Notre Dame vs. North Carolina Preview

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1:02real chicken served in two convenient, snapable servings. It's perfect for even the pickiest eater. Tathabandr to buy now or find Shiba at your favorite retailer. No name is dominated the first month of the season, put the North Carolina Tar Heels, will present some new challenges. Bill Belichek has a defense that could make the Irish work, but his offense might be walking into a nightmare. People preview and predictions coming up next. You are locked on Irish, your daily podcast on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team, every day. Hello and welcome in to two locked on Irish, your daily home for Notre Dame football. I'm Tyler Wojek and today is Wednesday, September 30th. Thanks as always for tuning in and making this show your first watch or listen of the day. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are headed to Chapel Hill this weekend to take on Bill Belichek in the North Carolina Tar Heels and I gotta admit that still feels weird to say even though it is year two for Bill Belichek at North Carolina.

2:04But today we are breaking down everything you need to know about the matchup. We're going to start with what's at stake for the Irish in their first ACC matchup of the season. Then we're going to scout North Carolina on both sides of the ball, identify the matchups that could decide the game and will wrap things up with a look at special teams and of course my final predictions. Kickoff is set for new in Eastern inside Keenan Memorial Stadium on Saturday that's right. The Irish will be playing in the new window for the first time this season and the game will air on ESPN and feature West Durham and Dusty Davor check in the booth with Taylor McGregor on the sidelines and unfortunately there is a slight chance of thunderstorms in the forecast for Saturday but hopefully hopefully they will hold off until the game is over. It is going to be hot and humid in the morning but by game time it looks like it will be around 80 degrees with the 55% chance of rain at some point in the afternoon. There isn't a ton of rain in the forecast but obviously one bolt of lightning in the area could cause weather delay and nobody wants that so here's to hoping we can avoid that

3:04on Saturday in Chapel Hill and the Irish lead the all time series 21 and 2 against the Tar Heels and they have won five straight and in recent years we have seen some really fun matchups between these two programs. The last time these two teams squared off was in 2022 and the Irish won that game 45 to 32 as Drew Pine. Yes that Drew Pine got the better of eventual number three overall pick and current Patriots quarterback Drake May that sentence doesn't seem humanly possible but it is true. The game in 2021 was a chewed out as well. The Irish won 44 to 34 thanks to a big day from Jack Cohn Heven. Randed in for like a 20 plus yard touchdown run in that game. A lot of fun, a lot of scoring, not a whole lot of defense. In 2020 there was a good amount of defense at least on the side of the Irish. Ian Book and the number two ranked Notre Dame funding Irish beat the number 19 Tar Heels on the road 31 to 17 and what was a huge matchup at the time. Notre Dame had just beaten Clemson. This was their last tough test of the regular season and the Irish defense sacked Samhal

4:07nine times but a lot has changed for North Carolina since then. They are led by Bill Belichick, one of the most accomplished head coaches in NFL history and really the history of football and he is now in a second season as the head coach of the Tar Heels after returning to college football and like I said at the beginning it is still so weird to me seeing Bill Belichick roaming a college sideline when he took the job before last season. I thought there was no way he would still be around for this game but look here he is. When Belichick's first season at the helm was you know it was an unmitigated disaster. That's probably the best way to put it. They finished four and eight on the year and there only two conference wins came against Syracuse and Stanford and despite all the hype and the preseason last year about Bill Belichick coming to college football. They were so bad that the main talking points surrounding the program became Belichick's young girlfriend and let's just say her involvement with the program and things did not get much better for North Carolina this past off season as Belichick's general manager Michael and Barty abruptly resigned at the beginning of September amid investigations into allegations

5:12of let's just say issues within the football program and then to make matters worse. Bill's son Steve Belichick who was the defensive coordinator resigned just a couple of weeks ago but despite all of that controversy the Tar Heels are two and one and they were very close to being undefeated heading into their by week last week. They opened the season with a win over TCU in the air lingus classic in Dublin and that game could only be described as a slot fest but I got the win 15 to 10 then they rolled over East Tennessee State before traveling to Clemson where they were up 17 to three at one point people were bearing Clemson at the time but then the Tigers came back and they won 28 to 20 after extensive rain delays but I got to say if the game was never delayed I'm not sure Clemson would have been able to come back in that game but it was they did and now North Carolina is two and one instead of three and no Notre Dame is a 21 and a half point favorite in this one as the Irish tried to win not only their 15th game in a row but potentially their 15th straight by double digits and the over under is a bit

6:13low 47 and a half so Vegas is not expecting another shootout like we have seen the last couple of times these two teams faced off Vegas is essentially projecting something around a 35 to 13 Notre Dame win as we think about what's at stake in this matchup to everyone on the outside the headline of this game is going to involve the head coaches as it often does in college football Marcus Freeman versus Bill Bella check Marcus is 34 years younger than Bella check but he's still 15 years older than Bella check school friend I might add and in a lot of ways he represents one of the faces of college football in the modern era Marcus Freeman is a players coach with a ton of charisma who is embraced a lot of the changes in the sport and he's had a ton of success in his short time as a head coach on the other side Bella check was coaching in the NFL well before Marcus Freeman was even born he has six super wall rings as a head coach in two more as an assistant to show for it and even though it's certainly been a while since Bella check was at the mountain top or really anywhere close to it considering how his Patriots tenure ended in the fact

7:15that the Tarrheals are six and nine since it took over he is still one of the greatest football minds the world has ever seen and arguably the greatest coach that the game has ever seen his team might lack talent especially compared to Notre Dame but you always have to be ready to go against the team led by one of the best to ever do it especially coming off a buy as is the case with this North Carolina team and I got admit I'm really intrigued to see how Marcus Freeman prepares his team to go up against the Bella check lead group I hope they get a chance to talk to each other on the field before the game because everything about that is fascinating like they seem like polar opposites on the surface but you look a little bit closer there are some similarities they're both defensive minded guys I mean Bella check cut his teeth coaching defense it was a linebackers coach for the New York Giants from 1980 to 1985 before he was named defensive coordinator under bill par cells and Freeman was also a linebackers coach before becoming a defensive coordinator Belchick's dad worked at the Naval Academy for a long time that's actually where Bill grew up and Marcus Freeman's dad served in the Air Force for decades and as we've discussed

8:19many times before on the show Freeman has a new school look about him a new school feel about him but he definitely appreciates a lot of the old school aspects of the game that bill made a career out of and they both share a fondness for the third phase of the game special teams I mean we're talking about a guy and Marcus Freeman whose mentor is Jim Tressel but outside of that they really don't have that much in common certainly not in the fashion department on game based although I believe I have seen Marcus Freeman rock a cut off a cut off hoodie while he's working out but while the coaching match up is probably going to dominate the conversation from the outside to me this game represents an opportunity for Notre Dame to make a statement to the rest of the ACC this is the first of six games the Irish will play the season against an ACC opponent and the first since the controversy surrounding the end of last season when the ACC campaign against Notre Dame making the playoff both publicly and privately that obviously led to Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bavocqua calling out the commissioner and the conference at large saying that the ACC had done permanent

9:24damage to the relationship and I think looking back it's safe to say that emotions got the better of both sides on that one and cooler heads eventually prevailed but still Notre Dame has a sour taste in their mouth because of the way last season ended and this is its first opportunity to showcase that against an ACC opponent obviously North Carolina had nothing to do with Notre Dame being left out of the playoff last season but the Tarheals might just have the unfortunate task of being the first team Notre Dame gets to take out some of that frustration on within the conference the Irish just completed the September leg of the leave no doubt tour and it went about as well as they could have hoped they finished September 4 and 0 undefeated through the first month of the season for the first time in the Marks treatment era and they outscored their opponents 169 to 33 and four games it's not bad but now the calendar is about to turn to October things are going to ramp up quickly for the Irish the spread for the North Carolina game is the lowest since the opener against Wisconsin even though it's still three touchdowns the Tarheals have some things

10:29going for them that could test the Irish particularly when Notre Dame has the ball we're going to talk more about that in segment two but then after this one it's one last game against a downstand for team before the Irish have to travel to Provo to take on BYU and what I expect will be a top 10 matchup so if all goes to plan the Irish are only about a quarter of the way through their season if they reach the ultimate goal and end up playing 15 or 16 games they aced the first test they dominated September but the degree of difficulty is about to get harder and on Saturday in Chapel Hill Notre Dame gets their first opportunity to make a statement against the conference that helped ignite the fire behind this entire leave no doubt tour. All right coming up North Carolina's offense has struggled to create anything explosive and now it has to deal with one of the best defenses in the country but on the other side the Tarheals have a game record up front who could give Notre Dame some problems we're bringing it all down right after this today's episode is brought to you by five hour energy if you've got a sweet tooth like I do you know how it's up to me to find something that satisfies that craving without all the sugar

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12:36or welcoming a little one you'll be ready for whatever life tosses your way it's the right time to feel less stressed and more certain that's a better way to money let's get started at nm dot com the north western mutual life insurance company Milwaukee Wisconsin all right let's do a deep dive into the north carolina tarheels we're going to start by taking a look at their offense and the tarheels offense is led by none other than bobby patrino patrino had the daunting task of trying to write the ship for a unit that was one of the worst in the entire country last season let alone the power for the tarheels finished 119th and points per drive in 2025 but bell check in company hit the reset button after the way last season went and they brought in a whopping 61 new players 61 total including 41 high school recruits you just never see that nowadays that is truly a staggering number but the early returns on this offense have been an improvement although not by much they're outside the top 100 points per game and they are the least explosive

13:40team in the country which is so abnormal for bobby patrino when patrino was at Arkansas last year despite how bad that team was as a whole we all saw how bad they were last season when no name ran them out of their own building they still had one of the most explosive offenses in the country but with north carolina they have been the worst through their first three games some players to know quarterback number nine billy edwards junior he is a six year senior replacing geolope is actually done pretty well as a quarterback for wake so far this season but edwards has been around the block he was with was constantly last year but suffered a knee injury after three games prior to that he was the starter for Maryland in 2024 and he has not had a great season to date he's only completing 56% of his passes and the longest pass play they have had went for 35 yards he's only attempted 10 passes of 20 more yards on the year that's just not really his game and he's not much of a run threat either and a lot of north carolina fans want the tarheels to go with the backup quarterback miles on Neil but bell check express express confidence in edwards when

14:44he spoke to the media recently but if edwards really struggles against the Notre Dame it would not shock me if they made a quarterback change in broad and onyle instead a running back number seven Benjamin Hall is the leading rusher he averages 6.5 yards per carry and he's a pretty lucid back he has nine runs of 10 yards or more already and he is averaging 4.5 yards after context so Notre Dame is going to have to bring him down oddly enough Hall has not found the end zone yet but he's still a dynamic player that Notre Dame is going to have to focus on and make sure that they gang tackle him so that he gets on the ground at wider seaver I really like number one Jordan ship he's the best wider seaver on the team one of the few returning players who made a big impact the last season and he did that without getting much help from the quarterback even though geo lope is doing well at wake forest he did not have a good season last year for north carolina at least in the past the game he can run a little bit but so far the season ship played pretty well against TCU and clumps in but has not had a huge game yet this season and Notre Dame is definitely going to have to focus on him at tight end number 45 jolani thermon he's actually their teams leading receiver

15:50at least in terms of receiving yards because he plays tight end he's in Ohio state transfer that was mostly just used to block with the buck eyes now he's getting some more work in the past the game and I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that a tight end leads a billbellicic team in receiving he had 94 yards against TCU but was held in check a little bit by clumps in but he's a big body six foot six 245 pounds he could definitely stress the middle of the field so those are some guys to keep an eye out for as for the strengths of this offense I mean they're very fundamentally sound they don't really give up a ton of negative plays they haven't turned the ball over much this year just one time as a matter of fact and the tarials have been a little bit better running the ball than throwing it averaging just under five yards per carry that ranks 45th in the country so pretty mediocre offense overall as for their weaknesses I mean I already mentioned the lack of explosiveness they have one run of 20 yards or more that's less than Notre Dame and one completion beyond 30 yards so they have to be very methodical moving the ball down field but they're not very

16:51good on third down they convert on 38% of the time that ranks 88th in the country and even though I think ship and thermon are good options as pass catchers billiard words just doesn't give them a ton of juice in the past the game they're only averaging 7.5 yards per attempt and as a team they are 93rd in the country in total yards per game so my keys for the Notre Dame defense number one win on third down North Carolina's best chance to stay in this game is to essentially play keep away from the Notre Dame offense they might try but I doubt they're going to have much luck generating explosive plays in the run or the past game unless it's some like diabolical trick play that Bobby Patrino is saved in his bag which is certainly possible but Purdue had a decent amount of success on third down last week against Notre Dame converting eight times on 18 attempts that's not great especially considering they went over two on four down but they got the better of the Irish on third down a few times early on in the game when it was still somewhat in doubt and for his dominant as Notre Dame defense has been as a whole they've been kind of average on the money

17:56down they're allowing conversions on 35% of third downs which ranks 44th nationally not terrible but you would expect better from this unit so if the Irish front seven can get into the back field on early downs and then put them behind the sticks I just don't think Billy Edwards is cable of converting on third long multiple times over the course of the game but Notre Dame can really put this win away early if the defense is able to win on the money down my second key for the Notre Dame defense keep the foot on the gas Notre Dame defense outside of third down has been nothing short of dominant through the first four games of the season we've gone through some of the numbers on the show already this week but they're worth repeating the Irish defense is second in points per game allowed and yards per play allowed not only that they've been very balanced they're third in yards per carry allowed and ninth in passing yards allowed per game they're one of the best teams in the country at sacking the quarterback and generating takeaways and they have been the best in the country at limiting explosive plays so if the Irish come out ready to play against this North Carolina offense and they stay aggressive for a full 60 minutes I'll be shocked

19:00legitimately shocked if the Tarheal score more than 10 points unless they're gifted great field position or something after a turnover Notre Dame has been so good at applying constant pressure although they did give up a late score in garbage time last week the second and third teams might get some opportunities again on Saturday with this time they need to finish the job and it's on the starters to make sure that they are afforded that opportunity all right now we're going to flip it over to the other side of the ball and take a look at North Carolina's defense I mentioned earlier that Bill Sunn Steve Bell check resigned as the defensive coordinator a couple weeks ago but as it turns out Steve is not the only son on the staff bills other son Brian Bell check who is 34 years old is going to make his debut as the new defensive coordinator replacing his older brother and you think you have family drama just imagine the conversations at the Bell check family table on Thanksgiving you got to deal with Jordan Hudson the oldest son Steve just had a resign and now he's being replaced by his younger brother it is chaos but anyway

20:00Bill called the defense during the season opener against TCU and it seems like Brian started to call plays at least by committee over the next couple of games but now he is taking over full time but if he struggles and Bill decides he doesn't want to call the defense himself he could call on one man that would be big game Bobby D Bob Diaco yes that Bob Diaco the former Notre Dame defensive coordinator who won the Brawiels Award in 2012 is on staff with the Tar Heels as a defensive lying coach as a matter of fact he was referred to as the MVP of the team last season or something along those lines I don't know how a defensive line coach is an MVP of a 4-in-8 team but that's just the mystery of Bob Diaco I guess through three games the Tar Heels defense has been solid they're only allowing 13.7 points per game that ranks 20th in the country and they are 33rd in yards per play allowed they don't really generate many havoc plays but this is a sound defense that is going to provide a real test for the Irish offense players to know the

21:02number one most obvious answer here defensive tackle number 90 Xavier Lewis he is a sophomore having a breakout season he's tied for third in the country with six sacks already and he's done that in just three games so he's averaging two sacks a game in as eight and a half total tackles for loss 14 quarterback pressures which is third in the power four and 11 run stops as well and he is really undersized for a defensive tackle he stands just six feet tall and 260 pounds but I'm telling you this dude can play Lewis is very quick off the snap and he has some really nice moves that make him difficult to keep in front and he reminds me a little bit of Howard Cross because he's an undersized defensive tackle who is an absolute technician so I think Notre Dame may have to double team him because he has been a game wrecker on the edges number 11 Jalen Harvey is a solid defensive and he's second on the team with nine pressures and he also has two sacks he's not a big guy either six but two two hundred forty five pounds but he can definitely get after the quarterback at linebacker I think this is kind of a weakness on the defense but

22:06number 15 Derek McDonald he is the team's leading tackler he spent the last four seasons at Syracuse now he missed most of last season with an injury but he's a fifth year guy who's played a ton of football in his career and he's kind of like the perfect linebacker for a billbell check defense and then at the back end of the North Carolina defense keep an eye out for number four Greg Smith he's a safety transfer from Florida who is quickly emerged as the best defensive back on this defense he's a big dude six foot four two hundred fifteen pounds he had a career game against Clemson he finished with seven tackles and that one plus an interception a tackle for loss and a force fumble all in one game and they really like to move him around he can line up in the box out wide or in the slot and he's been good against the run and the pass he has been targeted four times this year and he has yet to allow a completion but he's got two picks and a pass break up that's another really good player as for the strengths of this defense as a whole they marry their front with the coverage well and I'm sure that's something Mark streaming can appreciate he actually mentioned that this week I believe he was asked by Pete

23:10Samson of the athletic to talk about how this current notaring defense does that because we used here about that all the time last year when notaring defense just couldn't figure out what they were doing out there they've kind of right the ship and so far the season North Carolina looks pretty good and their defensive line led by Lewis is very effective at getting after the quarterback and the secondary is sound enough to know where to be they don't have a ton of playmakers back there other than Smith of course but they can make some plays if the opportunities present themselves I would say they're a little bit better against the past than the run they're eighth in the country in yards per completion allowed and 46th in yards per carry allowed and while the offense can't generate many explosive plays this defense doesn't allow many either they've given up three runs of 20 plus yards and three passes of 30 and more yards and the tarot defense is only allowed one passing touchdown on the season which is tied for first in the country but to be honest with you I think that has to do with the caliber of quarterback they have faced through the first three games they have not seen anyone like CJ Carr anything close to that yet and even when teams have been able to move the ball they've been extremely effective in the

24:13red zone they're fourth in red zone defense in the entire country as for their weaknesses for as good as they've been in the red zone they have been bad on third down they're allowing conversions on 44% of third downs that ranks 116th in the country and Lewis has been really effective at creating negative plays but the rest of the front seven is just okay and that respect like Lewis is more tackles for loss eight and a half than the rest of the defense combined which also shows you just how good a player is if your Lewis is they really don't have a ton of glaring weakness is though at least none that have been exposed up to this point although they have yet to face a quality offense certainly not anyone near the level of Notre Dame the two power four teams they've faced TCU and Clemson rank 80th and 120th in scoring offense this season respectively now the keys for the Notre Dame offense number one maximize the opportunities on the ground no dreams run game took a step forward against pretty last week when the Irish rushed for 177 yards and over five yards per carry but frankly anything less than that would have been considered a

25:17disappointment but it was still a step forward there were certainly some encouraging signs like the explosive runs from an ES Williams and Jonas Walton it was the best game in ES Williams has had since the season opener against Wisconsin but this unit as a whole still has a long way to go there were more than a few plays where Notre Dame could have capitalized in a big way in the run game but they just weren't able to do it some of that is on the backs like when an ES Williams turned down a walk in touchdown on the Wildcat to kick it outside for whatever reason and he got malled immediately he also tried to cut back on a stretch play that was there for him and it could have been a big gain Nolan James was one mistackle away from potentially taking run 40 yards of the house and then Jonas Walton got tripped inside the five late in the game that took away a touchdown from him and I feel like the offensive line is improving week to week but they're going to get a good test on Saturday against this Tar Heal defensive line I want to see the running backs make more guys miss and ES Williams goes down on first contact way too frequently and even though Nolan James Jr has been great in open space he still has not had an explosive run play yet and I think

26:23we're all waiting to see Jonas Walton unleashed it hasn't happened yet but as I've said before it feels like it's only a matter of time my second key for the Notre Dame offense keep CJ car clean I think I mentioned this before but this really could be evergreen considering cars health is the most important thing for this team if they're going to achieve their goals and so far they have done a really good job cars only faced pressure on 18 of 98 total dropbacks that comes out to 18% and that's really good the offensive line has been I would say rightly criticized for not always getting enough push in the run game but they have been very effective at protecting CJ car for the most part he's only been sacked twice on the year he got sacked once in the opening drive of the season and it's to the point now where car actually elevates his game against the blitz he has completed 23 of 29 attempts when blitz this year for 325 passing arts and three touchdowns to zero interceptions like those are insane numbers and car deserves a lot of credit for getting

27:24the guys into the right protection pre snap as Mark streaming alluded to during his press conference on Monday but you've got to give the guys up front there do as well Wisconsin was able to generate a lot of pressure on the opening drive and really in the first half of that game but then Notre Dame settled down and they got into a groove especially in the second half and I expect North Carolina to run a similar defense to what Wisconsin did and sell out to prevent explosive plays but also try to get after CJ car if that's the case cars already shown he can attack the short and intermediate game to methodically move the ball down field now is that his favorite thing to do of course not he wants to chuck a deep and I'm sure he'll get some opportunities to do that in this game but as he's matured he's become more willing to take what the defense gives him and work his way down the field Xavier Lewis is good enough though that he can get into the back field even if cars ready to get the ball out quickly so it is imperative that they do not allow him to disrupt the flow of the game and get pressure on car repeatedly I'm pretty confident Anthony and Ab and Ash and Craig will be able to hold their own against him but I'll admit I'm a little

28:25worried about how Sullivan abture is going to hold up at right guard that first touchdown pass that CJ car through to Mike Gilbert against Purdue was beautiful but car took a shot on that throw because abture got cooked by defensive tackle at the line of scrimmage and that simply cannot happen because one hit on car could derail everything so they've got a key in on Lewis and make sure that those ed rushers do not get into the back field and if they do that I expect CJ car to carve up this defense like he's done over the past four weeks all right still to come north Carolina just got a major boost in the kicking game and then I'll give you my final predictions stick around support for today's episode comes from square the system powering so many of the places we already know and love whether you're running a packed game day spot a local restaurant or a growing business square gives sellers the tools to run their business without making things more complicated square brings payments inventory payroll and voices customer insights and more together and one connected system so whether you're a one location business or growing in a multiple locations square gives you the tools to sell manage and grow without needing an IT team to figure it all out

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30:34risk of significant loss securities are offered by fidelity brokerage services LLC member NY s c s i p c okay before we get to predictions let's take a look at north carolina on special teams in the tarheels have not been sound in the kicking game to date as a matter of fact they've been one of the worst teams in the country when it comes to kicking field goals uh air in beral number 92 transferred over from ls u and he's already missed three kicks and three games he is four for seven on the air but he was really brought in to handle kickoff duties however north carolina was recently granted a gift and now they are going to turn to resverhoff who was recently granted eligibility by an indiana judge he played his first three seasons at marshal before transferring to north carolina before last season and he led the team and scoring he converted 19 of 23 field goal attempts including a long of 57 yards and new school record at north carolina and veroff is expected to be the kicker against the irish but beral services are still required he does

31:36do the kickoff and he also handles the punting duties as well and he's been solid for them in that respect and looking at the return game the tarheels have not been dynamic and kick return or pun return up to this point and they have not blocked a field goal or run a trick play yet so my keys for the no-braim special teams obviously the goal is to score touchdowns and not settle for field goals but you know what i'd like to see Spencer poor out not going through he didn't get the chance to kick a field goal against his former team last week against Purdue and the last time we saw him attempt to field goal he missed late in the game against michigan say you don't want that missed to be his last attempt for too long other than that i mean i really just wonder if no-braim special teams coordinator marty biaji has the audacity has the hubris to try to burn bill bella check with the trick play on a point there probably is not another head coach in college football outside of maybe market screaming who values the third phase of the game like bill bella check does and i'm sure that bell check is scour the tape to prevent anything like that from happening against his

32:39team so i don't think no-braim is going to try anything i wouldn't put a past him but if they do biaji is going to have to dig deep into the bottom of his bag to full bill bella check all right prediction time so last week i predicted the ira should win 52 to 17 against Purdue and thanks to some window dressing late from the boiler makers the final score ended up a little bit closer to my prediction but clearly i underestimated the notarame defense i thought the pre-offence would be able to move the ball a little bit against an ira's defense that was starting their fourth safety a true freshman and joeho brine and that did not happen whatsoever so i'm not going to make the same mistake this week especially against an offense that has not been anywhere near his dynamic has pretty looked through its first few games so i'll take the ira's 31 to 6 in this game i don't think the tarryls are going to move the ball much at all against no-braim's defense but i think they're going to be able to squeak out a couple of field goals courtesy of their new kicker who has a new lease on his college football career and as i mentioned earlier i like wide receiver dormship

33:43i think he's a cable player potentially even someone that notarame should look at in the transfer portal after the season wink wink but i do not like ship against ledon more or really anyone in this notarame secondary so i'm not expecting a big game from him especially considering billiard or juneer has just not shown he is good enough to consistently get him the ball down field in a way that could stress this defense and even a quarterback change is not going to save them against this unit but on the other side of the ball north carolina presents a much greater challenge than what the ira's faced last week i wouldn't say they're as good as was constant at least defensively although they could play a similar style as i alluded to earlier but i do think they're better on defense than michigan state and notarame eventually got it going against both those defenses and i think they'll be able to do the same against north carolina eventually but i expect there's going to be a few empty possessions that keep the score down the tarryls do have some talent on defense and i think bill balochek is going to take advantage of the biweek to have a good game plan ready for this one and going into the season i thought north carolina would be a much bigger

34:47dumpster fire than they are or at least that they've been so far to this point and even though there's been a lot of controversy surrounding this group it just has not shown up on the field in a way that i thought it might and maybe that's just because they've been playing some really bad teams and no name is going to go out there throttle them and expose all these flaws i could certainly see that happening but until no name goes out there and they run all over an opponent on the ground i hesitate to predict that they're going to be able to do that against this tarryl defense car is going to have to work his way down the field and in doing so i think no name is just going to have fewer possessions to put up a huge number on the scoreboard offensively now as for some specific predictions i think this is going to be another nice game for nolyn james sooner after we got less work last week even though he made his first career start i think he's going to find the end zone again and break off his first big run of the year and bellicic loves lacrosse players so they're probably going to key on jordan phazon bellicic referenced phazon specifically by name

35:47and his press conference this week and that is not something that he normally does but i think if they focus in on phazon that's going to leave mike a gilbert with opportunities to keep up his hot streak so i think gilbert is going to have another big game and people on the outside might start to recognize that mike a gilbert is actually a really good player i did make the joke on twitter though that mike denbrock should just run jordan phazon and mat jeffery out there on the first possession in a twelve person all packages because i think bill bellicic might be so in love with the formation that features two lacrosse playing wider sewers in two side ends on the field at the same time that he loses all composure on the sideline i doubt that happens but it would be fun so give me the irish thirty one of six in the new window i think the fact that the game is going to be so early on in the day is going to make this one feel a bit like a slog but the notary defense should be able to shut them down in the offense is eventually going to get it going i just don't think they're going to put up a huge number on the scoreboard that makes us a blowout like at half time

36:48you know what i mean note north carolina can make no rain work for it offensively but the irish defense is just going to overwhelm an offense that simply does not have enough firepower to consistently move the ball so no rain gets to win they cover the twenty and a half point spread and i like the under as well so there you have it that is our north carolina preview for you but we're going to be back here tomorrow to talk more about this game with i jik shade from lock down tar heels to give us the north carolina perspective and an insider's look at what no name is walking into on saturday and just heads up there's not going to be a Thursday double header this week like we've done the past couple of weeks but we will have another Friday mail bag of course so get your questions in if you want to be featured on friday's show and before you head out make sure that you are subscribed to lock down irish on youtube and wherever you get your podcast and if you enjoy the show take a second to like the video below and leave a five star rating and review on your preferred podcast platform but thanks again for tuning in everybody have a great rest of your day and we'll see you on Thursday you're never just one thing you're the boss hey go once my next meeting the athlete

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