UNC vs Louisville: Preview, broadcast information, prediction and more

UNC will play host to the Louisville Cardinals hoping to avoid an 0-2 start to the 2017 season.

After a very disappointing week one, the Tar Heels look to return to the win column this Saturday as the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Lamar Jackson, comes to town.

Louisville comes to Chapel Hill for the first time since 2011, the first part of their home-and-home series that ended in 2012. Both teams were on the winning side of the ball at their respective homes.

The two programs have changed drastically since the last meeting in 2012 though, so this will be a very different opponent and gampelan for the Tar Heels.

The quarterback situation for the Tar Heels is still up in the air.

Even after a poor performance from senior starter Brandon Harris, and much better play from redshirt freshman Chazz Surratt, Coach Fedora said during Monday’s media session, that there is still a quarterback battle going on and didn’t name a starter for week two.

Surratt showed his heart and will to win all throughout the game, even though it came up just a bit short, and the offense seemed to respond much better with him under center than with Harris.

As it looks now, plan on UNC playing two quarterbacks once again against Louisville.

UNC, who had their difficulties containing the big play from Cal’s offense, will have their hands full going against Lamar Jackson.

For Louisville, there is no quarterback dispute whatsoever. Reigning Heisman winner, Lamar Jackson, now has a full year under center and looks to build on a great sophomore campaign.

Jackson, who worked hard to improve his passing skills over the summer, threw the ball a career high 46 times in their week one win against Purdue. He has thrown the ball over 40 times just five times in his career, with an average completion percentage of 55 percent. On Saturday, he was 10 percent higher at 65 percent.

If he can continue that against the Tar Heels, the Carolina defense who already had its difficulties against Cal could be in for a long afternoon.

Though Jackson’s passing was greatly improved in week one, if the Tar Heels can force him to pass the ball in crucial situations, it’ll be interesting to see if Jackson’s mechanics and decision making will hold up under pressure.

Jackson will not be totally stopped by Carolina, but how he responds if he is forced to be a pocket passer all afternoon will go a long way in deciding the outcome.

UNC key to the game

There is no question the best part of Carolina’s offense is their run game.

Neither Brandon Harris or Chazz Surratt showed the ability to throw the ball downfield against Cal and even struggled in the medium range passing game.

What was working was UNC’s running game. They rushed for 219 yards on 45 carries, with three players with over 50 yards on the ground.

Louisville’s front seven held Purdue to just 51 yards on the ground on 21 carries in week one, with the longest run for 13 yards.

Last year, the Cardinals ranked ninth in total rush defense, giving up just 110 yards on the ground per game. They are led by two dominant linebackers in Trevon Young and James Hearns.

Young, who missed all of last year with an injury, ranked 33rd nationally with 8.5 sacks in 2015. For Hearns, he is coming off of a season in which he had 8 sacks, good enough for 46th overall.

Both players have been a major reason for the success the Cardinals have had on the defensive side of the ball, especially in the run game.

If Carolina wants to win on Saturday, they need to be able to run the ball, so look for this matchup to be one of the keys to the game for the Tar Heels.

Louisville key to the game

Discipline. That is the most important part of the game for the Cardinals.

Against Purdue, they committed 16 penalties for 110 yards, including five false starts in the first quarter of the game.

In addition to the penalties, they also turned the ball over three times – nearly a fourth – in which Purdue converted into points.

But again, it was Lamar Jackson’s talent that led Louisville to victory.

On paper, Carolina is a more skilled team than Purdue so if the Cardinals come out with the same performance they had against the Boilermakers, they could be in trouble.

One question we’d like to see answered

I think this one is obvious; who will be the starting quarterback moving forward?

Brandon Harris showed nothing in the Cal game to have Carolina fans excited about his future and Chazz Surratt is still extremely inexperienced.

How Surratt performs on Saturday will go a long way in showing if he is ready to take over as the full-time starter or if this quarterback competition is going to last longer than we had hoped.

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What you need to know

WHAT? Louisville 1-0 (O-0 ACC) @ UNC 0-1 (0-0 ACC)
WHEN? Saturday, September 9 at 12:00 p.m. ET
WHERE? Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
TV? ESPN.
RADIO? Tar Heel Sports Network. Jones Angell (play-by-play), Brian Simmons (analyst) and Lee Pace (sideline)
WEATHER?  Sunny with a few afternoon clouds. High 79F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. 0 percent chance of rain according to Weather.com.
LINE? Louisville -10
ALL-TIME SERIES? Louisville leads 4-3
PREDICTION? UNC 24, UL 20.