UNC Football Moments After – UNC vs. Notre Dame 37-26 Loss
UNC Tar Heels Football Team Battles With the Fighting Irish But Had Too Many Miscues
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina football team faced off against #3 Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon, coming off their bye week. The Tar Heels started well with a defensive stop on the first possession and a 7-play, 74-yard touchdown drive to take an early 7-0 lead. Notre Dame answered with a touchdown to tie it 7-7, setting up a shootout as both defenses struggled to stop the other. However, the game changed when Billy Edwards threw two interceptions on back-to-back possessions: the first came under duress from a Notre Dame defender, became an underthrow, and was thrown right to the defender, and the second came after Edwards overthrew Jordan Shipp on a deep ball. The safety was there to catch it.
Notre Dame scored 14 points off those two interceptions, giving them a 14-point lead over the Heels. North Carolina’s defense struggled in coverage against the Fighting Irish’s explosive receivers and couldn’t generate enough pass rush to disrupt Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr’s rhythm. UNC played in zone coverage, giving receivers plenty of room to make easy catches, and Notre Dame took full advantage to march down the field against Carolian’s defense. Down 21-7 with just over 7 minutes left in the second quarter, Notre Dame was on the verge of scoring a touchdown on their fourth straight offensive possession, but the Tar Heels made a great goal-line stand to force a turnover on downs and keep them out of the end zone. UNC’s offense took over at the three-yard line and put together a methodical 7-minute, 97-yard touchdown drive, with a good balance of run and pass plays. UNC quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. spread the ball around to a few different receivers before throwing a 14-yard touchdown pass to Tight End Jelanie Thurman. The Tar Heels were fortunate to be only down 21-14 going into halftime and had momentum with them getting the ball on offense to start the second half.
Carolina came out of halftime and got a huge boost from special teams after Jaden Jefferson returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, cutting Notre Dame’s touchdown lead. Notre Dame responded emphatically with a dominant 9-minute, 17-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, running the football right down the throat of North Carolina’s defense all the way downfield. 14 of those 17 plays were runs, and the North Carolina defense was just getting pushed around and pummeled with no answers for the Fighting Irish’s run game. After rushing for just 75 yards in the first half, Notre Dame rushed for 166 yards in the second half and was the driving force of their 3 scoring drives after halftime.
The Tar Heels’ offense was nonexistent in the second half until they scored with over 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter, and by then they were already down 37-20. UNC never found a rhythm offensively. The Heels couldn’t get their run game going, posting the worst rushing performance of the season, and pressure from Notre Dame’s defense and Billy Edwards’ inaccurate throws kept them stagnant and unproductive. Carolina couldn’t stay on the field long enough to do much offensively, as the Fighting Irish had possession for over 21 of the 30 second-half minutes. The Tar Heels’ defense was on the field too long and wore down over the second half, clearly affecting their performance against the Notre Dame offense. North Carolina made too many mistakes to keep up with Notre Dame, including turnovers, blown coverages, missed tackles, a lack of pass rush, an inability to run the ball effectively, and quarterback inaccuracy. The Heels lose their second game of the season and find themselves at .500 through the first four games.
UNC Game Stats
UNC Total Offense: 285 yards
Rushing 77 Passing 208
UNC Passing: Billy Edwards Jr. 17/28, 208 yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs
UNC Rushing: Benjamin Hall 19 carries, 36 yards
UNC Receiving: Jordan Shipp 7 catches, 109 yards; Jelan Thurman 5 catches, 50 yards, 2 TDs; Shamar Easter 3 catches, 24 yards
Notre Dame Total Offense: 475 yards
Notre Dame Passing: CJ Carr 21/29 234 yards 4TDs
Notre Dame Rushing: Jonaz Walton 23 carries 120 yards; Nolan James Jr. 9 carries 65 yards
Notre Dame Receiving: Jordan Faison 8 catches 132 yards 2TDs, Micah Gilbert 3 catches 34 yards, Jaden Greathouse 2 catches 18 yards 1TD, Nolan James Jr. 1 catch 6 yards 1TD
UNC Bright Spots
Wide Receiver Jordan Shipp had 7 catches for 109 yards.
Tight End Jelani Thurman had 5 catches for 50 yards and two touchdowns
Linebacker Derek McDonald led the team with 12 tackles.
Needs Work
Quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. needs to be a better decision-maker as the offense’s leader. His inaccuracy and turnovers have kept the offense from being as productive and explosive as it could be. Offensive Coordinator Bobby Petrino’s playcalling hasn’t helped; his conservative calls, running the ball at the wrong times, and lack of aggression in downfield passing have made the offense easy to defend and kept it from finding a rhythm.
The UNC defense must play better, starting with the rush. The defensive line is the best unit on Carolina’s defense and must do more to wreak havoc at the line of scrimmage, pressure the quarterback, be as disruptive as possible, and set the tone. The defensive game plan didn’t help the players, given how conservative it was throughout the game. There were no exotic blitzes or play calls to put them in a better position to put pressure on the quarterback and disrupt the opposing offense’s rhythm. It also didn’t help that the secondary was in zone coverage all game long, soft coverage at that, giving up too many easy throws to one of the best quarterbacks in the country. They were not put in position to succeed, and when there is no pass rush and the secondary is struggling to cover, it puts pressure on the linebackers to step up, who are incapable of playing at a high level on their own.
The linebacker play still needs work. The starting linebackers don’t look nearly fast or athletic enough to be playing significant snaps at the FBS level. They are slow to get to the football, struggle in coverage, don’t tackle well, and are often out of position and unable to make an impact play. Their issues being in their gaps and fits have caused the rushing defense to suffer and allow too many yards. I would like to see them rotate their linebackers to see if they can get better production from their younger players in that unit.
Final Observations
The North Carolina football team is 2-2 now. But they should be 3-1 because they had no business losing to Clemson last week, after outplaying them for most of the game and being the more talented team. Nevertheless, this week against Notre Dame, it was going to be a tough task to upset a top-three team in the country. North Carolina did themselves no favors with the number of self-inflicted errors and mistakes they made in this game. Billy Edwards’s two interceptions were unacceptable and shouldn’t have happened against a team like Notre Dame. The Heels didn’t play complementary football. The offense left the defense hanging with so many unproductive drives that ended quickly. The defense kept the Heels in the game, allowing only 21 points in the first half, and they were fortunate to be only down 7 going into halftime. In the second half, after being on the field for most of the game, the defense wore down, and Notre Dame ran the ball down their throats for the rest of the game, and UNC had no answer.
It was disappointing to see how conservatively and safely they played on both sides of the ball. The North Carolina defense was basic and didn’t execute; it gave up easy throws, blew coverages, missed tackles, and barely disrupted Notre Dame’s offense. When they did step up and make a couple of stops, the offense didn’t capitalize on those opportunities. Once Billy Edwards threw those two interceptions, it seemed to put a lid on the aggressive downfield play calls, and they couldn’t get the run game going, so they weren’t very productive. Carolina was successful on only three of their nine offensive drives. That cannot happen. It’s hard to see this offense reaching its potential with Billy Edwards as their quarterback. Edwards isn’t consistently accurate downfield and gets rattled under duress.
You can tell the offensive coaching staff doesn’t fully believe in his abilities either, because everything they call is either short or immediate throws, and they want the run game to be the focal point of the offense. The problem is the run game isn’t explosive enough to make defenses uncomfortable or change what they want to do, so the Heels need a better passing attack. You can’t beat good teams in college football with an average offense unless you have an elite defense, and the Tar Heels don’t. Moving forward, the coaches need to make the right adjustments, put the right players on the field who fit their system best, and play to the players’ strengths to get the best results. Next up is Pittsburgh on October 10 at 12:00 P.M.