by Derrick Clyburn

The Tar Heels football team played very poorly last Saturday on offense. This week was to be improving from game one to game two. North Carolina took a step back. This time on defense. The UNC defense gave up 510 yards and 41 points to an ECU team that lost to an FCS football team last week in their season opener. The Tar Heels were only down 2 points at the halftime. They were anemic on offense and porous on defense the rest of the game. There are many questions that need to be answered and this team needs to find an identity quickly.

Game Stats

UNC Total Offense – 395 Yards

Rushing 161, Passing 234

UNC Passing: Nathan Elliott 22-38-219yds

UNC Rushing: Antonio Williams 6-96yds, Jordon Brown 13-59yds 1 TD

UNC Receiving: Anthony Ratliff-Williams 4-84 yds

ECU Total Offense – 510 Yards

ECU Passing: Reid Herring 19-32-290yds 1 TD

ECU Rushing: Anthony Scott 17-73yds 1 TD

ECU Receiving:  Trevon Brown 4-90yds 1 TD

Bright Spots

Antonio Williams had 6 rushes for 96 yds. Kapalovich should have kept feeding him the ball in that 1st drive. I believe that would have scored a touchdown rather than settling for a field goal after Antonio Williams helped them get in the red zone.

Freeman Jones made four field goals which kept the Tar Heels in the game early, but they really needed touchdowns.

Needs Work

The offensive and defensive coordinators need to help their players be in better positions to win. On offense, the Tar Heels had too many 3 and outs. You can’t play effectively when you are always behind the sticks. Nathan Elliott overthrew too many passes and struggled with both the short and mid-range game. Kapalovich needs to get rid of that smoke route, The Tar Heels lost yards everytime it was run. The defense reverted back to one that gave up 70 points to ECU a few years ago.

Final Observations

It was a complete meltdown in the 2nd half for the Tar Heels. The defense tackled poorly, taking bad angles,  not fitting the gaps on running plays. The Quarterback position needs an upgrade. Fedora can’t ride Elliott the whole season. He is too inconsistent to keep the offense moving. Fedora is supposed to be an offensive coach, but the UNC offense has only scored 36 points in the first two games. They averaged over 41 points per 3 years ago. Something has to change quickly.