It was another game that wasn’t the prettiest, but UNC football did come away with a second-straight win over the weekend as they took down Stanford. With their consecutive victories, the Tar Heels have
clawed their way back to 4-5 after, for a while, it looked like Bill Belichick’s first season was going to end up with one of UNC’s worst records in decades.
Despite the wins, UNC are still below .500 on the season and still need two wins to sneak in a bowl game this season. That’s not going to be an easy task, as all three teams left on the schedule have performed better than Carolina this year, still have stuff to play for, and would love to pour salt in the Tar Heels’ wounds. That starts this week with a game against Wake Forest.
Under a first year coach of their own in Jake Dickert, the Demon Deacons come into this game at 6-3. They’ve also been very good of late, winning four of their last five, including taking down then #16 Virginia last week.
While they’ve had some very impressive performances and have done enough to get Wake to 6-3, the Deacs’ offense hasn’t been overly dominant. Wake has been more of a defense led team, as they’re giving up just 20.3 points per game. More impressive than that is the just 4.5 yards they’re allowing per play, which is the ninth best figure in the nation. Most of the teams ahead of them on that leaderboard are either in playoff contention.
They’re giving up just 3.7 yards rushing per carry. They’ve also been able to stimy opposing run games by creating nine turnovers via fumble on the season, including three last week against Virginia.
Much like UNC’s offense as a whole, the Tar Heels’ rushing attack has had its ups and downs this season. However, you can certainly make the argument that freshman Demon June has been the most pleasant surprise on the team in general this season. Considering that Wake has been very good against the run and Carolina has had the occasional dud, it would be a bit unfair to just come out and ask June and company to dominate the Deacs in that area. At the very least though, they can’t afford to be sloppy, as Wake has shown the ability to take advantage of mistakes.
Against UVA, six of Wake Forest’s 16 points came on drives that came immediately after fumbles, and two of the fumbles came after Virginia had gotten into Wake territory, keeping points off the board there. In Wake’s 13-12 win over SMU, they immediately turned one forced fumble deep in SMU territory into a touchdown that essentially decided the game.
Now sure, you can probably go through any box score from any game and point to the turnovers and show how they decided the game, but it rings true for the Deacs so far this year. Wake has forced quite a number of fumbles this year, and they’ve shown full ability to take advantage. Considering Wake’s offense is fine but not unstoppable, don’t give them free short fields to work with. If UNC can avoid getting in those predicaments, they stand a far better chance at an upset.
