UNC Tar Heels Football Team Pounds the Hokies for the Victory

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

The North Carolina football team faced off against their first ACC coastal divisional opponent in Virginia Tech on Saturday afternoon. Virginia Tech got on the board first to give them an early 3-0 lead before Carolina would go on to score 21 unanswered points. Virginia Tech did have a 14-play touchdown drive before halftime to cut the lead to 11 but left 28-seconds left on the clock.

This gave UNC just enough time to drive down the field and kick a field goal. UNC would now lead 24-10 going into halftime with the Tar Heel’s defense having their best performance of the season thus far.

In the second half, North Carolina took total control of the game. The Heels stopped the Hokies on their first offensive possession of the second half, scored on their opening offensive drive of the second half, and they never looked back. The North Carolina defense continued to dominate the Hokies throughout the second half, holding them scoreless after halftime.

It was just the fifth time the Tar Heels have held an opponent to at least 10 points since Mack Brown has returned to North Carolina as a head coach. Drake Maye was tremendous throughout the game throwing a career-high 363 yards with 3 passing touchdowns and 2 rushing touchdowns, which is the fourth time he’s had at least 5 touchdowns this season. UNC outgained Virginia Tech 527-273 on the day, and for the first time this season Carolina put together a great performance from both the defense and offense in the same game this season. This would lead the Tar Heels to their fourth win of the season and their first win in ACC play.

UNC Game Stats

UNC Total Offense– 527 yards

Rushing 160 Passing 367

UNC Passing: Drake Maye 26-36 363 yards 3TDs

UNC Rushing: Drake Maye 13-73 yards 2TDs

UNC Receiving: Josh Downs 8-120 yards, Bryson Nesbit 4-98 yards 1TD, Antoine Green 4-59 yards 1TD, Kamari Morales 3-29 yards 1TD

Virginia Tech Total Offense– 273 yards

Virginia Tech Passing: Grant Wells 16-26-139 yards 1INT

Virginia Tech Rushing: Keshawn King 9-52 yards, Grant Wells 6-17 yards 1Td

Virginia Tech Receiving: Kaleb Smith 3-49 yards

UNC Bright Spots

Drake Maye threw for 363 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 73 yards and had two rushing touchdowns.

Josh Downs had 8 catches for 120 yards.

Antoine Green had 4 catches for 59 yards and one touchdown

Bryson Nesbit had 4 catches for 98 yards and one touchdown

Kamari Morales had 3 catches for 29 yards and one touchdown.

Cedric Gray had one interception.

Needs Work

The offensive line’s run blocking must be better in order to produce a more effective rushing attack. They need to do a much better job of opening holes for the run game.

The defensive line still needs to do a better job of getting penetration in the backfield and getting more pressure on the quarterback which results in sacks.

Final Observations

The UNC football team moves to 4-1 on the season and 1-0 in ACC play. For the first time this season, both the offense and defense played well in the same game. This should definitely be a confidence booster for the team going forward. The defense played their best game of the season and must build on this performance to improve each game.

The offense has been outstanding all season long. With the way Drake Maye is playing quarterback for the Tar Heels, they couldn’t have asked for a better successor to Sam Howell than they have right now. If the defense can continue to improve and get better in each game along with the way the offense is playing, the Tar Heels will have a good shot at the ACC Coastal title. They must be ready for each game and not have any letdown games in order to do so. Next up North Carolina travels to play Miami on Saturday, October 8th.