UNC Schedule Prediction: November Slate

For North Carolina, the month of November is the arguably the most important for the Tar Heels.

Why? Because three of the four games Carolina will play in November are its in-state rivals, Duke, NC State and Wake Forest.

The first game of the schedule will be against a woeful Stanford team, but two of the last three games are on the road with trips to Winston-Salem and Raleigh.

Here are my game-by-game predicitions for the month of November.

*Based off my September and October Predictions, UNC is 5-3 Stanford, Nov.

8 Well, things arent looking good for Stanford as they have been picked to finish last in the ACC by the media.

To make matters worse, the Cardinal lost against Hawaii 23-20 on a walk-off field goal on Saturday night to open up the season.

Starter Ben Gulbranson completed only 50% of his passes for his 109 yards with no touchdowns and a late-game interception in the red zone that was the game-changing play that ultimately led to Hawaii winning the game.

Well, at least running back Micah Ford showed promise as he rushed for 113 yards and a touchdown.

It will be hard for me to see Carolina lose this game.

The Tar Heels pick up their sixth win to earn bowl eligibility and earn the easiest win in conference play.

@ Wake Forest, Nov.

15 On November 15, North Carolina will begin its Tobacco Road tour with a road trip to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest .

The Demon Deacons are coming off a 4-8 record in 2024 and it's the first time they have dealt with consecutive losing seasons in over 10 seasons.

The Tar Heels won last years matchup 31-24 in Chapel Hill.

In that game, Omarion Hampton rushed for a career high 244 yards on 35 carries and a touchdown.

The offense returns running back Demond Claiborne rushed for 1,049 yards and scored a career-high 11 touchdowns last season.

He is a versatile back as well as he had 23 catches for 254 yards and two touchdowns and a kickoff return for a touchdown as well.

Claiborne earned Third-Team All-ACC honors last season and has been named to multiple award watch lists, including the Doak Walker Award, Walter Camp Trophy, Paul Hornung Trophy and the Maxwell Award.

Wake Forest was terrible last season on the defensive side of the ball as it was 80th in rushing defense (157.2 yards allowed per game), 117th in total defense (435 yards allowed per game) and 126th in passing yards allowed (277.8 yards per game).

The defense will be led by linebacker Dylan Hazen, who had 84 tackles, six tackles for loss, a sack and an interception last season, and safety Nick Anderson, who recorded 122 tackles and two interceptions.

Duke, Nov.

22 It will be the 112th meeting between the two schools in the Triangle .

Duke defeated North Carolina 21-20 to gain control of the Victory Bell for the first time since 2018.

Before last years matchup, the Tar Heels won the Victory Bell five straight times before Duke regained possession of it in 2024.

Before the Carolina-Duke rivalry became more known for its status as the greatest in college basketball history, the rivalry was much more heated on the gridiron.

However, the Blue Devils had only defeated the Tar Heels seven times from 1970 to 2009.

However, the rivalry became much more competitive when David Cutcliffe took over the program in 2008.

Since 2012, Duke has defeated UNC six times which included a three-game winning streak from 2016 to 2018.

The Blue Devils are coming off a successful 9-4 season under the first-year head coach Manny Diaz that included wins over all three of its in-state rivals: NC State, UNC and Wake Forest.

With many key players returning, they hope to build off of last seasons success.

The offense will be led by Darian Mensah, who completed 66.6% of his passes for 2,723 yards with 22 touchdowns and only six interceptions in 13 games for the Green Wave as a redshirt freshman.

His accuracy and decision-making already mark an improvement over Murphy, who threw 12 interceptions the most in the ACC and finished with a 60% completion rate, ranking 13th in the league.

The defense is led by all-conference cornerback Chandler Rivers.

He recorded 54 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, one sack, three interceptions, 11 pass breakups and two forced fumbles last season.

For his efforts, Rivers was named first-team All-ACC.

According to Pro Football Focus, Rivers had the second-highest defensive grade (90.7) among cornerbacks nationally in 2024.

He also posted the second-highest coverage grade (89.8) and was rated the No.

40 overall player in college football.

Allowed only 13 completions all year, including just three of 20 yards or more.

His 4.5 yards allowed per target ranked 13th among Power Four cornerbacks.

@ NC State, Nov.

15 The rivalry between Carolina and NC State is one of the fiercest in the ACC and it has only intensified in recent years.

NC State has won the last four matchups, including last season and it went viral for its postgame brawl .

North Carolina leads the all-time series against NC State 68-40-6, but the Wolfpack hold a 16-9 advantage since 2000, winning seven of the last nine, including the past four matchups.

NC State beat the Tar Heels 35-30 last season.

Head coach Dave Doeren is the winningest head coach in school history, but he could also become tied for the most wins against UNC if he wins again this season.

He is 8-4 against the Tar Heels.

NC State returns star quarterback CJ Bailey became one of the top freshman performers in school history after he started nine games for NC State in 2024 by throwing for 2,413 passing yards, ranking 10th in the league, and throwing 17 touchdown passes, tying for eighth in the ACC.

His 64.9 completion percentage ranked sixth in the ACC, the sixth-best in school history and the highest ever for a Wolfpack freshman.

While history has shown that the Wolfpack holds the advantage in this matchup, there is revenge on the mind for all of the returning players on Carolina from last year.

I think the Tar Heels steal a victory from NC State in Raleigh this season Make sure to follow North Carolina Tar Heels On SI on X (formerly Twitter) .

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