Ben Kiernan was UNC’s MVP of the Notre Dame game.

When Mack Brown went over the 31-17 loss, he gave mixed reviews to the two main branches of his Tar Heels’ play.

He said the offense was good in the first half and then “went dead” in a scoreless second half. He praised the Tar Heel defense but allowed it had a hard time stopping the Fighting Irish clock-controlling run game, which out-rushed Carolina 199-87 and gave them 10 more minutes of possession time.

“Our special teams played well,” Brown said, crediting the third branch that got a long field goal from Grayson Atkins and superb punting from sophomore Ben Kiernan, who out-kicked his Notre Dame counterpart by averaging 50.6 yards on seven punts.

Kiernan, the Irish former rugby player, certainly did his part with rockets that five times finished inside the Notre Dame 20-yard line, once at the 3. That one led to a 97-yard march, aided by Carolina’s offsides penalty on fourth-and-1, to the go-ahead and what turned out to be decisive touchdown for the Fighting Irish.

Kiernan has become a sort-of forgotten man on Brown’s special teams because the prolific offense has ended drives with a punt only 28 times so far this season (none at Virginia), the second fewest among the ACC leaders. His seven Saturday were the most in any game this season and still left him 32 behind his 2019 total.

If he kicked more, Kiernan could become a “rocket star” with his driving, low-altitude spirals that make it hard for punt returners to handle and often result in additional forward bounces when they hit the turf.

One-time rugby and soccer players turned punters have become more common in college football these days, decades after side-winders replaced straight-on, square-toed field goal kickers.

Kiernan first went to an American football kicking camp in Ireland and, after excelling there, moved with his family to Raleigh and became the 11th-rated punter in the nation for Wakefield High School. Kiernan’s dream was answered when UNC offered him a scholarship.

He won the job as a freshman in Brown’s first season and has improved his average by three yards. His seven punts against Notre Dame were all rockets that consistently left the Irish with long fields, doing his job very well.

 

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