North Carolina Tar Heels Odds: UNC College Football & Basketball Futures

2023 UNC Football: Schedule, Odds, Preview

The University of North Carolina Tar Heels football schedule will look different than usual this year after the ACC eliminated divisions and switched to a new format that will protect games against Duke, NC State and Virginia while the other five conference contests rotate annually.  This year’s rotation features games against Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Miami, Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Week 1 Preview/Odds

UNC opens its season with a primetime game on Labor Day weekend against border rival South Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Classic at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.  It is the only non-conference game the Tar Heels will play away from Chapel Hill in 2023 and they are currently listed as 2.5-point favorites per DraftKings while the game’s over/under sits at 61.  South Carolina ended last season at 8-5 and while the Gamecocks only bring back 9 starters, they are expected to be ranked similarly to UNC in the preseason poll thanks to the return of key contributors like quarterback Spencer Rattler and wide receiver Antwane Wells Jr.

2023 UNC Football Season Outlook

At +1000 to win the ACC per DraftKings, UNC is tied with Louisville for the third shortest odds to take home the conference title, behind only Clemson and Florida State.  The preseason AP Poll will not be out until August 15th, but most early projections forecast the Tar Heels will land in the bottom portion of the Top 25 upon its release. 

Quarterback Drake Maye returns alongside four starting offensive linemen and a stable of experienced running backs to lead what should be another potent offense after last year’s team finished 19th in the NCAA in total offense per game.  Defensively, the Tar Heels bring back their four leading tacklers from last year, but the unit will need to improve for the team to reach its ceiling after allowing 436.5 yards per game in 2022.

Drake Maye Heisman Odds

After finishing tenth in last season’s Heisman Trophy voting, the Drake Maye Heisman odds are tied for sixth in this year’s preseason odds with Oregon quarterback Bo Nix, Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman and Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. at +1600 according to DraftKings. 

The reigning ACC Player of the Year, Maye led the conference in passing yards and touchdowns in 2022, throwing for 4321 yards and 38 touchdowns while setting/tying the single season school record for both categories in the process.  As a potential top 5 pick in next year’s NFL Draft, Maye’s talent is no issue, but team performance could hinder his case if the Tar Heels fail to rack up wins as Lamar Jackson in 2016 is the last Heisman winner from a team with more than two regular season losses.

2022 UNC Football Season Recap

North Carolina finished 9-5 last year, winning the ACC Coastal Division and making it to the conference championship game where they lost to Clemson 39-10.  The Tar Heels started the year off 9-1 before falling in each of their final four games, including by one point to 15th ranked Oregon in the Holiday Bowl to end the season.  UNC went from averaging 40.1 points per game over the first ten contests to just 20.3 points per game in the last four.

2023-2024 UNC Basketball: Schedule, Odds, Preview

Here is the North Carolina Tar Heels basketball schedule so far.

ACC Schedule

The ACC in-conference basketball schedule dates have yet to be finalized, but here are the home and away opponents. 

• Home opponents: Duke, NC State, Clemson, Florida State, Miami, Syracuse, Louisville, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
• Away opponents: Duke, NC State, Clemson, Florida State, Miami, Syracuse, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Virginia

2023-2024 UNC Basketball Season Outlook

North Carolina's basketball roster went through significant changes in the offseason, with only four scholarship players from last year still on the team.  Second and third leading scorers RJ Davis and Armando Bacot return but their supporting cast will consist of a group of transfers and young players. 

The Tar Heels added Stanford’s Harrison Ingram, Notre Dame’s Cormac Ryan, Brown’s Paxson Wojcik, Louisville’s Jae’lyn Withers and West Virginia’s James Okonkwo from the portal and signed 5-star Elliot Cadeau and 4-star Zayden High out of high school.  This revamped squad presently ranks 15th nationally in BartTorvik.com’s preseason projections.

2022-2023 UNC Basketball Season Recap

Last season will go down as one of the most disappointing seasons in North Carolina basketball history.  Coming off a national championship game appearance in 2022 with four starters returning, the Tar Heels entered last year as the number one team in the preseason AP Poll but failed to find their footing, winning only one game against a top 40 opponent and going just 20-13 overall.  This snapped their streak of 11 straight NCAA Tournament appearances and resulted in them becoming the first preseason number one team in the expanded tournament era to miss the tournament altogether.

UNC vs. Duke Rivalry

One of the fiercest rivalries in all of sports, North Carolina and Duke first met on gridiron in 1888 and on the hardwood in 1920.  North Carolina leads both the football and basketball series, holding a 143-117 edge in hoops and either a 65-40-4 or 64-41-4 edge in football depending on the source (this is rooted in a dispute over a game in 1889).

For the latest updates on Blue Devils betting odds, be sure to visit our UNC odds page.

UNC vs. Duke Football Preview

The 110th edition of the football rivalry will take place at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill on Saturday, November 11th, 2023.  UNC has won the Victory Bell each of the last four years, taking last season’s contest in Durham 38-35.  The Tar Heels will have to contend with an experienced Duke team this season, as the Blue Devils return an ACC high 17 starters from a team that finished 9-4 last year.

UNC vs. Duke Basketball Preview

Unfortunately for North Carolina, Duke is the only ACC team projected to finish ahead of the Tar Heels per Torvik.  The Blue Devils convinced 5-star freshmen Kyle Filipowski, Tyrese Proctor and Mark Mitchell to stay in school for their sophomore seasons alongside rising senior Jeremy Roach and the incoming number two overall high school recruiting class per 247Sports.  Game dates are not out yet, but the two contests typically occur in early/mid-February and on the final Saturday of college basketball’s regular season in early March.