UNC Football Moments After – UNC vs. NC Central 45-10 Win
UNC Tar Heels Football Team Sleep Walks Through the First Half Then Pulls Away Against the Eagles
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina football team hosted NC Central on Saturday night as they looked to start 3-0 for a third straight season. The Tar Heels got off to a slow start in this game and didn’t look ready to play. UNC played their worst quarter of the season in that first quarter. The Heels scored 0 points due to inept offensive play calling and their inability to find any flow or rhythm on offense. The UNC defense allowed a touchdown on the opening drive and 7 first downs in 14 plays, and as a team they had 6 penalties in the first 10 minutes of the game and 10 penalties by halftime.
In the second quarter, Carolina finally settled in and started playing better on both sides of the ball. Offensively, UNC got back to what has been most successful for them this season offensively, which is relying heavily on their rushing attack led by Omarion Hampton. Omarion Hampton had an exceptional first half with 21 carries for 180 and two touchdowns, leading the Heels to 17 first-half points. Meanwhile, defensively after a poor showing in the first quarter, they woke up and started to impose their will on the game with their stout run defense and ability to disrupt the quarterback in the backfield and make plays in the passing game. UNC forced three consecutive punts and made a big stop on the goal line to hold NC Central to a field goal to keep them up 7 going into halftime.
In the third quarter, both teams were held scoreless. North Carolina had a couple of drops on offense that halted drives, but the Heels’ defense stepped up and kept getting stop after stop completely dominating and disrupting NC Central’s offense in the second half. NC Central was held under 100 rushing and passing yards and had 167 yards of total offense as the Tar Heels completely shut them down after their opening touchdown. UNC scored 28 fourth-quarter points due to their outstanding rushing attack with three different running backs getting in the endzone including Omarion Hampton, Davion Gause, and Charleston French. Omarion Hampton was the engine of the offense this game as he has been all season long finishing the game with 210 yards on 25 carries with three touchdowns and leading the Heels to 3-0 on the season.
UNC Game Stats
UNC Total Offense- 513 yards
Rushing 330 Passing 183
UNC Passing: Jacolby Criswell 14-23-161 yards 1TD
UNC Rushing: Omarion Hampton 25-210 yards 3TDs, Charleston French 3-58 yards 1TD, Davion Gause 7-39 yards 1TD
UNC Receiving: John Copenhaver 6-60 yards 1 TD, Bryson Nesbit 3-42 yards
NC Central Total Offense- 167 yards
NC Central Passing: Walker Harris 7-15 88 yards
NC Central Rushing: J’Mari Taylor 21-46 yards 1TD
NC Central Receiving: Chance Peterson 5-60 yards
UNC Bright Spots
Running back Omarion Hampton had 25 carries for 210 yards and 3 rushing touchdowns, recording his second 200-yard rushing game of his career.
Freshman running back Charleston French had 3 carries for 58 yards including a 45-yard rushing touchdown.
Freshman running back Davion Gause had 7 carries for 39 yards and one rushing touchdown.
Tight end John Copenhaver had 6 catches for 60 yards and one receiving touchdown
Defensive back Kaleb Cost led the team with 8 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 0.5 tackles for loss, 1 PBU, and 1 INT.
Defensive lineman Desmond Evans had 4 tackles, 1 sack, and 3 tackles for loss.
Needs Work
North Carolina must be more disciplined and cut down on their turnovers. They had 10 penalties in the first half alone after only having 11 through the first two games and finished the game with 16 penalties for over 100 yards, which is completely unacceptable.
The offensive game plan for the quarterbacks must be better. The offensive coaching staff must do a better job of calling plays that lean on their quarterbacks’ strengths and that will give them the most success when they are on their field. Otherwise, the Carolina offense will be one dimensional, and against better competition, it will become even more of an issue if they are unable to pass the ball with success consistently.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels move to 3-0 on the season for the third straight season. This Carolina team is in an interesting position. Defensively, they have looked better than in past years, but unlike in past years this year the offense is the problem. Now the rushing attack has been great this season and has been as good as advertised with Omarion Hampton leading the way. We even have seen success in the running game with freshman running back Davion Gause.
However, the real and major concern is the passing game. Coming into this game, Connor Harrel was the clear starter at quarterback for the Tar Heels, but late in the first quarter Harrel took a huge hit and was taken out of the game. Jacolby Criswell came in and was serviceable, but the passing didn’t improve much with him in the game. Offensive coordinator Chip Lindsay and his offensive coaching staff need to recognize who their quarterbacks are and identify what they do well. They cannot run the same system that they ran last year with Drake Maye and have success. Neither Connor Harrell nor Jacolby Criswell has his skillset at the position. Criswell is more of an efficient passer but isn’t necessarily a great passer and Harrell is dynamic with his running ability and ability to throw on the run and outside the pocket.
The improvement of Connor Harrell and establishing an offensive identity to utilize Harrell’s strengths will probably give this offense the most success and put more fear in defenses if they’re choosing between Criswell and Harrell. With Connor Harrell’s running ability, they lean more on the game plan they had against Charlotte where they utilized more RPOs, option plays, and plays that had him getting outside the pocket to throw the ball. These adjustments must be established offensively if they want to have a good season especially with ACC opponents coming up.
If they can put together a good offense with the way the defense is capable of playing, they can win a lot of games this season. It will be up to the coaching staff to put these players in the best position to have success on the field and we will be watching closely to see how they handle the quarterback position going forward because switching quarterback in and out of the lineup is not going to help this team reach their full potential. Next up is James Madison on Saturday, September 21 at 12:00 P.M. on ACC Network.