Chansky's Notebook: Certainly Outsiders

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Duke will be very difficult for UNC to beat on Saturday.

The Blue Devils celebrate their fourth win of the season in a row. The Tar Heels are coming off perhaps their worst loss of all seasons. And Mack Brown's team may have to play one of its best games since he returned here as head coach in 2019.

Duke, under new coach Manny Diaz, had a slightly more difficult schedule than Carolina with wins over FCS Elon (1-3), Northwestern (2-2) of the Big Ten with three games against Power 4 teams and mid-majors UConn (2nd). -2 with both losses against Power 4s) and Middle Tennessee State (1-3).

UNC won at Minnesota (2-2), which played with a small-college quarterback and without its All-Big Ten running back, beat Charlotte (1-3), which lost its starting quarterback in the second half, and this was the highlight late against FCS NC Central and was blown out by the surprising James Madison (3-0), which has had 50 new players in the last two seasons, including a new coaching staff this fall.

Those are the stats, but the intangibles don't speak for Carolina.

Duke has lost five straight to the Heels and 13 straight to Brown in his two tenures in Chapel Hill. The Devils have weathered the loss of coach Mike Elko to Texas A&M because Diaz has more charisma to go along with Elko's defensive skills. Obviously this is a BIG game for them.

“I was disappointed that we weren't 4-0 because Duke would be 4-0 and we would be 4-0 and it would be a great game,” Brown said Monday at the 4 p.m. kickoff at Wade Stadium. “Manny did a great job at Duke. They’re a really good football team.”

Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway: UNC's alumni and fan base are back on the bandwagon that would drive Brown into retirement after his players allowed 42 points in 18 minutes in the 70-50 loss.

Against a better-prepared JMU team, the Heels turned the ball over five times, were terrible on special teams (aside from a meaningless blocked punt for a touchdown), worse at defensive execution, and fell behind by 30 points in the first half, having to pass the ball 48 Throw with a thin and broken offensive line to protect new quarterback Jacolby Criswell and All-American running back Omarion Hampton.

The Blue Blood rivals are about equal statistically on offense, but Duke ranks 17th nationally in defense, No. 1 in tackles and losses and No. 4 in sacks. Carolina needs to start quickly, get their mojo back and play to the standard Brown supposedly set for them before the collapse against the other Dukes.

“It’s a fun game when you’re playing for something special,” Brown said of the Victory Bell. “Three of those five games we’ve played since I’ve been here have come from the last game.”

After Saturday, the Heels would take their chance.

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications

Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including bestsellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has been a contributor to the WCHL for decades, making his first appearance as a student in 1971 The “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his opinion column “Art's Angle” appears weekly on Chapelboro.

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