Why UNC Will Beat Syracuse Tonight

On this episode of the Tar Heels Insider Podcast, beat writer Grant Chachere explains why North Carolina will win its first game against a Power Four opponent in nearly a year.

To hear what Grant had to say, check out the video below along with a partial transcript from Bill Belichick's weekly presser leading up to the Syracuse game.

Opening Statement

“Watching Syracuse, I think Fran (Brown) has done a great job with that program. Spent a lot of time watching them last year. And honestly, what they did offensively was phenomenal. They set a couple dozen school records and led the nation in passing.

Had some productive performances almost every week. I saw a lot of those in the things I was doing last year, just watching them and keeping kind of track of how efficient they were offensively, particularly passing the ball.

Then coming into this year, you know the new quarterback, and kind of second year in the program, it’s unfortunate that, you know the quarterback (Steve Angeli) got hurt, but Richie Collins has stepped in there and has got a little different skill set, but nevertheless very dangerous with the ball in his hand.

Great athlete, very good runner, and you can just see him getting better every week. He’s only played a couple weeks, but every time he steps on the field, and I thought he was better last week as well, it’s going to continue to get better. So this is a really good football team that obviously beat Clemson, and has played some very good football in spurts against SMU Georgia Tech, the better teams in the conference.

Your team has been close to winning these past two weeks. How do you breakthrough this point and get the end result you want?

Oct 25, 2025; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels running back Davion Gause (37) scores a touchdown in overtime at Kenan Stadium. | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

“Well, you start all over every week. Couple weeks ago after Cal game, you look at that game and you start all over again on Virginia. And now we start all over again on Syracuse, and we’ll do the same thing next week. So each week’s its own week. It’s all a new preparation cycle. Everything’s different. Players are different, schemes different, environment and the atmosphere is different.

So it’s every week’s own entity. So that’s where we are, we do the same thing every week. That’s all we’ve been doing every week this year. And I’ll see how that can change, because each week is so different.”

Looking back, the defensive line, and specifically the interior, was probably the least experienced group on this roster. How much can you quantify that group’s marketed improvement since the TCU game?

Oct 25, 2025; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels defensive lineman Isaiah Johnson (94) celebrtates with defensive tackle D'Antre Robinson (6) after making a sack in the second quarer at Kenan Stadium. | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

“Go back even a little further than that, go back to the spring when you know we only had, three players that had played the previous year. And then players that we added in the spring, and then some players that we’ve added for the fall. It’s a completely new group. … They’ve done a great job coming together, working together, playing fundamentally well together and improving.

Our strengths improved, our speed, explosion has improved, our block recognition, transition, pass rush, all that. Those guys work hard, and you can see their hard work on the practice field pay off in games. So really proud of that group and the way that they’ve just come together as almost a completely new team or new unit.”

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