UNC’s Victory Over Syracuse Offers Clarity on Trajectory Moving Forward

On this episode of the Tar Heels Insider Podcast, beat writer Grant Chachere gives his biggest takeaways from UNC's 27-10 win over Syracuse on Friday night. He discusses what this means for Bill Belichick's team the rest of the way.

To hear what he had to say, check out the video below, along with a partial transcript from Belichick's postgame press conference.

How much of a spark was Demon June tonight?

UNC — Oct 31, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels running back Demon June (12) gives a stiff arm to Syracuse Orange defensive back Braheem Long Jr. (0) while scoring a touchdown in the third quarter at the JMA Wireless Dome. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

It’s great. When we see guys do what he did down the sideline, his stiff arm on another 34 yards and touchdown run did a really good job of him finishing the touchdown on the toss play, getting his pads down through the goal line, all that. It’s just seeing guys make plays with the ball in their hands and are hard to tackle, and it gets everybody fired up. But I thought all our backs did it, and they ran hard, and good pad level, and once again, the backs ran a good ball security.

Your offensive line lost Chad Lindberg at one point. Austin Blake moved inside to center. And you had a couple of inexperienced players, Jordan Hall and Miles McVay, at tackle. How would you assess how that group played tonight?

UNC — Oct 31, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Gio Lopez (7) with center Austin Blaske (58) at the line of scrimmage in the third quarter against the Syracuse Orange at the JMA Wireless Dome. | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

Yeah, Jordan in particular, has done a really good job for us. He’s continuing to improve in practice, and we gave him some playing time early in the game. And then, unfortunately, when Chad went out, Austin went to center, which he’s been practicing as our backup center, so we were kind of ready for that move. Obviously didn’t want it to happen.

But when Chad wasn’t able to go back in then Austin went in for him, and (Will) O’Steen stayed at guard, so then Miles has been getting some snaps on the right side. So, we’re fortunate that we had that kind of depth, and guys were able to step in there and play well. But Blaske’s a natural center, so I don’t think that was a big as big an adjustment for him as it might be for somebody else.

Demon June had a big night, but what else clicked for this offense?

UNC — Oct 31, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels wide receiver Kobe Paysour (8) runs past Syracuse Orange defensive back Demetres Samuel Jr. (1) after making a catch in the first quarter at the JMA Wireless Dome. | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

It was really just better execution. It wasn’t like we had a whole bunch of new plays or anything. We just executed a little bit better. And again, our backs made some good runs. We got a few holes open, and then the backs made yards on the run, and they ran hard.

Three yards became seven, and those things added pretty quickly. We skipped a lot of third downs. We were able to get some first downs on first and second down. So we weren’t in a lot of third-down situations like the first half, and that was helpful, too.