UNC Football Moments After – UNC vs. Campbell 59-7 Win

UNC Tar Heels Football Team Uses the Campbell Game as a Tune-Up Victory to Finish the Last Quarter of the Season Strong

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

The North Carolina football team looked to get back in the winning column this week against Campbell after two disappointing losses. The Tar Heels got off to an interesting start to the game with two straight defensive stops and a three-and-out offensively. The game was scoreless for the first six minutes of the game up until a Drake Maye touchdown pass to UNC wide receiver Tez Walker and then Campbell would drive the ball down the field for a touchdown drive of their own to tie the game at 7. In the first half, Campbell led the time of possession with 18 minutes and was able to do so because of the success they had in the run game due to UNC’s porous run defense, which led to long drives. After scoring on just one of their first three offensive drives, the Carolina offense was finally able to get into a rhythm and put together some successful offensive drives, scoring touchdowns on their last three offensive possessions to give them a 28-7 lead going into halftime. Tez Walker and Omarion Hampton had excellent first halves, and both had two touchdowns apiece.  

In the second half, North Carolina took complete control of the game. On the Heels’ very first possession after halftime, UNC scored a touchdown in three plays. Carolina’s defense followed it up by forcing an interception and fumble on back-to-back defensive possessions, putting their imprint on the game. It was the Heels’ eighth straight game forcing an interception.  The Tar Heels would score points on their next two possessions to get the lead to 45-7 and put the game completely out of reach. North Carolina finished this game scoring 52 unanswered points and because of the blowout, they were able to give some quality playing time to their young players who otherwise don’t get much playing time. UNC’s offense dominated from start to finish and had 594 yards of total offense and had 8 touchdowns.  Seven of those touchdown drives were under two minutes.  Drake Maye threw for four touchdowns, Omarion Hampton ran for two, and Redshirt freshman quarterback Connor Harrell threw one touchdown and ran for one touchdown as well. It was an all-around dominant performance on both sides of the ball, and it led to the Tar Heels’ seventh win of the season. 

UNC Game Stats 

UNC Total Offense- 594 yards 

Rushing 276 Passing 318 

UNC Passing: Drake Maye 16-23-244 yards 4TDs, Connor Harrell 4-4-71 yards 1Td 

UNC Rushing: Omarion Hampton 15-144 yards 2TDs, British Brooks 10-64, Connor Harrell 2-61 yards 

UNC Receiving: Bryson Nesbit 6-78 yards, Tychaun Chapman 2-50 yards, JJ Jones 3-43 yards 1TD, Tez Walker 2-41 yards, Chris Culliver 1-41 yards 1TD, John Copenhaver 1-25 yards 1TD 

Campbell Total Offense- 287 yards 

Campbell Passing: Hajj-Malik Williams 25-37-185 yards 1TD 1INT 

Campbell Rushing: Hajj-Malik Williams 11-51 yards 

Campbell Receiving: Ezeriah Anderson 9-102 yards, Chaney Fitzgerald 6-43 yards 1TD 

UNC Bright Spots 

Drake Maye threw for 244 yards and four touchdowns.  

Omarion Hampton had 15 carries for 144 yards and two touchdowns. 

British Brooks had 10 carries for 64 yards 

Conner Harrell had 2 carries for 61 yards and one touchdown.

Bryson Nesbit had 6 catches for 78 yards. 

JJ Jones had 3 catches for 43 yards and one touchdown. 

Chris Culliver had 1 catch for 41 yards and one touchdown.

Tychaun Chapman had 2 catches for 50 yards. 

Tez Walker had 3 catches for 41 yards and two touchdowns. 

John Copenhaver had one catch for a 25-yard touchdown. 

Marcus Allen got his first career interception.  

Needs Work 

The defense needs to shore up their run defense. The linebackers are overrunning the play and are out in position on these plays, which are really hurting the defensive success against the run. This is an even bigger problem because the defensive line is winning up front and the linebackers are missing tackles in space, which is totally unacceptable. 

Final Observations 

North Carolina improves to 7-2 on the season. After starting the season playing eight straight Power 5 opponents, the Heels finally played against their first non-power 5 opponents of the season. It was much needed win and game for Carolina to regroup and have some success and gain some confidence on both sides of the ball after two disappointing losses. Because of the blowout, the Tar Heels were also able to sit some starters and give some quality playing time to their younger players who don’t play much, which is always good to see. North Carolina’s main goal going forward is to win the remainder of their games this season to make a push for an ACC Title appearance, even though they will need some teams ahead of them in the standings to lose some games to help them out. Carolina must take it one game at a time though and work to get back to playing to the level they were playing at when they were 6-0 midway through the season. There is still time to put together a successful season and reach their goal of reaching the ACC Championship and winning it this time, but both the coaching staff and players must have the dedication, commitment, and focus, to get there. Next up is Duke on Saturday, November 11th.