duke has lost three of the last four games, each […]

21 days ago | 0 reads

UNC will need to shut down Duke’s passing attack this weekend

North Carolina could not keep their win streak going last week, as they fell to Wake Forest. That leaves two games left on the season, with UNC needing to win both to eke out a bowl game appearance. However, the two games are against the Tar Heels’ two biggest rivals who would both love nothing […]

22 days ago | 1 read

Caleb Wilson is Player of the Game once again as UNC outmuscles Navy

In awarding him player of the game after Carolina’s win over NC Central last Friday, I wrote that Caleb Wilson makes even the buy games worth watching.  After what he did against Navy last night, I’m considering amending that to must-watch. Sure, the first half wasn’t great for him. He struggled with the Midshipmen’s physicality […]

22 days ago | 0 reads

Three Takeaways from UNC’s closer-than-expected win over Navy

The only thing better than a crawfish dinner is five crawfish dinners. – Coach Red Beaulieu (The Waterboy) It may not have been the prettiest of games, but North Carolina was able to extend it’s opening winning streak from four to five with their 73-61 win over Navy. The Midshipmen, who are the favorites to […]

22 days ago | 0 reads

UNC Basketball holds off Navy behind Caleb Wilson

Caleb Wilson put on a dunk show and four of UNC’s five starters finished in double figures as the Tar Heels kept their undefeated record intact with a 73-61 win against Navy on Tuesday night. The game never felt like it was in jeopardy, but also never fully put away either, even though Carolina led […]

23 days ago | 1 read

The Navy visits the Dean Dome to take on UNC Basketball

The North Carolina Tar Heels are just moments away from taking on the Navy Midshipmen in a Tuesday night matchup in the Dean Dome. The Heels hope to maintain their flawless record with a win tonight, which would be ideal considering what is coming next — following tonight’s game, the team will have some time […]

23 days ago | 0 reads

ACC Basketball Power Rankings: Tar Heels stay at #1

We’re now two weeks into the new college basketball season. There’s obviously still quite a long way to go, but every week presents us more information upon which we can judge teams. For example, while UNC faced some small conference opposition, they mostly held their own. However, what about the rest of the ACC? Considering […]

23 days ago | 1 read

AP Top 25: UNC men stay at #18 in newest poll

Last week was the second week of the 2025-26 college basketball season. By this point, pretty much every team has played three or four games, and a lot of them have played at least one notable game. The one for the UNC men came last week, where they knocked off Kansas. The women couldn’t quite […]

23 days ago | 2 reads

How to Watch: UNC Basketball vs. Navy

UNC is gearing up to take on Navy later tonight at the Dean Smith Center. This will be the final game in what has been an exceptionally long home stay for the Tar Heels before they travel to Florida to face off against St. Bonaventure. This will be considered yet another tune-up game for the […]

23 days ago | 0 reads

UNC Football opens as 6.5 underdog against Duke

This past weekend’s game between UNC and Wake Forest was one of the more frustrating games this season, and that is saying a lot. They were able to move the ball against one of the better defenses in the ACC, but somehow they still weren’t able to score a single touchdown. The defense did their […]

23 days ago | 0 reads

UNC Basketball to take on Navy and continue perfect start

It feels good to see actual improvement from the basketball squad. The difference from how Carolina played against Radford on Tuesday to NCCU on Friday was basically night and day. It’s clear that a message got through to the team that efforts similar to Tuesday would lead to losses down the line. Instead, they put […]

24 days ago | 0 reads

Winners, Losers, and Honorable Mentions in UNC’s loss to Wake Forest

I don’t know what anyone realistically expected on Saturday night. Wake Forest was coming into the game against UNC with the high of upsetting title-contending Virginia, while Carolina had tried to build momentum by playing against two of the worst offenses in the ACC. The Tar Heels also happen to be one of the worst […]

24 days ago | 0 reads