Tar Heel Blog
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North Carolina football GM Michael Lombardi has resigned
ESPN college football senior writer Pete Thamel tweeted today that UNC football’s general manager Michael Lombardi has resigned from his position. Lombardi was put on paid leave in late July, and now the ongoing saga has come to a merciful end. We still do not have all the details of what led to Lombardi being […]
Two individual sport Tar Heels reach notable milestones
A lot of focus, including my own, has been centered on UNC football and their season-opening win over TCU in Dublin last Saturday. While that was a pretty big event in Tar Heel land, there’s been plenty going on elsewhere too. Most of the other fall college sports are underway, but there are also Heels […]
Examining UNC football’s running back usage against TCU
Heading into this season, it seemed safe to presume that Demon June would be the starting running back for UNC. June had about the only season to note on offense last time out, when the then-freshman gained 623 rushing and receiving combined yards and scored three touchdowns. I even wrote about what expectations should be […]
What is the proper way to evaluate UNC’s basketball’s $20 million roster?
Now that we are solidly in the NIL/transfer portal era, one thing that fans get to deal with each offseason is determining the worth of a roster based off how much any given school has paid for their players. It’s not a new concept — NBA and MLB fans love playing this game— but for […]
2027 Five-star Nasir Anderson schedules official visit with UNC
Over the weekend it was announced that 2027 five-star point guard Nasir Anderson has scheduled eight official visits in hopes of figuring out where he will play college ball for the 2027-28 season. Among the teams listed was North Carolina, who has a loaded recruiting board thanks to the aggressiveness of Michael Malone. According to […]
ACC Power Rankings: Post Week 0
As has become common place in recent years, the college football season began over the weekend with “Week 0,” a smaller slate of games that had special dispensation to take place earlier than normal. This year, one of them involved our very own North Carolina Tar Heels, who downed TCU 15-10 in Ireland. The win […]
What did you think of Billy Edwards’ Tar Heel debut?
Fall camp generated a lot of speculation about who might win the QB battle. Many fans got excited about Miles O’Neill’s big arm and recruiting connection to Bobby Petrino via Texas A&M. Others dreamed about Travis Burgess, suggesting the talented freshman reminded them of Lamar Jackson. And others waxed poetic about Billy Ewdards Jr…. Nope. […]
UNC Football: Choose Your Illusion
In the early 1990’s, popular hard rock band Guns N’ Roses released two albums on the same day: Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II. While overall both were considered solid releases, the band was criticized for releasing two albums at once; the thinking was that if the band had axed some of […]
The ESPN article on Bill Belichick that buries Michael Lombardi
ESPN reporter and social media gadfly David Hale lives in Charlotte. He’s always had deep connections with college sports programs in the state of North Carolina, and that includes UNC. On the Friday prior to the opener against TCU, Hale and ESPN published an article titled Is the Bill Belichick era at North Carolina already […]
UNC Football: Flipping the Narrative against TCU
The game of football is often measured by wins and losses and usually that tends to color the views of others on how well a team did or didn’t do (good in the wins, bad in the losses). However, when one does that, they can miss the other side of the coin and not see […]
Get the best of Tar Heel Blog on the new SB Nation app
It’s a big day for Tar Heel Blog. Today, the SB Nation app is live, and it’s the best way to follow the Tar Heels. You can download it by searching SB Nation for iOS or Android. A year ago we made some big changes to our community, including offering fewer ads and the addition […]
Slept on it: Day-after impressions from the UNC-TCU game
The first game in a football season always inspires overreactions. Wins inflate unreasonable expectations, especially when the opponent is a traditionally solid P4 program getting some votes for top 25. Add the emotional reactions immediately following any game result. Winning always feels great, and this one feels amazing, a cool drink of water for a […]
UNC field hockey drops first two games
The season got off to a rough start for the #2-ranked UNC field hockey team this weekend. The Tar Heels dropped both of their games at the ACC-Big Ten Challenge in Winston-Salem, losing 2-1 in overtime to #14 Michigan on Friday before #11 Iowa handed them a 3-2 defeat on Sunday. It’s the first 0-2 […]
The UNC Sports Week Ahead: August 31-September 6
This week/weekend is usually seen as the traditional start of the college sports season. Sure, there are events that happen before now but really, when football gets going it’s when everyone really buckles in and pays attention. The good news for UNC fans is that even though football is recovering from their Irish Hangover this […]
UNC vs. TCU: Winners, Losers, and Honorable Mentions
When the bar is set so low that the entrance to hell is staring down at it, it doesn’t take a lot to step over it. That said, to not acknowledge that the 2026 season has started out night and day different than 2025 is really sticking your head in the sand. It wasn’t pretty, […]
Does UNC’s win over TCU change your outlook for the 2026 season?
First impressions matter. Most expected UNC football 2026 to shuffle in the 2026 door 10 minutes late, a touch disheveled, a bit breathless. “Sorry, traffic was wild for some reason.” A coordinator has been out since fall camp began. The general manager, on leave while being investigated, was the target of some calculated leaks the […]
Xavier Lewis’s dominant performance led the UNC defense in their win over TCU
UNC’s win over TCU on Saturday afternoon could hardly be considered a masterpiece. The weather was messy, and both offenses ground to a halt after the first quarter. Both teams also made a fair number of mistakes; TCU, in particular, was exceedingly mistake prone. The Horned Frogs racked up 11 penalties for a whopping 89 […]
Three takeaways from UNC’s win over TCU
It’s hard to know exactly what to make of UNC’s 15-10 win over TCU. The Tar Heels unquestionably looked better across the board than they did for most (if not all) of last season, but the Horned Frogs played about as poorly as you’ll see a team play at this level. Between snapping it over […]
What was the biggest surprise from the UNC-TCU game?
UNC entered its season opener against TCU in Dublin with numerous questions on both sides of the ball. Would the offensive line hold up? How would the defense look without its defensive coordinator? What would Petrino’s offense look like? What would Billy Edwards Jr. look like? The list goes on and on. As I said […]
UNC takes advantage of TCU mistakes in season-opening win
The Bill Belichick era has been filled with surprises so far, but very rarely have the surprises been positive. Today we finally got one when the Tar Heels took down TCU 15-10 to start the season 1-0. Things started off eerily similar to last season’s game against the Horned Frogs — the Heels effortlessly marched […]
UNC vs. TCU Live Discussion
The day is finally here: the 2026 Carolina football season officially starts in a matter of minutes when they face off against TCU in Ireland. Saying the day is finally here triggers a wide range of emotions across the fanbase, I’m sure, but regardless of what feeling that is, we will finally see what Bill […]
How to watch UNC Football face TCU in their Week 0 matchup
All of the preseason talking is basically done, and it’s time for the product on the field to actually meet expectations. While the 2026 college football season started on Thursday night, for all intents and purposes today Carolina—along with their opponent from last year—will truly open the college football season in what has become the […]
UNC takes on TCU in Dublin: Who you got?
After weeks and months of waiting, previews, training camp, and more waiting, college football season is here. In just a few hours in Dublin, Ireland, the North Carolina Tar Heels will be part of the kickoff of the 2026 FBS season when they take on TCU. With the college football media in general previewing the […]
As Easy As Falling
I wasn’t scared of heights, at least I didn’t think I was, until I reached the top of the ladder. It was the end of summer in North Carolina’s piedmont, still hotter than fish grease, but the days were noticeably growing shorter, and the remaining days of relative freedom were becoming more and more precious […]
Best- and worst-case scenarios for the 2026 Tar Heel football team
There are two sides to every coin. A yin to every yang. A glass half full or half empty (or in the case of a realist, just a glass of water). In sports, there is always a best and a worst case. Depending on the strength of a given team (and its coaching), the difference […]
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