North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Charlotte 49ers predictions, picks for Saturday 9/6/25

Yup, I’m doing it.

After North Carolina began the Bill Belichick era with a near perfect touchdown drive, UNC couldn’t have looked more pathetic the rest of the game. The Tar Heels got destroyed by a better TCU team in all phases of the game. The Tar Heels were out gained through the air, on the ground and coughed up big turnovers that went the other way for touchdowns. Many of us expected Belichick to have his team disciplined and ready to go, but the reality is that the play was extremely sloppy — highlighted by two turnovers that were returned for touchdowns and surrendering a 75-yard rushing touchdown on the first play of the second half.

UNC will now look to get itself in order for a road game on a short week at Charlotte. Everyone is counting UNC out, to the point that this spread, which was 21.5 before UNC played TCU, has touched as low as 12.5 points this week. I may not back Belichick again this season, but I have to take this buy-low spot with everything to prove for the Heels in Week 2. If Belichick has any ounce of greatness left in him, this is a spot where he has to come out and show that he can still draw up a good game plan that his players can follow.

Now, if UNC was playing another tough opponent this week it’d be one thing. But Charlotte got beat nearly as handily as UNC did last week, priced as a nearly identical short home dog. The 49ers looked absolutely dreadful in their opener as well, and while the steam went against UNC, it was actually on Charlotte. The 49ers were bet down from touchdown underdogs to getting about a field goal, but got routed by App State 34-11.

It’ll be a motivational spot for Charlotte as well, and it should draw a good crowd with Belichick in town. But I’ll take Bill to step up here and have something schemed up for UNC to run away with this one and prove some of the doubters wrong. Belichick’s legacy is on the line here, which is kind of sad given we are talking about UNC vs. Charlotte.

CFP Pick: North Carolina -12.5 (-115) 1-unit

All of my plays were put out in my best bets cheat sheet article earlier in the week — find all my plays on DK Network here.

For the rest of the game breakdowns from the DK Network team, as well as more college football content, check out the college football home page on DK Network.

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