by Derrick Clyburn

The Tar Heels are improving through all of the tribulations and attrition that has taken place this season.  You can see the steady improvement on defense, with all of the young players getting valuable time on the field.  The UNC football team is still fighting, and that is a good sign for the future. The defense held its own again for most of the game again. The offense did a better job, especially in the running game. I felt that the coaches should have used both quarterbacks in the previous games, due to the inexperience of Surratt and all the youth on this football team. But that is water under the bridge now. UNC has to win out to have a chance for a bowl game. It is a very tough heal to climb. With a win against UVA, today that could’ve started the win streak that they needed,

Game Stats

UNC Total Offense – 257 Yards

Rushing 211, Passing 46

UNC Passing: Brandon Harris 7-18-46yds 3 Ints

UNC Rushing: Michael Carter 13-157yds 2 TD’s

UNC Receiving: Brandon Fritts 2-15yds

Virginia Total Offense – 405 Yards

UVA Passing: Kurt Benkert 19-31-249yds 2TD’s 

UVA Rushing: Jordan Ellis 27-136yds

UVA Receiving: Olamide Zaccheaus 5-100yds 1 TD, Evan Butts 3-33yds 1 TD

Bright Spots

Michael Carter 13-157yds 2 TD’s. Carter showed explosion and quickness.

UNC Miscues

3 interceptions by Brandon Harris. Two of those were while he was being hit by the UVA defenders. Freeman Jones missed a 36-yard field goal, which turned out to be huge. UNC may have only needed a field goal to tie the game on the last drive.

Ref Miscues

The referees missed a face mask of Brandon Harris on the 4th and 9 with 1:10 remaining in the 4th quarter, that pretty much sealed the game for UVA.

Needs Work

The offensive coordinator with Fedora chiming in did a better job on first downs this week. The running game was very effective, but the offensive line had a hard time pass blocking. Harris was harassed all day by the UVA defenders. UNC had a paltry 46 yards passing. That is totally unacceptable. 

Final Observations

This hasn’t been the season that we expected so far. No one could control all of the injuries that have taken place. It has been tough to watch. All this team can do is fight and continue to get better at executing on both sides of the ball. As they say, take one game at a time.