One of the best school rivalries in all of college sports takes place on the football field Saturday when the North Carolina Tar Heels take on the undefeated Duke Blue Devils. North Carolina suffered an embarrassing loss to James Madison last week. There is no embarrassment because of her opponent’s talent. James Madison has proven itself to be a serious football program over the last two seasons. It was embarrassing because North Carolina allowed 70 points on its home field and scored 53 points in the first half. The Tar Heels will need to recover when they travel to their rival’s stadium this Saturday. Duke started the season 4-0. Critics will say that Duke’s schedule wasn’t too difficult to start the season, but the Blue Devils were still able to get the job done. Their best win came at Northwestern, where Duke won 26-20 in double overtime. Sophomore quarterback Maalik Murphy has impressed fans, already throwing for over 1,000 yards and 11 touchdowns.

If there’s one positive to take away from North Carolina’s performance last week, it’s that they were able to get a lot of production from their backup quarterback, Jacolby Criswell. Criswell is the third quarterback under center for North Carolina this season after starting quarterback Max Johnson suffered an injury in Week 1. This Tar Heel offense has plenty of weapons, including tight end Bryson Nesbit and wide receiver JJ Jones. This week it looked like they found a quarterback who can give them the ball. North Carolina should also have an advantage in the running game in this matchup with junior running back Omarion Hampton. Hampton will be the best player on the field on Saturday. Look for the Tar Heels to get him the ball early and set the tone early. North Carolina head coach Mack Brown has been coaching college football for a long time. He knows how to bring his team back together after a game in which they didn’t show up. I have North Carolina as the more talented team and will be back on track this Saturday.

North Carolina vs. Duke Prediction: North Carolina +2.5 available at time of publication. Playable under this number.

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