UNC Football Moments After – UNC vs. NC State 42-19 Loss 

UNC Tar Heels Football Team Gets Bullied Against the NC State Wolfpack in the Season Finale

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

The North Carolina football team was looking to snap their four-game losing streak to NC State on Saturday night. The Tar Heels fell behind quickly as the Wolfpack went up 14-0 in the first quarter. NC State did whatever they wanted offensively in the run game and pass game against UNC’s defense. The Heels’ pass rush was neutralized, and they couldn’t cover any of the NC State’s wide receivers that were running wide open all over the field due to blown coverages and missed assignments. After going three and out on their first offensive possession, the Tar Heels’ offense found some success in the pass game with Gio Lopez completing 9 of his 12 passes. The passing game for the Heels allowed them to move the ball efficiently down the field on their two second-quarter drives, which resulted in 10 points.

Jordan Shipp was a huge part of the offensive success with 5 catches for 66 yards and a 20-yard touchdown. NC State’s pressure got home on that last Carolina drive and forced them to settle for a field goal. Even with some success found on offense, North Carolina still was down in the game due to NC State scoring touchdowns on all four of their first-half drives. The Heels had no answers for NC State, allowing 7 yards per pass and 5 yards per carry. The Wolfpack’s quarterback runs also gave UNC’s defense problems with quarterback CJ Bailey rushing for 65 yards, picking up critical third downs, and backup quarterback Will Wilson rushing for three touchdowns near the goal line. This was by far the worst the Carolina defense looked in a single half this season, and the major reason they were down 28-10 going into halftime. 

In the second half, North Carolina’s defense stepped up and held the Wolfpack to just 6 yards on two drives in the third quarter, but the Tar Heels couldn’t get going offensively after playing well in the first half. NC State’s pass rush started to disrupt the flow of the Heels’ offense, and UNC quarterback Gio Lopez started to really feel it as he threw inaccurate throws and held the ball too long, which resulted in sacks. Midway through the third quarter, Gio Lopez was injured after being sacked, and an NC player landed on his leg awkwardly, which would cause Lopez to miss the remainder of the game. UNC backup quarterback Max Johnson came in and led the Heels downfield after a couple of big runs of 10-plus yards and a couple of completions. That drive was ultimately halted after NC State’s pass rush was able to force some incompletions, and Carolina had to settle for a field goal, which only cut the lead to 15.

In the fourth quarter, the Tar Heels’ defense started to wear down, and NC State ran the ball over the Heels, leading to two straight touchdown drives to put the game away. It didn’t help that in between those drives, UNC fumbled the ball on offense and kept the momentum in NC State’s favor. North Carolina surrendered 42 points to the Wolfpack, which was the second-most points they’ve allowed this season, and were completely dominated in the trenches, especially defensively, where they couldn’t get off the field in short-yardage situations near the goal line or on third or fourth downs.  The Tar Heels just looked ill-prepared to play in a rivalry game and lost 42-19, giving them their eighth loss of the season and fifth straight loss to NC State. 

UNC Game Stats  

UNC Total Offense- 265 yards 

Rushing 70   Passing 195           

UNC Passing: Gio Lopez 11/16 118 yards 1TD, Max Johnson 8/15 54 yards, Au’Tori Newkirk 3/5 23 yards 1TD 

UNC Rushing: Benjamin Hall 6-29 yards 

UNC Receiving: Jordan Shipp 8-90 yards 1TD, Jordan Owens 1-4 yards 1TD 

  

NC State Total Offense- 386 yards 

NC State Passing: CJ Bailey 21/30 201 yards 2TDs 

NC State Rushing: CJ Bailey 8-65 yards, Will Wilson 12-54 4TDs 

NC State Receiving: Wesley Grimes 5-61 yards 1TD, Justin Joly 5-30 yards 1TD 

UNC Bright Spots  

Wide Receiver Jordan Shipp had 8 catches for 90 yards and one touchdown. 

Freshman Quarterback Au’Tori Newkirk threw his first career touchdown. 

Needs Work  

The Tar Heel must find a new offensive coordinator. Offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens never showed he was the right man for the job as the offense was basic, generic, predictable, and unproductive all season long. He couldn’t consistently put his players in a position to succeed, and it cost the Tar Heels a few games because the offense performed so poorly. 

The Tar Heels must be more disciplined. The last two games, they had double-digit penalties for over 100 yards, and you cannot help yourself win games when that happens. It’s unacceptable 

The Tar Heels must also look at changing their defensive scheme, structure, and system. While the defensive line played well for most of this season, rushing the passer and defending the run, the linebackers and defensive backs weren’t good in coverage. They didn’t do a good job of playing the ball in the air or being in position to even make a play to disrupt the opposing receiver. That is partially due to the scheme because they were in zone coverage a lot when that scheme doesn’t fit the personnel. They were much better in man coverage, but the defensive coordinator never adjusted, and they were torched by receivers all season long. 

Final Observations 

The Tar Heels finish the season with a record of 4-8. It was a disappointing season for UNC, to say the least. They ended the season on a three-game losing streak and looked like they didn’t want to be out there in this last game, which is unacceptable. We didn’t expect this team with so many new players and an entire new coaching staff to win 7 or 8 games, but with Bill Belichick as the head coach, the team was expected to perform and look better than they did. Belichick was supposed to at least come in and change the culture, and this team was expected to execute at a high level, be prepared for any scenario, and play smart, fundamentally sound football. However, the total opposite happened. For most of the season, this team was undisciplined, unprepared, and not well-coached.

The coaches did not put their players in a position to succeed. The coaches could never quite figure out what scheme or system fit the offensive personnel on the team, and they became one of the worst offenses in the FBS. Defensively, they were one of the better teams at sacking the quarterback and holding teams to low scores, but the secondary could be exploited in the passing game, and the defense fell apart at the end of the season. In addition, the defense needed to be more dominant for this team to be able to win because the offense couldn’t put up enough points. There just wasn’t enough talent on the team for that to be accomplished. Coach Belichick and his staff failed this team, the fans, and the entire football program this year. It was a rough start to his tenure. He will need to make extreme changes to the coaching staff, roster, and overall culture of this program in order to turn this program around.

The Tar Heels first and foremost need to find a quality, experienced Offensive coordinator that can put together a successful college offense, then find a quarterback that can run that system, and change the defensive scheme to a better one than a 4-2-5 scheme. Then, they need to be extremely aggressive in the transfer portal, getting players at every position who have already been productive at the college level, and build systems around their skillsets. This was Carolina’s first losing season since 2018, so Coach Belichick, General Manager Mike Lombardi, and their staff have their work cut out for them to take this program to the next level and go where they imagined it to be when they were hired as “the 33rd NFL team,” as stated.