{"id":1937811,"date":"2026-10-12T16:45:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T20:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/?p=1937811"},"modified":"2026-10-12T17:22:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T21:22:18","slug":"tar-heels-need-to-run-ball-slow-sheppard-both-challenges-start-up-front","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/?p=1937811","title":{"rendered":"Tar Heels need to run ball, slow Sheppard; both challenges start up front"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CHAPEL HILL \u2014 North Carolina faces a two-part challenge Saturday against Duke: contain one of the nation\u2019s most productive playmakers and find a way to get its running game going against the Blue Devils\u2019 stout defense. Duke\u2019s Nate Sheppard has been difficult for every opponent to stop, while the Blue Devils rank No. 10 nationally in run defense. The Tar Heels must solve both problems to have a chance to control the game on the ground.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tarheeltribune.com\/2026\/10\/12\/tar-heels-need-to-run-ball-slow-sheppard-both-challenges-start-up-front\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Click here to read the full article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHAPEL HILL \u2014 North Carolina faces a two-part challenge Saturday against Duke: contain one of the nation\u2019s most productive playmakers and find a way to get&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1937812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tarheeltribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/transparant-acc-standings-header-e1759162024244.png?resize=1140%2C154&ssl=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1937811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-north-carolina-tar-heels","wpcat-80-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1937811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1937813,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937811\/revisions\/1937813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1937812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1937811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1937811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1937811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}