UNC Tar Heels Football Team Continues Losing Skid in the ACC Championship Game

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

The North Carolina football team played in their second ACC championship game since 1980 against Clemson on Saturday night. The Tar Heels got off to a good start with a three-out on their first defensive possession and a touchdown drive on their first offensive possession to go up 7-0. After a total of 7 yards on their first two drives, Clemson replaced quarterback DJ Uiagalelei with Freshman Cade Klubnik. In Cade Klubnik’s first possession out there, he led the Tigers down the field for a touchdown and gave them a much-needed spark. Klubnik made the Clemson offense much more effective in the passing game and had them firing on all cylinders.

Meanwhile, after the first drive where they scored a touchdown, UNC’s offense had some success driving down the field, but only scored three points in three separate trips to the red zone. The Heels struggled to run a successful red zone offense against Clemson’s aggressive defense as their blitz package gave UNC major problems. With the offensive struggling to put up points, the North Carolina defense would have to step up but was not prepared for Clemson’s switch at quarterback. After Cade Klubnik was put in the game, Clemson outscored North Carolina 21-3 in the first half to give the Tigers a 24-10 lead going into halftime.

In the second half, UNC’s offensive struggles continued as they punted on their first offensive possession after halftime. On their next offensive possession, North Carolina would drive down the field into the red zone, but Drake Maye threw a pick 6. This would make the score 32-10 as the momentum and game completely shifted after this mistake from Drake Maye. The Tar Heels’ offense did not score for the rest of the game as it felt like the life was completely sucked out of the entire team after that Drake Maye interception. UNC’s final offensive possessions resulted in a punt, a turnover on downs, and an interception. Clemson scored 18 unanswered points after UNC’s last points were scored in the second quarter. Clemson had 317 yards in the air and took advantage of UNC’s porous secondary. Even though the Tar Heels had more time of possession than the Tigers, they failed to take advantage as they made several critical mistakes with the play calling and execution. Clemson was the better team for the final 3 quarters of the game and took advantage of every mistake UNC made to give them a 39-10 victory of the Tar Heels.

UNC Game Stats

UNC Total Offense– 386 yards

Rushing 113 Passing 273

UNC Passing: Drake Maye 26-42-268 yards 2 INTs

UNC Rushing: Elijah Green 21-65 yards, Drake Maye 11-24 yards 1TD

UNC Receiving: Josh Downs 11-100 yards, Kamari Morales 3-54 yards Antoine Green 5-53 yards

Clemson Total Offense– 385 yards

Clemson Passing: Cade Klubnik 20-24-279 yards 1TD

Clemson Rushing: Cade Klubnik 7-30 yards 1TD, Will Shipley 7-18 yards 1TD, Phil Mafah 2-10 yards 1TD

Clemson Receiving: Cole Turner 3-101 yards, Antonio Williams 3-40 yards, Davis Allen 3-20 yards 1TD

UNC Bright Spots

Drake Maye threw for 268 yards and had 11 rushes for 24 yards and a rushing touchdown.

Josh Downs had 11 catches for 100 yards.

Will Hardy led the team in tackles with 13.

Needs Work

Offensive coordinator Phil Longo’s play calling has to be much better. After the first drive, there was no flow and rhythm to his playcalling. In the red zone, he struggled to all effective plays and the offense had to settle for field goals. The offense was completely out of sorts and has struggled the past three weeks after being one of the best in the country all season. The struggles are unacceptable when you have all the talent to play well. When your quarterback is struggling and is rattled from getting hit too many times, you need to call plays that can get the ball out of his hands quicker, plays that have success against the blitz, and plays that involve the tight ends more in the offense.

Defensive coordinator Gene Chizik needs to do a better job making adjustments earlier in the game to stop the success and momentum of the opponent’s offenses.

The defense played well in spurts but still struggled with blown coverages, blown assignments, poor tackling, poor communication, and other miscues. The defensive line needs to improve their pass rush, getting off blocks, and getting in the backfield to blow up plays more often. This will take pressure off the secondary that also needs to break on more balls, be better in coverage, and not blow assignments

Final Observations

The Tar Heels fall to 9-4 on the season. This was after starting the season 7-1 and winning the coastal division. Even though the Tar Heels were in the ACC championship, the way they played the last four games of the season was extremely disappointing. It was a total collapse by this team. The offense was not as explosive and potent as it has been all season long in these last four games.

It’s hard to tell what exactly caused all of the offensive struggles but the lack of aggression with the play-calling and failure to put the offense in a position to be successful definitely played a factor. There were no adjustments made to the increase in blitz packages that the offense faced and struggled to overcome. The offensive struggles completely changed the trajectory of this team and how good they were. If the offense cannot put up points, this is an average team because the defense is not very good. It was shown in the last four games.

UNC’s football program is at a crossroads. While the football team has made themselves relevant in the ACC, the way they finished the season is just unacceptable. Since Mack Brown has been there, they have not handled success well. They do not show up enough times in the biggest games and when the ultimate spotlight is on them, which should concern Tar Heel fans.

Changes culturally will have to be made if they want to become more relevant as a program nationally and compete with the best teams in the country. They still have Drake Maye who is one of the best quarterbacks in the country but they will need to improve the personnel on defense to make themselves a more complete team going into next season. With the loss to Clemson, there has no been update on what bowl game the Tar Heels will participate in, but it will be played in January.