UNC Tar Heels Football Team Shows Off a Potent Offense in Their Rout of the Syracuse Orange

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

Returning from their bye week, the North Carolina football team faced off against Syracuse on Saturday afternoon. Earlier in the week, the UNC football team received some great news with highly touted transfer wide receiver Tez Walker finally being declared eligible to play this season. Tez Walker’s return was a huge boost for the Tar Heels, and you could tell this was extra motivation for them to go out and play well in this game today. The Heels came out and played a very dominant first half against Syracuse.

The North Carolina offense was clicking on all cylinders as they had over 400 total yards of offense and 23 first downs in the first half. Drake Maye was in a great rhythm and did a great job of spreading it around to different receivers. Eleven different receivers caught a pass in the first half for UNC. North Carolina was very efficient in both the passing and running game with them averaging 8 yards per pass and 6 yards per carry.

Defensively, the Heels played outstanding in the first half. UNC held Syracuse scoreless in the first half and was flying around making plays, completely bottling up Syracuse’s offense. It was all Carolina in the first half as they led 27-0 going into halftime.  

In the second half, other than the one touchdown the North Carolina defense allowed early in the third quarter, the Tar Heels continued their dominance on both sides of the ball. UNC finished their dominant offensive performance with over 600 yards of total offense with over 400 yards passing and 202 yards rushing and put up 40 points.

The defense played exceptionally well and held Syracuse to under 200 yards of total offense before the defensive starters were taken out. It was the most complete game Carolina has played this season as they routed Syracuse 40-7, leading to their fifth win of the season.  

UNC Game Stats 

UNC Total Offense- 644 yards 

Rushing 442 Passing 202 

UNC Passing: Drake Maye 33-47-442 yards 3TDs 

UNC Rushing: Omarion Hampton 15-78 yards, Drake Maye 14-55 yards 1TD 

UNC Receiving: Nate Mccollum 7-135 yards, Kobe Paysour 3-100 yards 1TD, Bryson Nesbit 5-79 yards 1TD, Tez Walker 6-43 yards, John Copenhaver 1-1yard 1TD 

Syracuse Total Offense- 221 yards 

Syracuse Passing: Garrett Shrader 15-21-124 yards 1 INT 

Syracuse Rushing: LeQuint Allen 11-38 yards 1TD 

Syracuse Receiving: Umari Hatcher 6-85 yards 

UNC Bright Spots 

Drake Maye threw for 442 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 55 yards and had one rushing touchdown 

Nate Mccollum had 7 catches for 135 yards 

Kobe Paysour had 3 catches for 100 yards and one touchdown. 

Tez Walker had 6 catches for 43 yards in his first game.  

Omarion Hampton had 15 carries for 78 yards. 

Alijah Huzzie got his third interception of the season in this game. 

Freshman linebacker Amare Campbell got his first career interception.  

Needs Work 

The punt team needs to be better with their execution. This is the second straight game that a punt has been blocked.  

Final Observations 

The North Carolina football team improves to 5-0 on the season. The Tar Heels came out and played extremely well after the bye week, which is expected from a great team. Tez Walker played his first game as a Tar Heel after finally being declared eligible and will be a huge boost to this offense, which was already one of the best in the country. The defense continues to play well and if they can continue to play this way it will be hard for this team to be beat for the remainder of this ACC schedule.

This is the best team Mack Brown has had since he returned as head coach. Both the offense and defense are playing at an extremely high level right now and will look to keep it up. Over the first five games this season, UNC has proven to be one of the top two teams in the ACC and has a great chance of being in the ACC championship once again. They must continue to take it one game at a time and continue to stack wins and play great football on both offense and defense to ultimately become that caliber of team. Next up is Miami on Saturday, October 14.