Dome Empties as Belichick Checkmates Orange

The Syracuse Orange had Steve Angeli as their starting quarterback for four games, where he aided the Orange to a 3-1 start to the season.

With Angeli going out due to an Achilles injury, Rickie Collins, Jr., became the Syracuse starter. He had four games under center where he went 0-4.

So for the ninth game of the 2025 Orange season, Head Coach Fran Brown turned elsewhere, with true freshman quarterback Joseph Filardi starting under center in this contest at home against the North Carolina Tar Heels.

He first-ever collegiate series ended deep in Syracuse territory, with the Orange punting the ball away on a three-and-out.

After also punting the ball away on their opening drive, North Carolina would be the first to change the scoreboard, thanks to a 24-yard field goal by kicker Rece Verhoff, giving the Tar Heels a 3-0 lead at the 7:59 mark of the first quarter.

Syracuse's second drive would be more of the same, with the Orange punting the ball back to the Tar Heels on another three-and-out.

The Tar Heels would lose possession on their third drive when tight end Shamar Easter fumbled the ball, forced by Syracuse cornerback Devin Grant and picked up by linebacker Anwar Sparrow who went 51 yards to paydirt to take a 7-3 lead at 4:38 mark of the first quarter; this was Sparrow's first collegiate touchdown.

After North Carolina punted away their fourth drive of the night, Syracuse would score once again, this time on a 31-yard field goal by kicker Tripp Woody to cap off a 14-play drive, their third drive of the game, that went from the 2:49 mark of the first quarter to 12:17 left in the second quarter, taking 5:32 off of the game clock. This score made it 10-3 Orange.

The Tar Heels did not put together any points having the ball from the 12:17 mark to inside 10 minutes before halftime, punting away their fifth possession of the night, making this North Carolina's third punt in five drives.

On their fourth drive of the game, Syracuse would send away their third punt, this coming around the eight-minute mark of the opening half.

North Carolina would respond with their fourth punt on six drives.

Another punt came from the Orange, giving them four in their five possessions.

Following a 43-yard field by Verhoff that brought the score to 10-6 Syracuse, Filardi would take a knee and send the teams into the locker rooms with the Orange receiving the ball after the break.

Fliardi was back on the field under center for Syracuse to start the second half, and that drive would end in another punt on a quick three-and-out.

North Carolina's first possession of the second half would be short as well, but for another reason, with that being that it took just one play to get into the end zone on a pass from quarterback Gio Lopez to running back Demon June who would go down the right sideline eluding defenders en route to a 63-yard touchdown. This score moved the Tar Heels ahead of the Orange 13-10 at the 13:28 mark of the third quarter, their first lead since 3-0.

Luke Carney replaced Joseph Filardi at quarterback for Syracuse on the second drive of the third quarter.

With a little under half of the third quarter gone, Tar Heels' Head Coach Bill Belichick showed his strength on the chess board, systematically moving the Orange backward on a drive where quarterback Gio Lopez went 5-for-5 and the Tar Heels ran the ball five times to bring the third-quarter game clock from 7:18 to 0:08 and North Carolina back in the end zone, this on a five-yard run by June that made it 20-10 Heels.

Fran Brown would send Filardi back out to play quarterback and he would fumble on this drive that followed the North Carolina score and defensive end Smith Vilbert would gain possession before going out-of-bounds. Fellow Tar Heels' defensive end Melkart Abou Jaoude would be credited with the sack that brought about a 10-yard loss before the fumble.

It would take North Carolina just four plays to score off of this takeaway, with Lopez finding wide receiver Jordan Shipp for a 21-yard touchdown as he went down the middle of the field and cut left, catching the ball in the end zone to make it 27-10 Heels with 10:35 to go.

A 14-yard completion from Lopez to Shipp on 4th-&-13 gave the Heels a new set of downs and allowed Belichick to have his team shift into victory formation with a 27-10 victory that moved North Carolina to 3-5 overall and giving Belichick his first win in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), now 1-3 inside the ACC.

Lopez finished 14-for-18 (77.8%) for 202 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions.

June ran for 101 yards on 13 carries (7.8 yards per carry) and caught two passes for 81 yards, with a rushing and receiving touchdown on the night.

Shipp caught six passes for 64 yards, with one touchdown, followed by fellow wide receiver Kobe Paysour who had three catches for 59 yards in total.

Filardi went 4-for-18 (22.2%) in his first collegiate start, totaling 39 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions.

His four completions went one each to wide receiver Darius Johnson (25 yards), wide receiver Emanuel Ross (eight yards), wide receiver Darrell Gill, Jr. (four yards), and running back Will Nixon (two yards).

Orange running back Yasin Willis had 15 carries for 61 yards (4.1 yards per carry).

The Syracuse offense continues to look lost with start Steve Angeli, falling to 0-5 in his absence, moving to 3-6 overall and 1-5 in the ACC.