UNC Football Moments After – UNC vs. NC State 35-30 Loss
UNC Tar Heels Football Team Falters in Mack Brown’s Last Game to the Wolfpack on Senior Day
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
On Wednesday, November 26, 2024, Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham announced that after the final game of the 2024 season, Mack Brown would no longer be the head of the North Carolina Tar Heels football team. On Saturday afternoon, in Mack Brown’s final game as head coach, the Tar Heels football team faced off against their rival NC State, who they have lost to the last three seasons. North Carolina did not get off to the best start offensively. The Heels went scoreless in the first quarter for the fourth straight game. UNC’s offense was abysmal and had 13 plays for just 26 yards in the first quarter due to suspect play-calling, abandoning the run, and Jacolby Criswell being extremely inaccurate.
Carolina’s defense saved the Heels early while the offense was struggling. NC State was held to just 62 yards in the first quarter with the only touchdown coming off a North Carolina turnover. The Heels’ defense shut down NC State’s offense for the remainder of the half, holding them to just 27 yards in the second quarter. The Tar Heels got stops on 6 of the Wolfpack’s 7 first-half offensive possessions, including a nice interception by UNC cornerback Marcus Allen. Offensively, North Carolina finally got going in the second quarter and put together an 11-play 70-yard touchdown drive that featured Omarion Hampton, ending in a JJ Jones 17-yard touchdown. That score would put the Heels on the board for the first time in the game to make the score 7-6 going into halftime.
The second half was the complete opposite of the first half. Neither team was exceptional offensively in the first half because both teams’ defenses played well. However, after halftime, both teams scored over 20 points. North Carolina found success with their rushing attack led by Omarion Hampton and played off that to get their passing game going. After struggling to find explosive plays over the last couple of weeks, Omarion Hampton ripped off a 75-yard touchdown and Wide receiver Christian Hamilton caught a 50-yard touchdown pass from Jacolby Criswell on back-to-back offensive possessions. Meanwhile, NC State found success as well in the passing game due to blown coverages by the Tar Heels secondary and linebackers and the lack of pressure up front by the Heels’ defensive line. Both teams caught fire offensively and there were seven straight possessions with each team scoring. With just over 2 minutes left in the game, NC State kicked a field to go up 29-23. In the biggest drive of the game, UNC chose to give the ball to the best player Omarion Hampton on three straight plays, and on the third play Hampton would take a shovel pass 47 yards for a touchdown to put the Heels up 30-29.
The Heels’ defense needed one stop to give them the victory. It was 1 and 20 with 1 and 51 seconds left on the clock and Wolfpack quarterback CJ Bailey made the biggest play of the game with a 44-yard pass to Noah Rodgers who caught the pass over two defenders to put the ball on the 17-yard line. NC State would score a touchdown four plays later and go up 35-30, basically putting the game away. The Tar Heels tried to attempt a game-winning drive with 21 seconds left but failed to and dropped their final game of the season to NC State. North Carolina’s defense in the second half was horrendous, allowing the Wolfpack to get whatever they wanted offensively. NC State finished the game with 462 yards of total offense, 373 of those coming in the second half, and scored points on their final 6 offensive drives. The Tar Heels did enough offensively to win the game with over 460 yards of total offense and Omarion Hampton finishing with over 200 yards from scrimmage, but their defense couldn’t hold up and the Heels ended Mack Brown’s second stint as coach with a loss.
UNC Game Stats
UNC Total Offense- 468 yards
Rushing 193 Passing 275
UNC Passing: Jacolby Criswell 18/33 273 yards 3TDs
UNC Rushing: Omarion Hampton 22-185 1TD
UNC Receiving: Chris Culliver 2-96 yards 1TD, Omarion Hampton 4-65 yards 1TD, JJ Jones 3-30 yards 1TD
NC State Total Offense- 462
NC State Passing: CJ Bailey 14/20 242 2TDs 1INT
NC State Rushing: Hollywood Smothers 13-83 yards 2TDs
NC State Receiving: Dacari Collins 3-62 yards, Kevin Concepcion 3-44 yards 1TD, Dante Daniels 1-14 yards 1TD
UNC Bright Spots
Omarion Hampton had 22 carries for 185 yards and one touchdown. He also had 4 catches for 65 yards and one receiving touchdown.
Jacolby Criswell threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns.
Chris Culliver had 2 catches for 96 yards and one touchdown.
JJ Jones had 3 catches for 30 yards and one touchdown.
Marcus Allen had one interception.
Needs Work
North Carolina continues to struggle with consistently putting together great performances for the entirety of games. The defense will play well in one half and play poorly in the next half. The same goes for the offense. It has been as issue for the Heels all season long and a big reason why they finished the season with a .500 record.
UNC’s offensive and defensive coordinators must be better with their play calling in critical and late-game situations. They have not put their players in the best position to win in close games and that has been the case for most of the season.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels finished the season with a 6-6 record. Omarion Hampton had an outstanding season with another 1,500-yard rushing season. Hampton became the fourth player in ACC history to put together back-to-back 1,500-yard rushing seasons. He was the main bright spot for the Tar Heels all season as the Tar Heels are transitioning into a new era. Mack Brown coached his final game, and it ended in disappointing fashion. This Carolina football team has dealt with a lot of adversity this season starting from the first game of the season losing the starting quarterback Max Johnson to a season-ending injury, to naming Connor Harrell the starter and then switching to Jacolby Criswell two weeks later. After that, they dealt with some key injuries including their best defensive lineman Kaimon Rucker getting hurt, and followed that up with a four-game losing streak. Nothing was harder for the Tar Heels players than losing their fellow teammate and friend Tylee Craft to cancer, who had been with them the last couple of years. Through all the adversity, this team had their ups and downs. UNC followed up their four-game losing streak with a three-game winning streak after their bye week.
At this point in the season, Carolina was feeling good and was expecting to finish their season on a winning streak. However, these last two games couldn’t have been worse for the Tar Heels. They lost in embarrassing fashion to Boston College 41-10 and today lost to their rival for the fourth straight year. This team has struggled with consistency all season long and the coaches must take most of the blame for that. Mack Brown and his staff during these last six years have always struggled with consistency and finishing seasons strong. They’ve never handled success well and unravel a lot when adversity hits on the field. The inconsistency in play, lack of culture, and the inability to find the formula to establish a winning tradition and standard that the Heels could play at each and every week are the main reasons why Coach Mack Brown will not be returning as head coach after this season. Coach Brown brought this football program back to relevance and should be applauded and appreciated for that alone. But he failed to elevate this program to a consistent top 15-20 program that everyone expected this team to ultimately become, himself included. It’s time for a fresh start and an entire new coaching staff should be brought in to rejuvenate, energize, and propel this program to the next level. The coaching search is ongoing right now and we expect the new coach to be announced very soon.