North Carolina's upset at No. 25 Pittsburgh sets up a road trip to Duke

North Carolina left Pittsburgh with its best result of the season, a road win over the No. 25 Panthers that evened out a slow start and lifted the Tar Heels to 3-2.

Inside Carolina's Greg Barnes, writing for On3, looked at what comes next for Bill Belichick's team. His view is that the win puts North Carolina in position for a strong close to the season. Most of the column sits behind On3's paywall, but the main point is plain: a team that had been searching for a signature result now has one, and the rest of the schedule looks different because of it.

The defense made the result more notable. On3's own coverage of the game said an injury-depleted North Carolina defense answered the bell against Pittsburgh. Beating a ranked team on the road with a short-handed unit is the kind of performance that changes how a season is viewed in October.

Next up: Duke

The Tar Heels have no time to settle in. Their next game is a road trip to Duke on Oct. 17, the latest edition of a rivalry that carries weight in the Triangle in any season. It carries extra weight this year for a program trying to turn one good Saturday into a run.

The market still expects the home team to win. Duke is favored at -156 on Novig, one of the venues pricing the game, and the best sportsbook price on the Blue Devils is -154 at FanDuel. The spread is Duke -3.5 and the total is 47.5. That is a modest number, roughly what home field is worth, which suggests the market respects what North Carolina showed in Pittsburgh but is not ready to make the Tar Heels the pick on the road. Full prices are on the North Carolina at Duke odds page.

A second straight road win, this one over a rival, would back up Barnes' case that North Carolina can finish well. A loss would leave the Tar Heels at .500 and make the Pittsburgh result look more like a one-off.

Pittsburgh looks to recover

The Panthers will try to regroup on the road at Boston College the same weekend. Despite the home loss to North Carolina, the market still treats Pittsburgh as the clearly better team. The Panthers are favored at -212 on Novig, with FanDuel at -220 the best sportsbook price. Boston College is getting 6.5 points, and the total is 44.5. Prices for that game are on the Pittsburgh at Boston College odds page.

The Panthers' ranking will likely be in doubt after Saturday. A clean win in Chestnut Hill would go a long way toward showing the North Carolina loss was a stumble and not the start of a slide.