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00:00We head up to Boston, where we go to Fenway Park to see North Carolina take on UConn.
00:108-win Connecticut. Where you might be thinking? New England? Football? Bill Belichick? Oh
00:18yeah, Bill Belichick, new head coach of UNC. Bill has said he will not be in attendance
00:24at Fenway Park today to see UNC and Freddie Kitchens take on Jim Mora Jr. and the Huskies.
00:31But of course, Lacey Guy, the aura of Chapel Bill will really surround this game as everybody
00:37focuses on Fenway to get us started on this final Saturday in December.
00:40Yeah, showing out before spring camp in terms of Bill Belichick in late March, early April.
00:45We'll see how that plays out. Both offenses are similar, averaging 32 points per game.
00:51They both like to run it. UConn rushing for 198 yards per game. You have UNC, a buck 89.
00:58UConn 202 through the air, 233 for North Carolina. But it comes down to the physicality, which
01:04defense will step up. You have UConn only giving up 23 points per game. Much better,
01:09in my opinion, in run support, only allowing opposing offenses to pound the rock for 133
01:14yards on the ground. Here's the thing. I expect this game to be lower scoring. There's bad
01:19weather in terms of the forecast, rain, wind. We saw both of these games play out in terms
01:24of the Fenway Bowl. They trended to the under. Louisville and Cincinnati was 24-7 two years
01:30ago. Last year, Boston College, SMU, crushed the under in terms of that was like a 69.5-70
01:36number. It was 23-14. I think we're in the area of maybe 30-40 total. I think UConn potentially
01:46is within striking distance. I like more in this spot going up against an interim staff
01:51with Freddy Kitchens. I think their defense will get it done, and I think they run the
01:55football. So UConn's 8-4. What are the four losses? All against the power teams they play.
02:02Again, I get it for UConn. The goal is, I mean, being 8-4 is incredible, but they're
02:08playing a power team today, and it's 2-1⁄2. That's a little ridiculous, if we're being
02:15honest. Now, Hampton's out. Best player on the defensive side of the ball for North Carolina
02:20is going to miss this game. I get we have to move some things, but it is also not as
02:25if UConn's power games were against Texas, Ohio State, and Oregon. Maryland in the opener,
02:31smashed. Then they played Duke, and they hung around. They were down 7-10 at the break.
02:39They hung, bad team, but down 7 at the break. They play Syracuse.
02:47I'll be nice. Great orange team. 10-10, great orange team. Fran Brown. Third time since 1992.
02:53They don't quit. They step up in bowl games. Don't cover. A very overrated. It depends on
02:58where you got that number. A very, very overrated football team, the Syracuse.
03:01Highly disagree. Historic football team is what Kevin meant. No, not what I meant to say. Kyle
03:06McCord massively overrated as well. Ohio State made the right decision. Syracuse was up by 7
03:12plus at the break in that game as well. For me, I think with Freddie Kitchens, who's supposed to be
03:17on the Bill Belichick staff, you have to be prepped coming into this game. Bill not being
03:23there or not, you need to make sure that this is still a springboard here. You're not going to
03:28springboard by losing to UConn. What I've seen from UConn is still up against the power team.
03:34They're not really within reach. I took a minus 125 first half money line, which is a really nice
03:40number there when you look around on UConn to be winning at halftime in this game. A little
03:45get in, get out special. It is really interesting to see the roster fluctuation that we are going
03:50to see for North Carolina throughout the remainder of this offseason with a new head coach in Bill
03:56Belichick coming in and what that means for this bowl game. Still many roster questions
04:01for the Tar Heels entering the Fenway Bowl. Omarion Hampton, one of the best running backs
04:06in the country the last two college football seasons heading to the NFL Draft not playing
04:11in this ball game. To your point, Kev, Connecticut has been an underdog four times this year against
04:16the four power conference teams that you mentioned. The two covers for Jim Morris Huskies
04:21as a double-digit dog against both Duke and Syracuse. Almost covered against Wake,
04:26they lost the game by three as a two and a half point dog. They run the football very,
04:31very well. Cam Edwards and Darrell Robinson, both more than 730 yards on the ground this year.
04:38Robinson in the portal committed to Auburn. Cam Edwards expected to play today against this North
04:44Carolina side who will have a new defensive scheme of sorts next year as well, Lacey Guy,
04:49as we got word this week that Steve Belichick, yes, the son of Bill, Washington defensive coordinator
04:55this year for the Huskies is now set to join his father in Chapel Hill. Oh, that's a huge upgrade.
05:00Just look at what the Huskies did in terms of the defensive perspective, held opposing offenses
05:05to 21 points per game, very physical against rushing offenses. They shut down Michigan,
05:11some step-up spots from a defensive perspective. They played very well, especially in this first
05:16year calling plays on the defensive side of the ball. So an immediate upgrade. I think when you
05:20look at North Carolina's defense this year, they were a complete sieve. I mean, at points in the
05:25year, they've given up 30, 40 points per game. Look at that early matchup where they gave up 70 plus.
05:30Cannot happen under Bill Belichick. So this is an evaluation point. You want to see which players
05:35fit the scheme, which players don't, how you can utilize certain talent. And I'm sure that
05:41Belichick, Mike Lombardi, and his son are going to be evaluating this ball game from afar today.
05:46So Lombardi, I believe on McAfee said the priority was figuring out the offensive line
05:50and quarterback. And I'd like to believe that's because Belichick, he both the Belichick's like,
05:56yeah, we got these 11. Don't worry about it. Warm bodies. We'll figure out the defensive
06:00side of the football. And that should be the case realistically. Like for year one of North
06:06Carolina, regardless of, of wind total or anything, if they don't have a good defense,
06:13that would then be very concerning to me for this team moving forward.
06:19What I am interested in, and I don't fully have the grasp on is, so they don't have,
06:25they've not brought in like a quarterback yet, right? We're still waiting to figure out what's
06:29going to happen with Quinn Ewers, what's going to happen with Carson Peck. Can you explain to me
06:34whether, can those two still hit the portal time past? They could only go in spring because the
06:41final day of the winter portal is today, December 28th. So, but would it be a situation like Quinn
06:47Ewers is obviously going to make the decision of whether he's going into the draft before April?
06:53Right. So can he be like, I'm going to transfer out and I'll, you'll find out where then like,
06:59can a deal be made? Like, I don't, because again, if Quinn Ewers, for example, is going back,
07:05who I've said, I could see landing at North Carolina. We all know he's not going back to
07:10Texas. Same with, I don't think, I don't think back to Georgia. I don't think.