That’s not the “Are we better or worse than you thought?” question, since we did that one yesterday.
No, today we attempt the impossible when it comes to college football: predict the future.
College football reliably delivers shockers, and sometimes it delivers two in one game. UNC dominating Clemson to start the game was shocking, even if Clemson’s first two games provided a lot of evidence such a thing was possible. Clemson flipping a switch and dominating back was even more of a shocker. Clemson had shown no evidence of being capable of that through its first nine quarters of football in 2026.
So…. Where does UNC football go from here?
Notre Dame looks like an embarrassing blow-out loss on paper, as does Miami. Louisville’s offense looks great, and while their defense has surrendered a lot of points to Ole Miss and SMU, no one’s confusing the Carolina offense for either one of those. Trips to Pittsburgh and Virginia look difficult although not impossible. Duke beat Illinois at their place and handled Stanford at home yesterday with ease. So, the Duke away game won’t be a cakewalk either.
On top of a very difficult remaining schedule, UNC heads into its second bye week already with a QB problem. The staff to this point has decided Billy Edwards is the team’s best QB, and he was awful Saturday. Does UNC have a better QB waiting in the wings? The answer to that remains TBD, and may be the difference between somehow grinding out a 6-6 season versus another 4-8 campaign.
Does Bill Belichick find the adjustments and answers this team needs to put a winning record back on the table? And if he can’t, does Belichick have the desire to return for a third season after two straight 4-8 seasons? At what point does UNC say “Enough,” and pull the plug?
What are your thoughts on that flurry of questions?
