After facing inferior competition back-to-back weeks, the Tar Heels ran into the brick wall that is Wake Forest and lost the game 28-12. Their loss gives UNC a 4-6 record for the season, and a 2-4 record in the ACC.
The start of the game really set the stage for the rest of the evening. Wake Forest was in the process of moving the ball down the field before their quarterback, Robby Ashford, fumbled it. There was a huge scrum to grab the ball, and somehow the ball found its way to Demon Deacons WR Carlos Hernandez, who scooped it up and ran it in for a touchdown. That would be the only scoring drive for either team in the first quarter due to both teams stalling out on multiple occasions on offense.
In the second quarter, the Heels did finally answer by finishing their drive with a 40-yard field goal from Rece Verhoff. Both teams continued to move the ball down the field throughout the quarter, but again, there wasn’t a lot of luck scoring the ball. UNC couldn’t generate enough of a run game to keep the Demon Deacons on their heels, and while Wake Forest was able to move the ball a bit better, they did lose a fumble in the middle of the quarter. Eventually Deacs running back Demond Claiborne found the end zone on a 10-yard run, and UNC responded by making another field goal before going into halftime.
In the second half, we saw more of the same from both teams, though UNC showed signs of life on multiple occasions. Gio Lopez showed some teeth in the passing game, but time and time again Wake Forest’s defense stalled them out. Their special teams unit blocked a couple of Verhoff’s field goal attempts as well, which added insult to injury. Wake Forest got the ball back with five minutes left in the fourth quarter up 21-12, and they managed to bleed the clock as much as they could before scoring one more touchdown to lock up the victory.
Let’s talk some positives from this one: Gio Lopez looked a bit sharper than he normally does, mostly because Freddie Kitchens cooked up some plays for him to dink and dunk the ball to his receivers that were sitting in Wake’s zone coverage. He also had a few passes that would’ve changed the game entirely if his receivers either caught the ball inbounds or if the ball was caught with their hands instead of their legs. The defense also had some good moments in this game, and while 28 points would tell anybody that didn’t see the game otherwise, they did in fact make it difficult for the Deacons to score most of the night.
Now for the ugliness: Lopez did have some pretty bad moments that killed a number of drives. It was also a really frustrating night in the run game — Demon June and Benjamin Hall combined for just 53 yards, which made it really hard to take heat off Lopez. Also, while the defense had some good moments, they also allowed some plays that probably resulted in a few broken TVs. One play in particular involved Robby Ashford dropping back to pass, getting hit but not wrapped up, and he bounced away and was able to get his throw off. UNC was not good enough to win this game, and now they have to win out against Duke and NC State to become bowl eligible.
UNC’s next game is against the Blue Devils next week in Kenan Stadium.
