After a dominant victory against the Minnesota Gophers, the North Carolina Tar Heels football team is now the 17th-ranked team in the country. This was easily the Tar Heels’ most impressive win of the season. Just before kick-off, the oddsmakers had North Carolina as merely 7-point favorites but the final scoreboard saw them win by 18. Let’s dive in…
North Carolina’s Best Performance of the Season
Saturday’s game against Minnesota saw North Carolina firing on all cylinders. While running back Omarion Hampton couldn’t replicate his dominance from week 2, the passing game more than made up for it. Heisman candidate Drake Maye had, statistically, his best game of the season, finishing with 414 passing yards and completing 29 of 40 attempts.
The standout player on offense was junior Nate McCollum. McCollum, who stands just 5 foot 9 inches, broke out in a big way with 15 receptions and 165 yards. By now, anyone familiar with Carolina football knows about the Tez Walker situation (the entire team wore “Free Tez” t-shirts Saturday), so seeing another wide receiver step up had to put a smile on Head Coach Mack Brown’s face.
On the other side of the ball, the defense held Minnesota to just 13 points. While Appalachian State did put up 34 points in an overtime loss, it is extremely encouraging that the UNC defense has stifled multiple power conference teams (South Carolina and, now, Minnesota) and held them under 20 points. Minnesota running back Darius Taylor was efficient, running for 138 yards on just 22 carries, but the North Carolina defense was keyed in on stopping quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis who only completed 11 of his 29 passes.
What’s Next for North Carolina?
The Tar Heels travel to Pittsburgh next Saturday as they look to begin conference play with another strong performance. Pittsburgh will be looking to bounce back from consecutive tough losses to West Virginia and Cincinnati.
I expect the Tar Heels to look to produce a similar formula to what we just saw against Minnesota. Pittsburgh is a pass-heavy offense led by shaky quarterback Phil Jurkovec. Jurkovec has 3 interceptions to just 4 touchdowns and has completed less than 50% of his passes. If the North Carolina defense can contain him the way they contained Kaliakmanis for Minnesota, they will likely put themselves in a great position to win decisively.
