The Tar Heels will spend the week preparing for just their second Power Four matchup of the season. They will travel down to Florida to take on UCF, who had this past week off after beating down North Carolina A&T the previous week. Should UNC manage to survive this road trip, they will have earned a 3-1 start going into the bye week.
It isn’t a stretch to say that UNC looked good against Richmond, but undoubtedly there were a number of things that need to be cleaned up. The most noticeable issue
is that Gio Lopez had some questionable moments against a FCS defense, which is a bit unsettling considering the fact that things probably don’t get any easier from here. The Heels managed to put 41 points on the board, but it felt like Lopez’s production was more of a side story than anything. 119 passing yards for two touchdowns isn’t ideal against any team, if we’re being honest, but perhaps things will turn around against the Knights. Meanwhile, Demon June put on a clinic against the Spiders — he finished his day with 14 carries for 148 yards and a touchdown. Bill Belichick has found his reliable running back, now we just need the quarterback to catch up to him so that this team can achieve sustained success throughout the season.
On the other side of the field, UNC’s defense has been lights out against their last two opponents. It’s been years since the Heels managed to have back-to-back games without allowing a team to score a touchdown, and while one could attribute that to the level of competition, it’s worth noting that UNC has played their fair share of bad teams during that span. This probably shouldn’t be the first time that we’ve gotten to talk about achieving such a feat in 13 years.
This game should be interesting because it’s unclear what to think of UCF at the moment. So far, the Knights haven’t really played anybody of note, so it’s hard to get a feel for how good or bad they really are. I do know that only hanging 17 on Jacksonville State is less than ideal, but also the beating NC A&T took was a decent palette cleanser. It’s hard to say who should win this game, but Vegas does have UCF as the 6.5-point favorite according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The over/under for this game is also set at 48.5, so the expectation isn’t a shootout with this one. Hopefully, UNC’s offense shows up to play and we can all breathe going into the bye week, because their next game after that will be against Clemson in Death Valley.
What do you think of the opening line for this game? Do you think UNC should be favored, or do you think playing UCF at home is a daunting task for this current version of the Tar Heels? Let us know in the comments below.
