UNC Football: Tar Heels catapult the Catamounts out of Chapel Hill
North Carolina and Western Carolina faced off in Chapel Hill and the end result was the first home win of the season for the Tar Heels.
Just like that the Tar Heels have won two-straight games. The latest was a thrashing of FCS opponent Western Carolina.
What were the positives and negatives of the game?
The Positives
There were plenty of positives. Lets start with the best news, the return of Austin Proehl. Proehl had missed the teams past six games with an injury he suffered against Duke. Proehl finished with three catches for 52 yards.
As good as Proehl was he was not even close to the best of the day. The best went once again to Anthony Ratliff-Williams who had another spectacular game. Ratliff-Williams finished with five catches for 88 yard and a touchdown to lead all Tar Heel’s receivers.
Of course, a receiver is only as good as his quarterback and the move to Nathan Elliott has sparked these Heels. Elliott had his best game of the season finishing with 240 yards and four touchdowns and a 64.3 percent completion percentage.
With the passing game in full extent, the running game opened up and Jordan Brown and Michael Carter both had big games. The two headed back machine finished with 172 combined rushing yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries for a 6.4 yard average.
Finally, just to put the icing on the cake, the defense additionally had a big game. They kept the Catamounts in check for most of the game holding the team to 304 total yards.
They returned one fumble for a touchdown and forced Western Carolina to punt a whopping 10 times.
The Negatives
Even though the game was a blowout, there were some not great things.
The Special teams unit was solid but Hunter Lent had a 20 yard punt after the teams first drive which led to an early 7-0 lead for the Catamounts.Freeman Jones also missed his first extra point of the season.
The Tar Heels also started the game slow. After the Western Carolina touchdown, Elliott appeared to fumble the ball setting up the Catamounts with a short field. The ruling was reversed, but overall the team was not ready to start the game.
Of course, that aborted fumble became a touchdown and the Tar Heels never looked back. Outside of that it was a great win for a team who has not had many this season.
Up next for UNC is the rival game with NC State. The Wolfpack won last season in Chapel Hill and I am sure the Tar Heels would love to return the favor this time around.