Duke Vs North Carolina: Welcome To Rivalry Week

Battle of the Blues looms on Saturday as UNC coaches meet with media

Welcome to rivalry week. UNC and Duke square off at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill on Saturday for the annual Battle of the Blues.

While the game doesn’t have the national attention that the basketball showdowns do, there’s plenty at stake in this game, not just the Victory Bell that goes to the winner.

Both Carolina and Duke are coming off of losses in Virginia which were painful in their own way—Carolina in six overtimes to Virginia Tech and Duke by a 48-14 score at Virginia. Both teams need a win to boost their chances of becoming bowl eligible, while the loser will move closer to the position of needing to win out to reach a bowl game.

UNC coaches were unanimous in praising Duke’s coaching, led by David Cutcliffe, and Carolina expects a disciplined team that will be looking for something to prove after the blowout loss.

Carolina runs the risk of having a bit of a hangover. The vast majority of the attention on media day was spent rehashing the epic loss to Virginia Tech, as opposed to looking forward to the rivals coming to town.

The big personnel news coming out of Chapel Hill on Monday was a change at placekicker. Redshirt sophomore Noah Ruggles, in his first year as UNC’s full-time kicker, will be replaced, head coach Mack Brown announced.

Ruggles was 10-of-16 on field goals this season, but he missed his last two—one a straight-up miss and the other a blocked kick. Both came in one of the overtime periods against the Hokies, and both would have won the game for Carolina.

Replacing Ruggles will be walk-on freshman Jonathan Kim, who made his college debut last week, handling kickoffs.