The Tar Heels won, but at what cost?
Florida A&M came into the Week 0 matchup with Carolina in Kenan Stadium down 20 players (including star linebacker Isaiah Land) and dressed only seven offensive linemen. And yet, the Rattlers scored 24 points against new coordinator Gene Chizik’s defense.
The scoring came in a losing effort: UNC won, 56-24, as the Carolina offense proved too much for the Rattlers to control. Freshman quarterback Drake Maye put up a historic statline, throwing five touchdown passes in his first collegiate start. Maye is the first UNC quarterback ever to throw five touchdowns in his first career start, and the first one to throw five touchdowns in a season opener.
“It was fun out there!” Maye said after the game. “It felt good playing with the guys out there. Took us a little bit after that first drive to get going… but I thought we did a nice job. Glad we got the win.”
And yet… there are plenty of warning signs for next weekend’s road tilt at Appalachian State. A Tar Heel defense which had been touted as an improved unit over its 2021 version seemed anything but, leaving Rattler receivers open and allowing quarterback Jeremy Moussa to throw for 279 yards.
“We didn’t think he’d start,” UNC head coach Mack Brown said of Moussa. “We thought the other one was really good, and we kept wondering. And obviously now, we know why he started. He’s really good.”
Fortunately, there were many bright spots for the Tar Heels Saturday night, particularly on the young offense. There was Maye’s historic performance, but Carolina’s two highly-touted running backs also raised many an eyebrow around Chapel Hill. Omarion Hampton, who unlike most of the freshmen did not play in the spring, announced his presence with authority: 14 carries, 101 yards and two touchdowns in his first career game. He’s the first UNC running back to rush for more than 100 yards in his first career game since the legendary Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice did so in 1946.
“I don’t know much [about Justice], but that is crazy,” Hampton said. “I heard about him a little bit.”
George Pettaway wouldn’t let his backfield teammate completely steal the spotlight, though. The shifty freshman from Virginia made one of the highlights of the night, evading four Rattler tacklers on a 29-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. He finished with four rushes for 51 yards and the score.
“George made everybody look slow,” Brown said.
Elsewhere on the offense, Biletnikoff Award candidate Josh Downs did Josh Downs things: nine catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns, all of which led all UNC receivers. Downs caught eight touchdown passes in 2021. The tight end tandem of Kamari Morales and Bryson Nesbit also snagged touchdown passes, as well as redshirt freshman Gavin Blackwell. It was the first touchdown of Blackwell’s collegiate career.
Maye was pulled from the game midway through the fourth quarter, though Tar Heel fans everywhere would have preferred to have seen him sit out earlier. But his final stats spoke for themselves: 29-37 for 294 yards and five scores. Brown called the performance “one of the best first games I’ve ever seen.”
Maye’s day also included several eye-popping runs. One particular scamper saw Maye somersault over Rattler defenders near the front pylon of the end zone. Though Maye believed he’d scored, he was ruled out at the one-yard line.
“I said ‘No, man! Come on!'” Brown said of his thought process during the play. “But he is a competitor.”
But like 2021, it seems the defense could be worrisome. An early injury to star cornerback Tony Grimes which forced him to miss the remainder of the game does nothing to calm the nerves. UNC classified it as an “upper-body injury.”
Still, fellow cornerback Storm Duck, who nabbed his first interception since 2019, was confident Grimes wouldn’t miss an extended period of time.
“Tony’s gonna be good,” he said.
So, the Tar Heels start the season 1-0 for the third time in four years since Brown returned. It’s certainly a palate-cleanser after 2021’s disastrous opening loss in Blacksburg, or the catastrophic final two games of that ill-fated season. But lest Carolina lose to Appalachian State for the second time in four years, there remains work to be done.
“They’re real fixable,” Duck said of some of the defense’s mistakes. “It’s guys locking in, and being where we need to be. That’s gonna be fixed by next week.”
“We’ve got some work to do, but this defensive staff’s never had a game together,” said Brown. “Coach Chizik hadn’t called defenses for five years. I think we’ll all see a tremendous amount of improvement in a short time. Because I knew they weren’t very happy.”
Featured image via The News & Observer/Robert Willett
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our biweekly newsletter.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines