UNC falls short but shows improvement in OT loss
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David Hale
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina still hasn’t won a game against a Power Four opponent under Bill Belichick, but Saturday’s 17-16 overtime defeat against No. 16 Virginia showed the improvement he has long promised is finally unfolding on the field.
The Tar Heels dominated Virginia at the line of scrimmage, racking up six sacks and largely eliminating the Cavaliers’ run game, but a failed 2-point try in overtime proved the difference.
“It’s one thing for people to say we’re getting better,” North Carolina wide receiver Jordan Shipp said, “but now we’re showing it. That’s a top-20 team in the country that went down to the last play of the game.”
Shipp wasn’t celebrating a moral victory. In the locker room after the game, he said he shed tears, knowing how much work this team had put in and how close it had come to its first ACC win of the season.
But if the Heels weren’t celebratory, there was ample reason to feel good.
North Carolina’s defense held Virginia to 259 yards and didn’t allow a second-half point. The offense managed 359 yards — a relative pittance, but still a season high — and for the second straight week, UNC had a shot to win with its final possession, which is a drastic improvement after four early blowouts.
Perhaps another sign of North Carolina’s improvement was Belichick’s postgame news conference, where he was in vintage form.
What went into the decision to go for two in the first overtime?
“Just trying to win the game,” he said.
Who was QB Gio Lopez‘s first target before rolling out on the two-point play?
“Whoever was open.”
How much did UNC need these past two games to show real improvement on the field?
“I can’t put a percentage on it,” Belichick said.
He was effusive in the team’s need to avoid catastrophe near the goal line. After a three-point loss at Cal and Saturday’s one-point defeat to Virginia, what stood out was the Heels’ three red zone turnovers, including two that were within inches of reaching the end zone.
“We’ve got to eliminate those, no doubt about it,” Belichick said. “It’s the No. 1 problem.”
If the miscues remain an issue, UNC seems to be finding an identity that it lacked earlier in the season.
Belichick had suggested the team, which had 30 transfers after spring practice, was a work in progress as it tried to learn more about the personnel. In the past two weeks, receiver Kobe Paysour has emerged with nine catches for 154 yards, freshman Madrid Tucker recorded eight catches for 41 yards in his first game action of the season, and on defense, Melkart Abou Jaoude, who had just two sacks this season, sacked Virginia QB Chandler Morris three times.
“We’ve spent more time with these guys, and everybody’s improving,” Belichick said. “Some guys are getting more playing time or are being used in different roles as we see ways for them to help the team be productive. It’s evolving. Some of it is the players improving, and some of it is identifying things guys can do to help us.”
But if there’s a turning point for UNC, it might’ve come during the open date two weeks ago. The Heels had just been blown out against Clemson and numerous news stories erupted — including the cancellation of a planned documentary on the team, rumors of dissatisfaction among players (including a locker room fight) and reports that Belichick was angling to get out of his contract, a story he firmly denied.
All that adversity united the struggling Tar Heels, Shipp said.
“I feel like it helped us a lot,” Shipp said. “It’s always good to be under a spotlight. I feel like that’s what brought everybody together. You see, sometimes, people trying to trash people’s names on social media, and people are there to defend them. … You’re supposed to have your brother’s back, no matter what’s going on. There’s a lot of that going on in this building.”
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Shwetha Surendran
The NCAA sent a letter to Kalshi, a company that offers prediction markets on college basketball and football, expressing its concern about the company’s “commitment to contest integrity and the protection of contest participants,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by ESPN.
In the letter, dated Oct. 30, NCAA chief legal officer Scott Bearby asked Kalshi how it monitors collegiate sports markets for integrity concerns and activity by prohibited customers, who it considers a prohibited customer, whether it will report integrity concerns to the NCAA and whether the company will cooperate with NCAA investigations.
“We welcome Kalshi’s stance on its efforts to protect the integrity of NCAA competitions and to reduce instances of abuse and harassment directed at student-athletes and other participants,” Bearby wrote.
The NCAA also asked if Kalshi would ban prediction markets similar to prop bets, which the company began offering this fall.
Prop betting markets, Bearby noted in the letter, heighten “the risk of integrity and harassment concerns.” In March last year, NCAA president Charlie Baker called for a ban on prop bets on college athletes in states with legal sports wagering.
The NCAA also asked Kalshi in the letter to review language on its website that the NCAA says implies a relationship between them.
“Kalshi has robust market integrity provisions required by our status as a federally licensed financial exchange,” a Kalshi spokesperson said in a statement to ESPN. “We value the NCAA’s feedback and are working on adjusting the language on our site. We are currently reviewing and addressing their additional requests.”
Prediction markets like Kalshi have emerged over the past year and are competing with traditional sportsbooks in the betting market. Kalshi is battling multiple lawsuits by state gambling regulators, who allege that the company is violating state laws by offering event contracts that mimic sports bets. Kalshi argues that it does not fall under state jurisdiction and is instead regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal agency.
In March, Kalshi announced a partnership with IC360, an integrity monitor used by many collegiate and professional leagues.
The NCAA has faced an increasing number of alleged betting violations by players in recent years. In September, the NCAA announced that a Fresno State men’s basketball player had manipulated his performance for gambling purposes and conspired with two other players in a prop betting scheme. In total, the association has opened investigations into potential betting violations by approximately 30 current or former men’s basketball players.
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Miami has asked the Atlantic Coast Conference for clarity on a number of officiating decisions made in its loss this past weekend to SMU, including a critical 15-yard penalty in the final moments of regulation.
Miami lost the game, 26-20. The Hurricanes, who were as high as No. 2 in the AP Top 25 last month, have dropped two of their last three games and are now ranked No. 18.
Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said Miami has not gotten an answer from the ACC. It’s unclear if any explanations will be coming.
“Certainly, we’re waiting what the response is, as well as on the roughing the passer one which we certainly don’t agree with,” Cristobal said Monday. “But at this point in time, the best we can do is turn it in and hope for a better result next time.”
The Hurricanes’ Marquise Lightfoot was called for unnecessary roughness against SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings with about a minute left in the fourth quarter, giving the Mustangs 15 yards and a first down. Miami had called time out just before the fourth-and-9 play was snapped, and the Hurricanes argued to no avail that Lightfoot did not hear the whistle.
Replays showed that Lightfoot, who did make contact with Jennings, tried to hold the SMU quarterback up after apparently realizing the play was dead.
That penalty gave SMU the ball on the Miami 37, and the Mustangs went on to kick an overtime-forcing field goal.
Miami also was incensed about how a pass interference flag that would have aided the Hurricanes was picked up, and how officials missed a Hurricanes receiver getting tackled in the end zone on a play that wound up as a Miami interception in overtime.
Miami was called for 12 penalties in the game for 96 yards, compared with four by SMU for 40 yards. The eight-penalty differential tied Miami’s biggest of the season; it had 13 penalties compared with five by Florida State when those teams played in Tallahassee last month.
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