UNC Football Moments After – UNC vs. Duke 32-25 Loss
UNC Tar Heels Football Team Lets Another Game Against Their In-State Rival the Duke Blue Devils Slip Away
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina football team faced off against Duke on Saturday afternoon in their 112th meeting between the two squads. The Tar Heels kicked off the game with an outstanding 13-play 75-yard touchdown drive to start the game. UNC quarterback Gio Lopez had his best throws of the season on this opening drive and completed all six of his passes to Jordan Shipp and Kobe Paysour to give the Heels an early 7-0 lead. Duke would also start off well offensively and march right down the field for a touchdown drive of their own to tie the game 7-7. In the first half, UNC’s defense wasn’t getting enough pressure on the quarterback or disrupting the run game in the backfield, and failed to make Duke’s offense uncomfortable in the passing game as well. The Carolina defense struggled to get off the field on third downs due to the lack of pressure and zone coverage that gave Duke easy completions. The Heels allowed two fourth-down conversions that extended drives for the Blue Devils, and Duke scored 17 points on their first three drives.
The Tar Heels found themselves down 17-10 to start the second half and decided to attempt an onside kick on the first play after halftime to gain some momentum, but Duke was able to recover. This was a questionable decision by the UNC coaching staff because it gave Duke a short field, and the Blue Devils took advantage of it by driving right down the field for a touchdown. Carolina could do nothing with Duke’s rushing attack, especially with all the missed tackles as Duke running backs Nate Sheppard and Anderson Caston ran over the Tar Heels to help give them a 24-10 lead. Because the game was getting out of hand, North Carolina needed to get some kind of production out of their offense to cut into the Duke lead. Over the next few minutes of the game, UNC would put together two of its best offensive drives of the season, leading to 15 unanswered points. During these series, Gio Lopez was decisive with football and accurate and on-time with his throws while standing tall in the pocket, while taking massive hits from Duke’s defense.
Offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens finally opened up the playbook and became aggressive with play calls down the field, which allowed the Heels to look their best it has all season. Carolina took the lead with about 13 minutes left in the 4th quarter, and the Tar Heels’ defense finally started to show some life, getting pressure on the quarterback, making plays on the ball against Duke’s receivers, and forcing a turnover on downs to give the ball back to the hot offense. With the ball in hand, the Heels would have a chance to extend the lead, keep the momentum going, and put pressure on Duke’s offense. On the ensuing possession, North Carolina called a run play that got stopped at the line of scrimmage, and Gio was sacked twice, which resulted in a 3-and-out for the Tar Heels. Duke would get the ball back, and UNC would have two separate plays where they should’ve had an interception, but instead they stopped the Blue Devils in field goal range. With 2 minutes and 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Duke faked the field goal, and their kicker, Todd Pelino, ran the ball 26 yards to the one-yard line. The Blue Devils scored a touchdown on the next play, and Carolina received the ball back, but couldn’t put together an effective drive because of a penalty and two sacks from Duke. The Tar Heels suffer their seventh loss of the season and lose to Duke for the second year in a row.
UNC Game Stats
UNC Total Offense- 305 yards
Rushing 101 Passing 204
UNC Passing: Gio Lopez 21/27 204 yards 1TD
UNC Rushing: Davion Gause 8-63 yards 1TD
UNC Receiving: Jordan Shipp 8-83 yards 1TD, Kobe Paysour 5-53 yards
Duke Total Offense- 352 yards
Duke Passing: Darian Mensah 20/33 175 yards 1TD
Duke Rushing: Nate Sheppard 22-90 yards, Anderson Castsle 13-49 yards 3TDs
Duke Receiving: Jeremiah Hasley 7-85 yards 1TD
UNC Bright Spots
Quarterback Gio Lopez threw for 204 yards and one touchdown. Lopez also had a rushing touchdown.
Wide Receiver Jordan Shipp had 8 catches for 83 yards and one touchdown
Davion Gause had 8 carries for 63 yards and one touchdown.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels must be a more disciplined team. In this game against Duke, the Tar Heels just had too many penalties on critical downs where they had a chance to get off the field on defense or have a big play on offense. They had 12 penalties for 103 yards. Some of those penalties came because they let their emotions get the best of them, which is unacceptable. Players need to be held accountable for these penalties committed by their coaches, or it will continue to happen.
Offensive Coordinator Freddie Kitchens needs to learn how to call better plays in critical situations. The Tar Heels had a chance to put the game away offensively, and Kitchens went conservative instead of staying aggressive with passing plays down the field, which was a huge part of the offense’s success in this game.
Defensive coordinator Steve Belichick needs to put his defense in a better position to succeed. The defensive line couldn’t get pressure with four like they have in the past few games, so Steve Belichick should’ve called more simulated pressures or blitzes to help the pass rush. Because the Heels were unable to generate pressure, the defense struggled and had to rely on the secondary more, which isn’t a strong suit of their defensive unit. Steve Belichick also needs to mix up his coverage more, especially on third downs, because when they drop back in zone coverage, the defensive backs are just too far off their receivers to make a play on the ball, which results in easy completions and third-down conversions. That has to be changed.
The offensive line has to be better in pass protection and communicating with each other on who to block because there are too many unblocked guys getting into the backfield.
Final Observations
North Carolina falls to 4-7 and is now ineligible to make a bowl game because they won’t reach six wins this season. This coaching staff must be better at helping this team learn how to win and put them in a better position to succeed on the field. 12 penalties in a game is unacceptable and shouldn’t be tolerated. It should be to the point where if you continue to make the same detrimental plays to your team, you get benched. This team must be more disciplined, especially when the game is on the line. In addition, the coaches have to learn how to adjust and implement schemes and plays that cater to their players’ strengths. It is game 11, and the defense is still playing zone coverage on third and long, and opponents are still converting because easy throws are available on those plays. It is unacceptable how many third-and-longs they have allowed teams to convert this season, and no adjustments have been made by the coaching staff.
Offensively, Freddie Kitchens hurt his players every week with his playcalling, and when they have some success, he doesn’t stick with calling those plays that have been productive throughout the day. The offense has underperformed all season long, and its playcalling has been a major reason why the Heels have lost games and struggle to put points on the board consistently. The players have made strides this season and look better than they looked at the beginning of the season, but this team never reached its potential, which is disappointing to say. Next up in their season finale is NC State on November 29 at 7:30 on the ACC Network.