These grades are heavily influenced by the fact that Wake Forest came into this game with an excellent defense and horrid offense. The Tar Heel offense performed a bit better than I expected, the defense and special
teams far worse. The winning formula for UNC in this game was simple: control the Wake Forest run game, force them to throw, stay clean on special teams, and do enough on offense to have more points at the end. Only the offense got its job done. And so…
Quarterback: B
Gio Lopez faced the toughest defense UNC will encounter all season, and he was… decent. To the extent UNC moved the ball at all, it came from the passing game. Eight different receivers, 201 yards, nothing longer than 26 yards: it wasn’t one play accounting for a third of the total. Gio did that with no support from the run game and average pass protection. Yes, Lopez missed some key throws. Only Georgia Tech and Florida State passed for more yards against the Demon Deacons this season. Lopez also managed that without fumbling or throwing an interception.
Offensive Line: D
The unit didn’t kill drive after drive with penalties, which they did last week, but the run game was DOA. If our offense can be reduced to one dimension, and that dimension is Gio Lopez throwing the ball 36 times, then the path to victory for UNC narrows considerably. This is the second straight game the offensive line has looked overmatched by the opponent.
Pass Catchers: A
Paysour, Shipp, Greene, and Jake Johnson, TE, accounted for more than half of UNC’s total yardage. They made tough catches all game against a very physical secondary. The stat sheet shows only one drop for UNC on 37 pass attempts. For this game, this unit was UNC’s best. This praise feels inadequate in volume, so…
They made tough catches all game against a very physical secondary. They were UNC’s best position group in this game. Both those things needed to be said twice.
Running Backs: C
Gause and June had 76 yards receiving on five catches. However, the run game had no room to operate. The running backs often were forced to react to a Wake Forest defender in the backfield. A “C” reflects an incredibly difficult assignment. The defense they faced was legit, and their offensive line did them no favors.
Defensive Line: D
Our heroes of the past month met their match. Wake Forest ran for 220 yards. Subtract the 50 from the fumble recovery, and Wake still ran for 170 yards. For an offense rated 118th in the country by FEI, that’s just gross. The sacks disappeared, with only two for 11 yards. The key to beating Wake Forest all season has been shutting down their run game and forcing them to throw the ball. Rather than controlling the line of scrimmage, the defensive line got worked, the one thing that couldn’t happen if UNC expected to leave with a win.
Linebackers: C-
House had a nice sack on a 4th down stop and also forced a fumble to give UNC’s offense a short field. Otherwise, the linebackers did little to impact the game. The past few weeks, the defensive line has been eating up blockers and creating all sorts of room for Thompson and Simpson to make game-changing plays. That didn’t happen against Wake Forest. Wake Forest was 8-16 on 3rd and 4th downs combined, almost of them running plays. Claiborne at 4.3 yards per rush was well above his in-conference average.
Secondary: C
The secondary’s been playing without Thad Dixon for awhile, and Caleb Cost was also inactive for this game. The success of the Wake Forest run game forced the DBs to run support, and Wake Forest twice tried a trick play to catch them out of position. One of those hit for a 70 yard touchdown. Tackling and angles were spotty at times. Wake Forest didn’t need to throw much, and that one trick play was its only real success through the air.
Special Teams: C-
On the one hand, Verhoff kicked the longest field goal in UNC history. He also nailed all four kicks that weren’t blocked. If the UNC defensive line plays at a B level, 18 points on six FGs probably wins this game. However, Wake Forest blocked two kicks. Verhoff gets an A+. The protection gets a F-. Average: C-.
Coaching: D
Prior to the blocked field goal at the end of the 3rd quarter, UNC took a time out with 5 seconds remaining in the quarter. Gio had been sacked at the 15 second mark. There was no delay of game penalty looming to move the kick back five yards. There was no weather condition mandating UNC kick the FG at that end of the field rather the other. Letting the 3rd quarter expire and kicking from the other end saves a time-out. Using the time-out saved UNC a few seconds. Someone just had a complete brain fart to call a TO in that situation. And that feels emblematic of this entire season.
Wake Forest’s offense came into this game completely stymied by Virginia. SMU, and Florida State in its prior three games. UNC’s defense looked great against some admittedly poor offenses, and WFU’s offense up until this game has been poor. Somehow, WFU’s offense posted its 2nd best game of the season in conference in total yards and its best game in yards per play. The defense wasn’t prepared.
Special teams allowed two field goal attempts to be blocked. Wake showed an odd formation on a PAT and forced UNC to burn a time out. Special teams weren’t prepared, either.
UNC got outplayed and outcoached in the two phases of the game it had to win. The offense did what it could, and frankly what it needed, against a great defense. Otherwise, this grade would be a F.
