The Tar Heels returned to Kenan Stadium last night and put a hurting on the Richmond Spiders on their way to their second win of the season. In the first two games, UNC didn’t have much juice behind them on the offensive side of the ball, but yesterday felt like tangible progress was made. It’s easy to chalk it up to a FBS team doing what they should be doing to a FCS team, but even with that context it did feel like there was improvement, and most of that is because of one player.
Let’s go ahead
and discuss the man in question as well as the other takeaways from UNC’s second win of the season.
Demon June should be the starter (for now)
Last week against Charlotte, we were introduced to true freshman Demon June. What we saw from June was really impressive, but he didn’t get as many snaps as he probably should have. That changed yesterday when June ran the ball 14 times for 148 yards and a touchdown. Bill Belichick must’ve liked what he saw in June as much as we did, and ultimately it led to some good things.
Junes impact on the field was immediate, and it allowed for UNC to get into their play action bag occasionally. The threat of June breaking free was something that Richmond was mindful of every time that he was on the field, and it felt like that opened the playbook up a bit more. It’s hard to foresee Belichick steering away from June moving forward as long as the true freshman continues to produce like this. I’m eager to see how well he does against a Power Four team next week, but this has definitely been the most pleasant surprise so far this season.
Gio Lopez is a work in progress
We are now three games into the season, and yesterday’s performance against Richmond was a little rough for Gio Lopez. He definitely had his share of good moments, but there were also moments that left fans scratching their heads. There were a handful of throws that were at maximum velocity for no reason, and those balls were either thrown high or out of reach of his targets. This kind of thing happens with quarterbacks, but something about some of these throws just seemed odd to say the least.
How concerned fans should be about some of the things we saw from Lopez is up for debate. On one hand, he is showing some improvement from the first two games, and that is hard to ignore. On another hand, there were moments like taking an unnecessary hit that led to a fumble because he was busy staring down a defender, which again, left many of us wondering what in the world was happening. The solution to the unsavory moments likely isn’t putting in another quarterback, but all of this is mentioned to remind everyone that much like the entire team, Lopez is indeed a work in progress. He’ll continue to win games for the Heels, but he will undoubtedly lose them some as well, and that is something we all should be prepared for.
The Heels may finally have a respectable defense
For what has felt like the better part of a decade, Carolina’s defense has felt like the weakest link when looking at all three sides of the ball. Things started off feeling that way thanks to the TCU game, but things have improved since then. Yes, the competition that they have faced has been different, but here are some reminders: last year UNC allowed Charlotte to score 20 points, and let James Madison scored 70.
Let’s forget about points scored for a moment, though, because what is really happening with this unit is that they are passing the eye test better than they have in quite some time. UNC’s front seven was able to put a lot of pressure on Richmond’s offensive line, which led to three sacks, four tackles for loss, three interceptions, and two forced fumbles. It’s difficult to recall the last time that we saw this team be so disruptive, but of course the question is what all of this does look like against harder competition. Nobody should expect them to keep Clemson from scoring a touchdown, which by the way, this is the second game in a row that UNC has kept their opponent from reaching the end zone. That is the first time the Heels have done such a thing in 13 years. But hopefully what this means is that this defense can keep them in games instead of being the reason that the game slips away from them.
