UNC Football: Tar Heels run all over ODU Monarchs
North Carolina Tar Heels faced off against Old Dominion on the road in the Monarch’s 100th game for the program
North Carolina got an early lead against Old Dominion and ran away with it en-route to a big victory. The Tar Heels dominated from the start and never really looked back.
The win gives UNC their first of the season as they head into the meat of their conference schedule this year.
What happened at each phase of the game for the Tar Heels?
Offense
Chazz Surratt started again for the Tar Heels and continues to look like he has a control of the offense.
Surratt went 16-of-27 for 257yards and a touchdown. He also ran the ball nine times for two more touchdowns.
The Tar Heels also got a strong game from sophomore Jordon Brown. The running back finished with 17 carries for 125 yards and two touchdowns.
Before this game, Brown had 122 total yards in his career.
Jordan Cunningham and Carl Tucker had big receiving games for the Tar Heels as well. The duo finished with 162 combined receiving yards on eight receptions.
Defense
The defense looked better against the Monarchs and their rotating quarterback system, especially compared to how they looked against Lamar Jackson and Louisville.
In the first half the Tar Heel defense allowed only 120 yards and four first downs.
They also limited the big play allowing only one play of over 50 yards in the half.
UNC got their third interception of the season thanks to the sure hands of Myles Wolfolk and forced a fumble on the goal line to end the half.
The second half wasn’t as impressive, but by that point, the game was pretty much over and it wasn’t that big of a deal.
They did give up a long 71-yard touchdown pass which was frustrating to see. It’s something UNC will have to stop allowing if they want to find success this season.
The defense played well despite missing their captain Andre Smith who did not travel with the team today.
UNC MLB Andre Smith didn't make the trip here. He could be out for a while. That's a blow. Jonathan Smith starting in his place.
— Andrew Carter (@_andrewcarter) September 16, 2017
Special Teams
There were several positive plays for the special teams unit.
One of those plays came on an extra point try. UNC lined up in their typical swing gate formation. ODU was not ready for it and Manny Miles ran it in for a two-point conversion.
They also got a blocked field goal thanks to the huge paws of Tyler Powell on ODU’s first meaningful drive of the season.
Late in the game, the special teams unit also recovered a fumble that led to another Tar Heel score.
Of course, it wasn’t all good.
UNC’s special teams unit also allowed the first score of the game for the Monarchs when they let Isaiah Harper run it 100 yards for a kick return touchdown.
There was also a muffed punt by Austin Proehl when he called for a fair catch but couldn’t bring it in when his own player ran into him. The muff led to an ODU recovery, though the defense came up big forcing a fumble.
Coaching
For the second-straight week, the coaching staff made the right decision to pick one starting quarterback and stick with it.
This should be a non-issue for the Tar Heels in the future but was still a question heading into this game.
The coaching staff also wanted to run the ball more and did as the team finished with 49 carries for 256 yards and six touchdowns.
One questionable coaching call came on the opening drive. The Tar Heels were third and four inside the red zone.
They had to call timeout.
When they returned they ran a play that lost five yards and led to a field goal. It was very Stanford game like and forced the team to settle for a field goal attempt instead of a touchdown to start the game.
North Carolina will take their one win back home to play Duke next week. The Blue Devils are coming off a less than impressive win against Baylor and will be playing their first road game of the season.