Three things to know about Notre Dame’s Week 9 opponent, North Carolina
Notre Dame and North Carolina will grow plenty familiar with each other by the end of next year.
Saturday’s game in South Bend (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC) is the second of three straight meetings between the Irish and Tar Heels from 2020-22. Notre Dame captured the first, a 31-17 victory in Chapel Hill, N.C., last November. The two will see each other next September as well at Kenan Memorial Stadium.
The first matchup pitted a pair of top-20 teams against each other. This second features No. 11 Notre Dame (6-1) against unranked North Carolina (4-3, 3-3 ACC), which began the season in the top 10 but has fallen out thanks to three losses to sub-.500 opponents.
Here is a look at three things to know about the Tar Heels.
1. Problems up front
Finding a reason to be optimistic about North Carolina’s offensive line heading into this year required no squinting.
All five starters and two reserves with starting experience returned. Five are academic seniors. The Tar Heels’ offensive line had a bumpy 2020, as a young front five is wont to do. But expecting some improvement was reasonable, just as Notre Dame saw last season when it brought back all five starters from a good but not great 2019 line.
You must be a member to read the full article. Subscribe now for instant access to all premium content.
-
Members-only forums
-
Predict prospect commits with FanFutureCast
-
Exclusive highlights and interviews
-
Exclusive coverage of Rivals Camp Series
-
Breaking recruiting news