On this episode of the Tar Heels Insider Podcast, beat writer Grant Chachere discusses his takeaways from UNC’s gutwrenching 21-18 loss to Cal on Friday night.

Here is a partial transcript from North Carolina quarterback Gio Lopez’s presser after the game:

On Kobe Paysour…

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Sep 21, 2024; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels wide receiver Kobe Paysour (8) with the ball in the first quarter at Kenan Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

I think Kobe has always been a great player at a great fall camp, even great in practice. I think tonight was just one of those situations where he just the ball was going was going to him. He was getting open. I was finding them. But I think there was no development back into I think he’s always been Kobe, from what I’ve seen, but he’s great player. I’m proud of him, and he showed up really big for us tonight.

On his initial reaction to Nathan Leacock’s fumble and aftermath… 

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Oct 17, 2025; Berkeley, California, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels running back Davion Gause (37) runs the ball against the California Golden Bears in the fourth quarter at California Memorial Stadium. / Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

You know, of course, he wanted it to score, of course, but I think the first reaction was to just go talk to Nate. You know, I’ve been in a situation against TC where I had two turnovers, I went for a touchdown and two turnovers against UCF, where I was like, Man, this kind of sucks. But, you know, for him, I think just showing up for him and being a good teammate. 

And I think the first thing I told him was, hey, we’re gonna get the ball back. You know, you can never be down and down. And out of a game you have three it was three minutes and 14 seconds left on the clock, you know, we’re just thinking, get the ball back and try to go score again.

On development of offense during the bye week with several players stepping up…

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North Carolina wide receiver Jordan Shipp celebrating a first down vs. Clemson; Oct. 4, 2025 / UNC Athletic Communications

You know, just development, you know, everybody was, you know, at bye week, it felt like everybody was going in after us. And just, we just hear bad thing after bad thing. But then we got closer as a team, and we just developed and put our head down and got, you know, good practice in during the bye week. And I think it just came and showed up today. Of course, we didn’t get the outcome we wanted, but I think, you know, step in the right direction.

Of course, we lost in the feel good. But I think for like, I think there’s nothing, of course, we want to win, but just something to look at. Like, man, we can. We’re good team. We just got keep putting things together. We still lost this game on our own. We had, I mean, three turnovers, technically, because of last play, but two turnovers that we can clean up and we can win this ball game. 

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