The North Carolina Tar Heels completed their home opener by doing exactly what they needed to do: they easily beat an inferior opponent to improve their record to 2-0. Credit to ETSU for bring a lot of energy to the game, but ultimately they were outmatched from start to finish.
The first quarter opened up with the Tar Heels going three and out thanks to two dropped passes thrown by Billy Edwards, Jr. The Heels were quickly able to make up for it by grabbing an interception thrown by ETSU quarterback,
Mason Mims, which led to UNC immediately marching down the field for a touchdown. Jelani Thurman was a bit part of the drive’s success, and ultimately caught a 24-yard pass to get into the end zone.
On the Buccaneers’ next drive, they were able to chip away at UNC’s defense to get to mid-field, but ultimately they weren’t able to do enough to finish the drive. They punted and managed to back UNC up to their own end zone, but the quarter finished with UNC moving the ball into safer territory. When the second quarter opened, the Heels proceeded to move the ball down the field, and Edwards was able to find Benjamin Hall for a 26-yard touchdown.
The Buccaneers continued to chip away at UNC’s defense, but they continually shot themselves in the foot. A touchdown was negated by a holding call, there was a face mask call after that, and then when they were pushed all the way back to 3rd and 28, the Heels stood tall and were able to get the ball back. They were able to complete another touchdown drive to increase their lead to 21-0 before halftime.
The second half opened with ETSU immediately coughing up the football, which led to a touchdown scored by Demon June. The Buccaneers were without answers from there — despite continuing to gain yards, their inability to finish drives remained constant, and the Heels were able to go up 35-0 before a game delay due to lightning in the area.
Once the game resumed, things were largely uneventful for both sides of the field. The Buccaneers found a way to put points on the board with a garbage time 41-yard field goal, but the Heels finished the game without allowing a single touchdown.
There weren’t any groundbreaking takeaways from this game, but it is worth giving the offense credit where it is due. After only scoring one touchdown last week, they were able to get into the end zone five times. It didn’t seem like Bobby Petrino had to reach deep into his bag to get things done, either, so hopefully he has some tricks up his sleeve for when they face off against Clemson.
As far as the defense goes, their performance was a little disappointing at times despite the fact that they didn’t allow a touchdown. The Buccaneers’ time of possession was 33:44, and at sone point they had stayed on the field twice as long as UNC. Sure, the Heels were able to score pretty quickly on some drives, but that has nothing to do with how many times ETSU could’ve scored had they not committed so many penalties. It’s really hard to get a good read on how good or bad the defense is so far, but perhaps we’ll finally have a solid idea when the Heels face off against Clemson next week.
Overall, the Heels did what they had to do to get the win, and they didn’t have to sweat it out like that one team in Ann Arbor did. That’s all you can ask for, right? Time to get ready for a showdown in Death Valley.
