{"id":102649,"date":"2025-10-27T00:10:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T00:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/102649\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T00:10:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T00:10:14","slug":"arts-angle-matter-of-inches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/102649\/","title":{"rendered":"Art’s Angle: Matter of Inches"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Carolina is getting better and, literally, just missed beating the 16th-ranked team in the nation.<\/a><\/p>\n

For the second time in eight days, the Tar Heels showed continued improvement but fumbled away a chance to claim their third win of the season and first ACC victory of the Bill Belichick era.<\/p>\n

On their last sustained possession of the tough 21-18 loss at Cal,<\/a> they were inches away from taking the lead when Nathan Leacock got stripped of the ball as he was about to cross the goal line.<\/p>\n

Back home against Virginia on a magnificent Saturday afternoon in Kenan Stadium \u2013 where a purported sellout was far from full \u2013 their first of three turnovers came on the sixth play of a 74-yard drive early in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Kobe Paysour lost the ball when stretching for a touchdown that would have given his team the lead it never had for the rest of the game. Almost four hours later and a scoreless second half for both teams, Belichick chose to go for two and win in overtime.<\/p>\n

After Carolina won the toss and elected to play defense, Virginia scored to take a 17-10 lead. Lopez\u2019s 9-yard scoring pass to Davian Gause drew the Tar Heels within a point, and Belichick went for the win. Ben Hall took a pass in the right flat and was stopped when his knee hit the turf just before he touched the pylon at the corner of the goal line.<\/p>\n

Both plays required video reviews upstairs to uphold the calls, and when the officials ran off the field we knew the 17-16 result would stand.<\/p>\n

UNC\u2019s fourth straight loss was much closer than blowouts against TCU, Central Florida and Clemson and by far Carolina\u2019s best effort against another foe favored by double-digits.<\/p>\n

If the Heels can clean up the turnovers that stopped promising drives while dominating team statistics and time of possession against Virginia, they will win at struggling Syracuse on Halloween night Friday and happily trick or treat their way home from upstate New York with a 3-5 record and be three more wins from bowl eligibility. That would be an amazing accomplishment, considering.<\/p>\n

UNC\u2019s last four games are versus Stanford and Duke in Kenan and at Wake Forest and N.C. State, all winnable if improvement continues as it did against Virginia, which notched its third overtime win in the last four games and went home 7-1 overall and 4-0 in ACC games.<\/p>\n

This recent stretch has shown the Tar Heels\u2019 resilience and growth, even though the results were frustrating. They appear more cohesive on both sides of the ball, signaling that a breakthrough could be imminent. Fans who grumbled as they fled the TCU and Clemson losses early seemed at least satisfied with this effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of these guys have gotten better,\u201d Belichick said afterwards. \u201cThere\u2019s been a number of players who have gotten more playing time through the course of the last few weeks. You earn that playing time through practice and showing the coaches and your teammates that you\u2019re ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick looks towards the field during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Virginia in Chapel Hill, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo\/Ben McKeown)<\/p>\n

One example of that was freshman wide receiver Madrid Tucker, who was playing his first college game and caught a game-high eight passes from Lopez. Jordan Shipp, the sophomore leading receiver, had seven catches for a team-high 67 yards including several acrobatic grabs. Another newcomer getting his most snaps of the season was freshman Jaylen McGill, who had 37 total yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cGio has been working his butt off,\u201d Shipp said. \u201cHe\u2019s a hard worker in everything he does, and I have nothing but respect and love for Gio. He knows that, and I just feel like he knows we\u2019re all behind him. No matter what\u2019s going on, we\u2019re all behind him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez continues to up his game, completing 23 of 36 passes for 208 yards. He sneaked in for the touchdown that tied the game 10-10 at halftime, followed by a defensive struggle that yielded no points and then overtime.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

UNC QB Gio Lopez (#7) rushed and threw for a touchdown against Virginia Saturday. (Image via Chapel Hill Media Group\/Chance Bragg)<\/p>\n

Carolina missed a chance to go ahead before halftime when Rece Verhoff pulled a 50-yard field goal wide left. He had booted it through the uprights just after Virginia called timeout. Verhoff had put Carolina on the scoreboard for the first tie with a 34-yarder in the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Another name to remember is 6-foot-5 junior defensive lineman Melkart Abou-Jaoude with a career high three sacks of the team\u2019s six that harassed Cavaliers quarterback Chandler Morris, who came in with more publicity but was matched evenly by Lopez.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels good to see the things I do in practice show up in the game,\u201d said Abou-Jaoude. \u201cYou have to give credit to Steve [Belichick], the play calls and our secondary. The quarterback was back there pump faking because the coverage was so good, so it feels good for everything to come together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hoodie added:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of our hardest working guys and he has continued to improve since the day got here. He works hard in the weight room, on the practice field, on his fundamentals and film study in preparation for the game. So it\u2019s great to see him have that production.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was buzz over reports that Morris had wanted to transfer to UNC and play for Belichick but was rejected by general manager Mike Lombardi. Morris came in leading an offense averaging 40 points and 462 yards. He was held to a net 180 after being chased by Abou-Jaoude and other rushers on Steve Belichick\u2019s defense. He had been sacked a total of five times in the Wahoos\u2019 first seven games and suffered six by the Tar Heels.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

UNC defensive lineman C.J. Mims celebrates a sack against Virginia, one of six for the Tar Heels on the day. (Image via Chapel Hill Media Group\/Chance Bragg)<\/p>\n

As a team, the \u2018Hoos were held to a season low 259 total yards and 17 points and continues with a soft schedule (Cal, Wake Forest, Duke and Virginia Tech) and could vie for a spot in the ACC championship game in December.<\/p>\n

Coach Tony Elliott is in his fourth year at Virginia and having his first winning season after serving as Clemson\u2019s offensive coordinator for six years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a game of inches and we\u2019ve got to get our rhythm back,\u201d Elliott said. \u201cThere are some plays we\u2019ve made before, and right now we\u2019re just an inch or two off.\u201d<\/p>\n

That inch or two was what Carolina needed to pull off the upset.<\/p>\n

Of Belichick going for two and the win, Elliott said, \u201cI would have kicked it and given the guys another opportunity in the second overtime. But, man, he\u2019s won a lot of football games.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two-point attempt was at the same endzone where UNC attempted to beat top-ranked Clemson in 2019 but Sam Howell was also stopped just short of the goal line in that 21-20 loss.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Featured image via Chapel Hill Media Group\/Chance Bragg<\/p>\n

\"\"Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers\u00a0\u201cGame Changers,\u201d \u201cBlue Bloods,\u201d and \u201cThe Dean\u2019s List.\u201d He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His\u00a0\u201cSports Notebook\u201d commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his \u201cArt\u2019s Angle\u201d opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.<\/p>\n

Chapelboro.com<\/a>\u00a0does not charge subscription fees, and you can\u00a0directly support our efforts in local journalism\u00a0here<\/a>. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by\u00a0signing up for our newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Stories<\/p>\n

\u2039<\/p>\n

Owl Swoops in To Attack UNC First-Years Who Dare Get In Its Way<\/p>\n

Students at Hinton James residence hall, a first-year dorm at UNC commonly known as HOJO, faced an oddly unique obstacle this semester. A brown, furry owl was prowling around HOJO \u2014 swooping at those who dared to step in its path.<\/p>\n

<\/a>UNC Welcomes More than 5,000 First-Year, Transfer Students<\/p>\n

Nearly 4,200 first-year students and more than 850 transfer students arrived at UNC over the weekend, joining returning students as classes begin at the university on Tuesday. This year\u2019s incoming class \u2013 which the university said is 60 percent female \u2013 is \u201cthe most geographically diverse and globally engaged group to enroll at Carolina,\u201d the [\u2026]<\/p>\n

<\/a>Now Beer This: What Beer Style Represents Your College?<\/p>\n

With New Belgium\u2019s release of Old Tuffy for NC State, I can\u2019t help but ask the question, \u201cWhat beer style represents (insert college here)? I could do this ALL day, but I have to limit it somehow. I\u2019m going to start with ACC schools in NC. If I don\u2019t get in too much trouble, maybe [\u2026]<\/p>\n

<\/a>Collegiate Baseball Names UNC Freshman First-Team All-America<\/p>\n

Aaron Sabato is continuing to rake in the awards after one of the most impressive seasons in UNC baseball history. Sabato, who won ACC Freshman of the Year honors, has been a key piece of the Tar Heel baseball team that is hosting a regional to open the NCAA Tournament beginning Friday. He was named [\u2026]<\/p>\n

<\/a>Chansky’s Notebook: The Hairy Hare<\/p>\n

Coby White is not the best UNC freshman ever \u2013 at least not yet. After he scored 34 points against Syracuse and became the first Tar Heel freshman to go for 30-plus three times, some pundits and stat freaks are calling Coby White the best first-year player in UNC annals. Numbers aside, Coby isn\u2019t quite [\u2026]<\/p>\n

<\/a>Inside Carolina: Basketball Recruiting News<\/p>\n

One of the top recruits in college basketball has trimmed their list of potential colleges to six, and UNC made the cut. Since the list has a distinct ACC flair, today\u2019s \u201cInside Carolina\u201d talks over who this recruit is, and what his contributions could be.<\/p>\n

<\/a>UNC Receives Record Number of Applicants 13th Year in a Row<\/p>\n

For the thirteenth consecutive year, UNC has received a record number of first-year applicants for fall of 2018. 43,384 students applied, a six percent increase from last year. UNC offered admission to 5,125 in state students and 2,742 out-of-state students, and students were notified of their admission decisions on January 26. Stephen Farmer, vice provost [\u2026]<\/p>\n

<\/a>Higher Education, Part VI: Teaching Over Research<\/p>\n

How much does today’s university value teaching? How much should it?<\/p>\n

<\/a>UNC Sports: Men’s Soccer Loses, Women’s Soccer Wins, Volleyball Splits Weekend Homestand<\/p>\n

It was a busy weekend of Olympic sports for UNC, with the men\u2019s soccer, women\u2019s soccer and volleyball teams all in action. In men\u2019s soccer, the Tar Heels fell at Syracuse Saturday afternoon after the Orange netted a goal in the 36th minute. Carolina pressed for an equalizer hard in the second half, totaling 13 [\u2026]<\/p>\n

<\/a>Art’s Angle: Matter of Inches<\/p>\n

Carolina is getting better and, literally, just missed beating the 16th-ranked team in the nation. For the second time in eight days, the Tar Heels showed continued improvement but fumbled away a chance to claim their third win of the season and first ACC victory of the Bill Belichick era. On their last sustained possession [\u2026]<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u203a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carolina is getting better and, literally, just missed beating the 16th-ranked team in the nation. For the second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74912,156,157,111,139,69,11344,11345,43938,29295],"class_list":["post-102649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-arts-angle","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-unc","tag-unc-football","tag-unc-football-2025","tag-unc-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}