The North Carolina Tar Heels are back on the football field Saturday night for a home game against Wake Forest. With just one win needed to become bowl-eligible, the Tar Heels are hoping to clinch that in front of the home crowd.
UNC has now won back-to-back games, beating Virginia and Florida State on the road. They just had a bye week to reset a bit and enter their final three games of the season. UNC certainly is playing some of their best football the past two games and the hope is that they can put it together again in front of the home crowd.
Take a look at our staff picks for the week.
Zack Pearson
Prediction: UNC 38, Wake Forest 21
Record: 6-3
UNC has been playing better overall the past few games, putting together wins over Florida State and Virginia. Their defense has also been fantastic, dominating as of late.
I think they get another dominating performance on that side of the football and limit the Demon Deacons.
Aidan Jensen
Prediction: UNC 45, Wake Forest 37
Record: 8-1
This is the edition of UNC football we’ve been hoping for all season long. The Tar Heels are winners of two straight, dominating Virginia and Florida State on the road. North Carolina’s offense has been impressive, headlined by no one other than Omarion Hampton, but it’s the UNC defense playing particularly exceptional football right now. The Tar Heels have 17 sacks combined in their past two games. North Carolina will be under the Kenan Stadium lights for the first time Saturday, welcoming in-state rival Wake Forest to town. I can’t quite figure out the Demon Deacons, who are just 4-5, but are a perfect 3-0 away from home. Wake QB Hank Bachmeier is one of the ACC’s better gunslingers, so UNC could be in trouble. I think the Tar Heels, needing just one victory for bowl eligibility, pull this one out in a close, high-scoring game.
Matthew Beighle
Prediction: UNC 38, Wake Forest 27
Record: 5-4
The Demon Deacons are 4-5 this season and have dropped recent games to California, Virginia, and Clemson in the conference. They also beat NC State and Stanford. The only common opponent between the two was Virginia, and UNC dominated them on the road. The ground game is virtually non-existent for Wake Forest so it will be a battle of the secondary for UNC and Hank Bachmeier. Wake also has seven players averaging over 10 yards per reception. North Carolina has what it takes to get hot on the offensive side of the ball. However, Wake Forest does too as it ran up the score against Cal 46-36. If the defense can keep receivers in front, this could also be a blowout in favor of the Carolina blue. If not, it will be a shoot-out.
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