North Carolina’s Game Day Tune-Up Inside the Bounce House

UNC will play its fourth game of the 2025 football season, as Head Coach Bill Belichick plays his second road contest against the UCF Knights — coached by a former player of his during his time with the New York Jets — Scott Frost. Frost has led his squad to a 2-0 start after beating Jacksonville State (17-10) and North Carolina A&T (68-7) — both inside the Acrisure Bounce House.

UCF quarterback Tayven Jackson, a redshirt junior out of Greenwood, Indiana, stands at 6-foot-4 and 212 pounds. Jackson has thrown for 471 yards through the first two games and has two touchdowns, too.

While going up against Jacksonville State, he threw for 282 yards on 17/24 pass attempts (70.8 percent completion rate). His longest throw extended for 64 yards. In the second game, NC A&T held Jackson to 12/21 on his pass attempts (57.1 percent completion rate) and 189 yards. In that contest, his longest pass went for 41 yards.

Sep 13, 2025; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels running back Caleb Hood (4) isnt able to catch the ball as Richmond Spiders defensive back Devin Geronomi (22) defends in the second quarter at Kenan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

The Knights are known to have one of the most rowdy circumstances for any team to play in — literally bouncing as the students and fans jump up and down throughout the arena. UNC will not only have to put up with the players on the field, but also manage playing through a loud environment — one that can interrupt exchanges at the line of scrimmage or during the huddle before each snap.

Frosts' offense has received production from three of its running back: Jaden Nixon and Myles Montogomery. Nixon has run for 150 yards on six carries, while Montgomery has run for 114 on 29 carries, respectively. Interestingly enough, quarterback Jacurri Brown has stepped in and ran for 106 yards on five carries (as the quarterback, he has thrown for 15 yards on 2/3 pass attempts (66.7 percent completion rate).

North Carolina's defense will need to be on its A-game to combat the offensive production UCF has be able to produce on Saturday, especially on the road — one drive can instantly change the momentum swing of the game at any point — that's the nature of sports.

Head Coach Bill Belichick; Sept. 13, 2025 | Jackson McCurdy, North Carolina Tar Heels On SI

The Tar Heels Have a Lot To Prove

North Carolina, led by its 73-year-old, eight-time Super Bowl head coach, has a lot to prove, not only to themselves but to the college football universe with this game. The Tar Heels were wiped away by the TCU Horned Frogs on Monday Night Football. But we were able to find our footing again with two wins over the Charlotte 49ers and the Richmond Spiders.

And while UNC is a much stronger team than those two squads, it still helped as building blocks for not only this contest, but its next with the Clemson Tigers going to Chapel Hill for the battle on October 4.

If UNC is able to get a win over the Knights in a tough atmosphere, then its trajectory for how the rest of the season plays out will continue to rise and perhaps change the narratives of UNC football still being UNC football following the season debut (social media was all over North Carolina that night). Each game serves as a building block for UNC, and there's a big block lying in front of it in Central Florida.

The game will definitely be nowhere near easy, but if Belichick and his squad can get on the plane back to Chapel Hill victorious, then the team should be feeling really good about itself heading into the bye week. However, UCF hands another loss to the Tar Heels, then it's back to the drawing board and figuring out what went wrong.

If anything, the play of quarterback Gio Lopez will be the deciding factor as to whether or not UNC can find another win by the end of the four quarters. UCF's defense has pass rushers who can hurry the flow of Lopez's decision-making when finding his targets downfield, making things harder. Freshman running back Demon June will have yet another opportunity to show what he's made of after the 148-yard rushing performance last Saturday.

This game is one UNC fans will want to tune into, and it happens at 3:30 p.m. on FOX.

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