In the minutes following UNC’s 35-28 win at Georgia State Saturday afternoon, Carolina fans could be forgiven for feeling a tad frustrated. They’d just seen their Tar Heels blow yet another double-digit lead and then hang on for dear life against a seemingly inferior opponent.
But after college football descended into anarchy and madness the rest of the day, that win feels awfully good.
Carolina, now 3-0 on the young season, now sports two road wins against Sun Belt foes. Normally, this would be scoffed at in the college football world. Now, the Sun Belt is flexing its muscles after perhaps the greatest opening two weeks in the conference’s history. Last week, it was Old Dominion pulling a home upset against Virginia Tech in Norfolk. This week, App State and Marshall traveled into the bellies of the beasts and shocked top 10 foes Texas A&M and Notre Dame. After UNC put up 63 points against the Mountaineers in Boone, the Aggies managed just 14. Later that night, another headliner: Georgia Southern traveling all the way to Nebraska and tripping up the Cornhuskers in what would be head coach Scott Frost’s last game with the program.
At times, it looked like the Tar Heels would fall victim to the Sun Belt curse against Georgia State, letting a 21-3 second quarter lead turn into a 28-21 deficit. Fortunately for Carolina, two fourth-quarter touchdown runs from freshman Omarion Hampton and four consecutive stops by the much-maligned defense turned the screws down the stretch, icing away the victory.
“We gave up a couple of big plays, but by and large the defense played by far the best it’s played,” UNC head coach Mack Brown said after the game. “They didn’t give up a point in the fourth quarter when it mattered. After some turnovers, which is not something we’ve been doing, defense came right back and forced four punts. So I’m really, really happy with what the defense did in the fourth quarter, as compared to last week.”
That’s not to say the win was perfect. As has seemingly become commonplace, the Tar Heels were hell-bent on keeping the Panthers in the game. Two late drives in the fourth quarter which could have sealed the win ended in a punt and a fumble. On UNC’s final drive, redshirt quarterback Drake Maye very nearly put the ball on the turf while reaching for a critical first down. Though Maye did toss two more touchdown passes on the day, he threw his first career interception on his first pass of the second half.
“It’ll let him grow for two weeks from now [against Notre Dame,]” Brown said of Maye’s performance. “But he won’t feel good about it.”
The last fumble was one of three turnovers for Carolina on the day, which doesn’t include a turnover on downs late in the second quarter. Some of Brown’s decision-making was questioned after the game, but the head coach remained happy with the win. Unbeknownst to him deep in the hallways of Center Parc Credit Union Stadium, the Aggies and Fighting Irish were taking on water. It makes Brown’s next quote all the more prescient.
“People are gonna be critical if you’re 3-0 or 0-3, so it doesn’t matter,” he said. “Like I said last week, people are gonna be critical… and I don’t care. These are good kids and they’re trying really hard. We’ve got a lot of things we need to fix, but when the offense wasn’t as good, a lot of people would like to have 35 points today if they didn’t think their offense played great and you turned it over three times.”
Both the offense and defense were decidedly up-and-down, and while that marked a step back for the offense, it marked a giant leap forward for the defense. The four straight stops down the stretch were the most all season by the unit. It’s a major confidence boost heading into the first of UNC’s two bye weeks this season, but Brown still sees room for improvement.
“We’ve got to correct so many things,” Brown said. “I don’t know how many big plays we gave up. Not like last week, but we did have two big passing plays that really hurt us. Or three. So we’ve got to continue to try to figure out what’s happening back there with communication, and just work to get better.”
After the bye, Notre Dame comes to Kenan Stadium.
It’s a stark contrast: one team comes in licking its wounds after a shocking loss to a Sun Belt team. The other comes in 3-0 with two suddenly impressive road wins. Before the season, which would you have thought were the Irish, and which the Tar Heels?
North Carolina, 2022 Sun Belt champions.
Featured image via Associated Press/Hakim Wright, Sr.
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