Duke Heads to Chapel Hill to Try and Pick Themselves Up After a Stinker Against Virginia.

With ACC title hopes off the table for Duke, now it's about making a bowl. Duke sits at 5-5, just needing one more win to achieve that as they prepare to face Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill this afternoon.

Duke has been a very weird team this year. They have the fourth best offense in the ACC, Darian Mensah has mostly been everything and more that Duke thought they were paying for in the offseason, but on the flip side, defensively they have been very disappointing. 

They have also been known to make a lot of mistakes that tend to cost them games, especially in big stage moments. Manny Diaz has described at many times this year as Duke being the author of their own demise.

Not sure I would consider going up against this Tar Heel team that, but you still are playing your rival with a bowl game on the line. There's one more game to achieve that if you drop today against Wake Forest at home next week.

Duke, despite being in a position to get to the ACC title game just a week ago, has not been playing winning football as of late. The Devils have dropped three of their last four games. So, on the Tar Heel side of this, UNC is catching Duke at a relatively vulnerable time.

The thing that Duke has going for them in playing UNC is that Darian Mensah is the best pure quarterback the Heels have faced all year. Bill Belichick has described him numerous times this week as an "NFL quarterback". 

Also, Carolina has really struggled offensively this year with Gio Lopez under center. They have weapons at receiver like Jordan Shipp or Benjamin Hill, but the offensive scheme itself has not been overly pretty to watch.

In the backfield, they have had games where the run game has been the key weapon, specially with Demon June and Davion Gause. That's something that Duke will have to monitor.

Overall, this is a terrific spot for Duke to try and get something going defensively. The name of the game for the Devils is to score points like they know they can. If they do that, they'll be coming out of Chapel Bill with the Victory Bell and a bowl-berth.