If you’re still reading this, thank you. Between the disappointment of how this season has gone and the excitement that has exploded over basketball, you’d be forgiven for not really caring at this point about
the football team’s performance. Certainly the ratings tell us that fans in general have moved on and two straight weeks on The CW isn’t going to help.
Still, in the old days the three games coming up would carry some huge weight as the Tar Heels are about to play each of the other Big 4 schools, and considering how inconsistent each of those three squads have been, you can argue that Carolina at least has a reasonable chance to end the season on a nice winning streak. Will it matter? Let’s talk about that in our winners, losers, and honorable mentions.
Winners
UNC Defensive Front: How many times did UNC sack Stanford quarterback Elijah Brown? Nine times. Melkart Abou Jaoude and Tyler Thompson notched three, Andrew Simpson snagged two, and Smith Vilbert had the other one. It was an aggressive defense against a quarterback in his first start, and honestly the only reason the game got close at the end was because Carolina stopped that aggressiveness to play prevent defense. The level of competition steps up starting next week, though, and with a couple weeks’ worth of tape we’ll see if they can still get the same penetration on a Duke team competing for the ACC Title, a Wake team that just ended Virginia’s lucky streak, and a NC State team that always get up for that contest.
Davion Gause: The actual state don’t look great for him on the rushing side, but he bailed Carolina out on their first touchdown drive in the third quarter when the offense had been just horrid. In the end he converted three third downs, none of them short, and kept the ball moving to finally put some desperation into Stanford and open up the field for Gio Lopez. He was the Player of the Game yesterday for a reason, and in general it’s a great sign that another running back can step up when the defense has keyed in on another one.
YouTube TV Subscribers: You would think that it’s an insult to be relegated to The CW, but if you subscribe to YouTube TV—unlike the basketball game on Friday—you were able to watch the game because the game was on the one channel that can show ACC-only contests not affected by this standoff between two ridiculously huge companies. You’ll get a break again next week as Carolina plays Wake on the CW, but for basketball you’re stuck with a Disney network until they go to Fort Myers for Thanksgiving. Based on the pessimism from both sides you may want to make sure you have your way to watch set for a bit.
Losers:
UNC Receivers: Specifically Jordan Shipp and Kobe Paysour deserve so much more than what they are getting from the player under center right now. Gio Lopez consistently takes so long to make a decision, and it makes it impossible for either of them to really get meaningful catches. They combined for 137 yards catching on Saturday, and Shipp had a score, but how on earth are they supposed to have any hope for NFL buzz if the guy throwing the passes takes about two years to get rid of the ball?
Carolina Football First Fans: Yes, they exist, and they are extremely upset I typed that first part out. This season was supposed to be the moment that Carolina finally took football seriously enough to be on the national stage and be part of multiple national appearances. Instead, it’s been more of the same was tickets were available for this game on Seat Geek starting for $20, and all of the talk has moved on to other sports that are succeeding. You had the thrilling basketball win on Friday night, volleyball is headed to the NCAA Tournament with some big top 25 wins and just went 1-1 on the west coast, and field hockey starts their run to the NCAA title this week, with the championship down the road in Durham. There’s one game left in Kenan and the vast majority of fans are just ready to be done with the season.
“Improvement” talk: Look, if you’re the type of fan where you’ve looked at areas where this team has improved and it makes you happy that’s great. It really is. The fact remains, though, that fans were sold going into the season that they were going to be the 33rd NFL team and compete immediately—and when you see the absolute chaos that is the ACC and the inarguably easiest schedule UNC has had in years, most fans just don’t want to hear it. Ultimately we’re upset that football paid millions for a coaching and GM staff that at best will end up with a record that may be one game better than what Mack Brown ended with last year—for a lot less. Do us a favor: if you’re still finding joy in this season just keep doing so and don’t try to talk down to those of us fed up with more of the same that is emanating from Kenan—especially after that ridiculously boring first half.
Honorable Mentions
Demon June just did not have a good game, he was blown up a couple of times in pass protect, and then on the ground he only managed to net four yards on three carries. It was a crash back to Earth for someone who was the star last weekend, but Gause’s ascension when June struggled speaks to the running back depth on the team…there was a lot of skepticism about Tom Maginness being the starting punter for Carolina but it’s hard not to point out just how consistent he’s been this season, especially with an offense that hasn’t been good. Saturday he kicked it six times with only one touchback, two ended up inside the 20, and he had two 50+ kicks…Speaking of kicking, give it up to Rece Verhoff for his 48-yarder in the fourth quarter that ended up sealing the game. He’s been consistent this year—12 of 14 and has also been great on kickoffs. The Marshall transfer may have a shot making someone’s NFL roster next year.
The Tar Heels head to Winston-Salem next week to see if they can catch a Wake Forest team that has won more games than UNC napping off a big win against Virginia. The big question—will you care?
