Staff Pix: UNC at Duke

North Carolina is back in action Saturday for a 4 PM clash with rival Duke at Wallace Wade Stadium.

The Tar Heels are coming off an embarrassing 70-50 loss at home to James Madison while the Blue Devils won big at Middle Tennessee State, which was their second road victory of the season. The other was at Northwestern.

UNC is 3-1 while Duke is 4-0. This is the ACC opener for both teams. The game will air on ESPN2.

Here are our picks:

Coming off one of the worst losses in program history, this Carolina team needs a bounce-back win over Duke more than anything. The Heels haven't lost to their Tobacco Road rivals since Nov. 2018, meaning Mack Brown is 5-0 in his 2.0 era, with his team's scoring 38 or more points in the last four matchups against the Blue Devils. This might be a hot take to some (call me crazy if you want, it won't hurt my feelings), but I smell a solid bounce-back performance on Saturday evening in this team's future. Give me the boys in baby blue by 4 in another nail-biter in Durham. Prediction: UNC 31, Duke 27

Following last week’s stunning loss to James Madison, a lot is up in the air for the UNC football program. While it appears the Tar Heels have their quarterback in Jacolby Criswell, more questions than answers remain on defense. Duke relies much more on its passing game than on the ground, and stopping Maalik Murphy will be the key to victory. He’s thrown for over 1,000 yards and is seventh in college football with 11 passing touchdowns. With uncertainty surrounding Mack Brown and a deflating defeat last week, I think North Carolina drops to 3-2 on the year. Prediction: Duke, 30, UNC 24

The Heels have a lot of cleaning up on the field and in the locker room, but a rivalry down the road may provide the fuel to do so. Despite the lackluster performance from defense, giving up 70 points, this is a conference team that Carolina is rather familiar with, and allows the opportunity to continue getting the offense comfortable and push more reps on Harrell. This is an important game for both teams entering ACC play, and hopefully bring out the best of both teams in rivalry. Here, I expect Duke to push 5-0 back at home in Durham. Prediction: Duke 31, UNC 19.

Mack Brown had a massive job getting himself right, then his coaches, and then his team following the humiliating loss to JMU last week. Human nature suggests one of two things will happen: The Heels have put that game behind and have galvanized to show the football universe that’s not who they are; or the loss, Brown’s words afterward, and reactions since will weigh down this club and they won’t be ready to play. Too tough an assignment in a get-right week. Prediction: Duke 26, UNC 20.

Average THI prediction: Duke 28.5, UNC 23.5.