UNC Tar Heels Football Team Open the Season with a Competitive Game Against the Rattlers

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

The North Carolina football team played their first game of the 2022 football season. After last season didn’t go quite the way they expected ending the season with a .500 record, the Tar Heels look to turn things around this season. In their first matchup of the season, the Tar Heels faced off against FAMU on Saturday night. There’s a lot of change with this team compared to last year. Drake Maye is the new starting quarterback and Gene Chizik and Charlton Warren have taken over the defense as defensive coordinators.

After a quick 3 and out to start the game on the first offensive drive, Drake Maye was exceptional and looked poised and composed out there on the field. Maye led the Heels on a 78-yard touchdown drive, after connecting on a 17-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kamari Morales. After the Tar Heels scored their first touchdown, FAMU marched right down the field for a touchdown drive of their own.

The North Carolina defense had problems against Florida A&M’s quick passing game for most of the game as the Rattlers drove up and down the field entirely too easily. FAMU had at least one first down on five of their first six first-half drives. UNC allowed Florida A&M to get comfortable on offense and the Rattlers came ready to play.

Meanwhile, the Tar Heels’ offense was in rhythm. Four of the next five offensive drives led to touchdowns. Going into halftime, the UNC defense forced an interception with 31 seconds left in the second quarter and the UNC offense took advantage and scored a touchdown right before halftime to make the score 28-14.

In the second half, the Tar Heels’ offense picked up right where they left off and drove down the field for a touchdown on the first second-half drive. However, the FAMU Rattlers were resilient. They continued to play well, scored two straight touchdowns, forced UNC to a turnover on downs, and found themselves only down 11 going into the 4th quarter. North Carolina’s defense finally stepped up in the fourth quarter and held the Rattlers scoreless for the rest of the game.

The biggest play came on defense for the Tar Heels when Kaimon Rucker forced a fumble and the momentum completely shifted. UNC scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and put the game out of reach leading to their 56-24 Win.

Drake Maye played as well as you can in his first start as the new UNC quarterback. He threw for 294 yards and five touchdowns. Drake Maye threw the most touchdowns for a quarterback in a season opener in UNC football program history and the most touchdowns in a quarterback’s first start in program history.

Drake Maye showed in this game that he had complete control of the offense. Maye threw to 10 different receivers including running backs. Six different Tar Heels scored a touchdown in this game including Kamari Morales, Bryson Nesbit, Gavin Blackwell, Omarion Hampton, Josh Downs, and Geroge Pettaway and the offense is only going to get better as the season progresses.

UNC Game Stats

UNC Total Offense 608 yards

Rushing 314 Passing 294

UNC Passing: Drake Maye 29-37-294yds 5TDs

UNC Rushing: Omarion Hampton 14-101 yds 2TDs, Elijah Green 8-69 yds, George Pettaway 4-51 yds 1TD, Drake Maye 4-55 yds

UNC Receiving: Josh Downs 9-78 yds 2TDs, Bryson Nesbit 4-53 yds 1TD, Gavin Blackwell 4-36 yds 1TD, Kamari Morales 2-33 yds 1TD

FAMU Total Offense 335 yards

FAMU Passing: Jeremy Moussa 28-38-279 yds 2TDS 1INT

FAMU Rushing: Terrell Jennings 10-39 yds, Jaylen McCloud 2-8 yds 1TD

FAMU Receiving: Xavier Smith 10-78 yds, Trevonte Davis 3-49 yds 1TD, AJ Davis 2-20 yds 1TD

UNC Bright Spots

Drake Maye threw for 294 yards and 5 touchdowns. He also had 4 rushes for 55 yards.

Freshman running back Omarion Hampton rushed 14 times for 101 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Elijah Green rushed 8 times for 69 yards.

George Pettaway rushed 4 times for 51 yards and one touchdown.

Josh Downs had 9 catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns.

Bryson Nesbit had 4 catches for 53 yards and one touchdown.

Gavin Blackwell had 4 catches for 36 yards and one touchdown

Kamari Morales had 2 catches for 33 yards and one touchdown.

Power Echols led the team in tackles with 10, two tackles for loss, and one sack.

Noah Tayor had one sack.

Kaimon Rucker had four tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, and a forced fumble.

Storm Duck had one interception.

Needs Work

The UNC defense needs to play much better, especially against the pass. The secondary struggled for most of the game against FAMU’s passing attack. The defense had blown coverages, poor tackling early on, and missed assignments in the secondary which gave FAMU’s offense confidence in the passing game for 2 ½ quarters. The defensive line needs to be able to penetrate and put more pressure on the quarterback more often. They must address these issues before they play tougher competition if they want to win more games this year.

Final Observations

The North Carolina football team is now 1-0 on the season. It was a great decision by the coaching staff to schedule an early game to see where they are as a team. It will help them in the long run. One issue they must address is the secondary. They did not play well. They allowed too many yards in the passing game and made some key mistakes in the red zone that cost them points.

This is something they will need to figure out, especially since the offense is young and inexperienced so the defense will need to be depended on much more this season. It will not be good for the Tar Heels if they have to outscore their opponents. That will put too much pressure on their new quarterback and the offense.

The Tar Heel’s offense looked really good out there and they will only get better as the season progresses. They have four running backs that can contribute immediately and 5 or 6 pass-catching options including receivers and tight ends that can contribute as well. The talent is there on both sides of the field and this team has the potential to do some special things this season.

However, the defense must step up and make sure they don’t struggle with the same things that plagued them last season such as lack of pass rush, poor tackling, and miscommunication, and blown coverages in the secondary. If the defense can do those things along with the continued growth of the offense each game, they will have a chance to be at the top of the ACC coastal division this season.

Next up the Tar Heels travel to Boone to face off against Appalachian State on Saturday, September 3rd at 12 noon.