North Carolina football: Updated game-by-game predictions for 2020

North Carolina will face their fourth instate opponent of the season and this time it will be against Wake Forest, who is undergoing a bit of a rebuild this season.

Quarterback Jamie Newman is now in Athens and Wake will also be missing some key contributors off of a usually tough defense. The good news will be that quarterback Sam Hartman has experience and has looked pretty good in that time and the Demon Deacons will have one of the best pass rushers in the conference in Carlos Basham Jr.

Head coach Dave Clawson also gets the most out of any team he coaches.

While I think Wake will be a tough team, North Carolina will have more to play for at this point in the season. The secondary for Wake Forest is a big question mark and that will spell trouble against this offense.

Final Score: North Carolina 35, Wake Forest 21 (8-1, 7-1)

In the defining game of the season for the Tar Heels, they will welcome Notre Dame for a Friday night tilt in Chapel Hill that will determine who goes to Charlotte to play Clemson in the ACC championship. This will be a chance for North Carolina to announce that they are contenders against what should be a top 15 team at least in Notre Dame.

The Fighting Irish return senior quarterback Ian Book and will be looking to make a return run to the playoff. Notre Dame will have to replace some of their top weapons on both sides of the ball, but don’t mistake inexperience for not talented.

This is a coin flip game to me and I just think the timing and location of this game favors North Carolina. The defense should be rounding into form to go along with one of the nation’s best offenses and this will be one instance where Notre Dame does not have the quarterback advantage.

Tar Heels win an instant classic.

Final Score: North Carolina 28, Notre Dame 27 (9-1, 8-1)

I think this will be an excellent game between two of the better teams in the conference and North Carolina will need to be careful of a letdown after a big win a week ago. Miami is looking to bounce back from a 6-7 season and they should be able to match up with the Tar Heels’ offense with one of the best defensive lines in the country, manned by Jaelan Phillips and Quincy Roche.

Houston transfer quarterback D’Eriq King will be looking to turn around what has been a stagnant offense and he will work well with new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee who is arriving after serving the same position at SMU last year.

This will be a high-scoring affair and will likely come down to who has the ball last. Sam Howell had his coming-out party against the Hurricanes last season and should be even better this year. The Tar Heels win the game in a shootout and takes control of the Coastal division; they win because of the coaching advantage that they hold over the Hurricanes.

Final Score: North Carolina 42, Miami 38 (10-1, 9-1)