Early kickoff set as Duke football program hopes to regain Victory Bell

The Duke football program will be in the primetime slot of the early kickoffs as it looks to regain the Victory Bell.

Duke and North Carolina will take center stage in the early slate of kickoffs on November 7 as the Blue Devils look to regain possession of the Victory Bell.

The Atlantic Coast Conference announced that the rivalry will kickoff at 12:00pm EST on ESPN2 as the Tar Heels look to keep their promising season rolling.

The Blue Devils will enter the game with a less than stellar record, although David Cutcliffe‘s team is looking to try and pick up its second victory of the season against the Charlotte 49ers this weekend at Wallace Wade Stadium, which would push Duke to 2-5 entering its showdown with North Carolina.

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As for Mack Brown, his team saw its first loss of the season come in heartbreaking fashion against the Florida State Seminoles, where the Heels were ranked as the No. 5 team in the country, without any Big Ten or Pac-12 teams being ranked at the moment.

Following a win over North Carolina State, Brown’s team is ranked at No. 15 with a primetime showdown on the road against the Virginia Cavaliers lurking.

Last season’s matchup between Duke and North Carolina ended in heartbreak for the Blue Devils with a trick play at the goal line, where the Heels intercepted a pass from running back Deon Jackson and secured the 20-17 victory.

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North Carolina leads the all-time series, 60-41-4, and the victory last season for the Tar Heels ended a three-game winning streak by the Blue Devils. Duke had also won five of the last seven meetings between the two programs.

Mack Brown is 9-2 all-time against Duke as the head coach of the Tar Heels, dating back to his tenure in Chapel Hill from 1988 to 1997.