“Bells will be ringing on Christmas Day.” That’s how the old song goes. But on this crisp October night, with the Victory Bell on the line, Christmas came a little early for the better shade of blue.
It wasn’t pretty, nor was it comfortable. If you were like me, you thought Carolina was about to let another rivalry game slip away after Duke’s late score put the Blue Devils ahead 20-17. It felt a lot like Clemson, when the Tar Heels jumped out to a 17-point lead, watched their opponent fight its way back, and found themselves trailing late in the fourth quarter. In a rivalry game, a three-point deficit can feel like a mile, especially when the offense has struggled to find its footing.
Carolina had been scoreless in the second half, against a Duke defense that had been among the nation’s best at limiting second-half points. The odds of finding an answer looked pretty slim.
But one thing was different inside Wallace Wade Stadium. Carolina had an answer.
For all the criticism Billy Edwards has received, the senior quarterback delivered a gutsy performance. No moment was bigger than his fourth-down conversion to Jalani Thurman, extending the drive when Carolina desperately needed to keep the ball moving. There were different levels of redemption woven throughout this game. Thurman, usually a sure-handed target, had a couple of key drops earlier in the afternoon. When the game was on the line, he came through with the catch that kept Carolina’s hopes alive.
Jaylen McGill also had a chance to put an earlier mistake behind him. After fumbling, he rebounded and found the end zone to put the Tar Heels back in front with just under two minutes remaining.
And then came Kenton Dopson. After a pass interference call on the true freshman, Dopson came up with the interception in the closing seconds to shut the door on Duke’s comeback. Billy Edwards took a knee, the Tar Heels celebrated, and the final score read 24-20. The Victory Bell was coming home.
There will be plenty to dissect from this one. Carolina’s offense had stretches when it couldn’t find its footing. The defense gave up too much ground, and a 17-point lead nearly disappeared. This wasn’t the kind of performance that suddenly erases every concern about the direction of the program.
But rivalry games have a way of making the final few minutes matter more than everything that came before them. And for a Carolina team that needed to prove it could finish against Duke, those final minutes mattered.
The Victory Bell is more than a trophy. It carries the history, the bragging rights, and the kind of rivalry memories that get passed down from one generation of Tar Heel fans to the next. Carolina had gone two years without it. Saturday night, that changed.
So maybe the bells weren’t ringing on Christmas Day just yet. But on this crisp October night, they were ringing all the way to Chapel Hill. And for tonight, the right guys were the ones making all the noise.
The game wasn’t pretty. But the Victory Bell is back where it belongs.
And somewhere in Chapel Hill, you can bet those bells are still ringing.
