UNC Tar Heels Football Team Squanders the Game Against the Lowly Cavaliers

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

The North Carolina football team faced off against Virginia on Saturday night in what they call the South’s oldest rivalry. The Tar Heels did not get off to a good start in this game on either side of the ball. UNC’s offense struggled and punted on three of their first four drives. Drake Maye was uncharacteristically inaccurate early on as the offense was completely out of sync. Two of the early punts from North Carolina gave Virginia’s offense shorts fields and the Cavaliers took full advantage marching down the field on both those drives for touchdowns. On those drives, poor tackling from the UNC defense allowed Virginia to run the ball effectively and put 14 points on the board. For the first time this season, North Carolina trailed after the first quarter and surrendered first-quarter points at home. However, even with all the offensive struggles from the Tar Heels, Carolina still put together three scoring drives, including a one-minute drive right before halftime that resulted in a field goal to give UNC a 17-14 lead.  

After halftime, UNC came out, forced a turnover on downs, and followed it up with a 7-play 60-yard touchdown drive to put the Heels up 10 points. At this point in the game, it felt like North Carolina had all the momentum and was going to take full control of the game as they have all season long thus far. However, Virginia would not go away. The Cavaliers responded with 10 straight points to tie the game at 24 led by their run game. The momentum was slowly shifting to Virginia at this point in the game as Virginia’s defense also started to step up and made consecutive stops to the explosive North Carolina offense. UNC had their chances to put up points but was held scoreless for the last 12 minutes of the game. UVA took full advantage of UNC’s offensive struggles and the Tar Heels’ kicking game that gave UVA several short fields which resulted in points for the Cavaliers. North Carolina surrendered over 200 yards rushing to Virginia and Drake Maye played his worst game as a Tar Heels, which is never a good combination. The Tar Heels displayed their worst performance of the year on both sides of the ball and suffered their first loss of the season. 

UNC Game Stats 

UNC Total Offense- 490 yards 

Rushing 143 Passing 347 

UNC Passing: Drake Maye 24-48-347 yards 2TDs 1INT 

UNC Rushing: Omarion Hampton 19-112 yards, Drake 6-17 yards 

UNC Receiving:  Tez Walker 11-146 yards 1TD, Bryson Nesbit 3-93 yards 

Virginia Total Offense- 436 yards 

Virginia Passing: Tony Muskett 20-30-208 yards 1TD 1INT 

Virginia Rushing: Perris Jones 14-67 yards, Mike Hollins 15-66 yards 3TDs 

Virginia Receiving: Malik Washington 12-115 yards 1TD, Sackett Wood Jr. 3-62 yards 

UNC Bright Spots 

Omarion Hampton had 19 carries for 112 yards. 

Tez Walker had 11 catches for 146 yards and one touchdown. 

Armani Chatman had one interception. 

Needs Work 

Drake Maye needs to be more consistent with his accuracy when he is throwing the ball. He missed too many throws in this game that he usually makes with ease. 

Offensive coordinator Chip Lindsay needs to do a better job of sticking with plays that are successful and needs to focus on running the ball more. Too many times he went away from his best playmakers in this game and had very questionable play calls in critical situations, which ultimately hurt the Tar Heels’ offensive success in this game. 

The defense needs to shore up their run defense. Virginia ran for over 200 yards in this game because of UNC’s poor tackling and the UNC defensive players not being in the right gaps, which is totally unacceptable.  

The kicking game mistakes need to be addressed. No punt was over 39 yards, which gave Virginia’s offense short fields all game long. In addition, the kicker struggled to kick it to the endzone on kickoffs as well. These special teams’ miscues only make the game harder for the defense so it is something that must be resolved as soon as possible for the coaching staff. 

Final Observations 

The North Carolina football team falls to 6-1 on the season as they suffered their first loss of the season. It was a horrendous loss for the Tar Heels. They lost to a Virginia team that had the worst record in the ACC coming into this game, which is totally unacceptable and very disappointing to see. It seems as if every time the Tar Heels have any major success as a football program, they have a letdown game as a team. I don’t know what the exact issue is, but the Heels do not handle success well. The coaching staff and players must do whatever it takes to break that cycle so the Tar Heels can make that jump into being one of the top football programs in the nation consistently.

UNC has the talent to play with the top programs but must put together performances on the field that show the country that they belong there. North Carolina was looking to have a special season where they could possibly go undefeated but wasted a poor performance against a mediocre Virginia team that will indeed drop them in the standings. It also makes their ACC Championship aspirations even more difficult, but it can still be done. Carolina must regroup and get back to playing the winning football they were before this week. Next up is Georgia Tech on Saturday, October 28^th.