UNC football: 3 quick impressions from Tar Heels loss to Notre Dame

Here are three quick impressions from the Tar Heels loss to the Fighting Irish.

The 19th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels lost to the No. 2-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Friday night by a final score of 31-17. The game was a bit closer than the final score might indicate, however. Here are three quick takeaways from the game.

The defense played well enough to win

Okay, I get it. North Carolina is still a bad defensive football team, but the defense was not the reason that the Tar Heels lost on Friday. Notre Dame did pick up 478 total yards and control the time of possession, but, like North Carolina, the Irish also scored touchdowns on their first two drives. Notre Dame had nine more drives after the first two and four ended in punts, one on a missed field goal and one as time ran out as the game was ending.

The defense unit did its best, and by all accounts, their efforts were enough to come away with a victory. Having said that, North Carolina’s defensive best isn’t great by some other team’s standards, but if the offense would have performed better North Carolina could have won the game. While the final was a 14-point spread, the game was no more than a one-score game until there was a minute and twenty seconds left.

The offense failed to adjust

The main reason that North Carolina lost on Friday was the offense. Offensively, the Tar Heels started impressively with two straight touchdown drives to begin the game. But then Notre Dame adjusted what they were doing defensively, brought more pressure and North Carolina had no answer for it.

The Tar Heels’ offense had 125 yards of total offense on the first two drives, and just 173 yards the rest of the game. To make matters a bit worse, North Carolina had no turnovers which means they were hurting themselves but simply being completely overpowered. Sam Howell was sacked six times and his protection got seemingly worse as the game went on. Of Carolina’s eight drives after their first two of the game, seven ended in punts.

If North Carolina is truly going to be an elite program in college football, and the offensive talent and coaching are there to help them do so, then learning how to adjust line protections in-game is a must.

The Tar Heels need to play with more discipline to beat really good teams

While the Tar Heels were not turning the ball over, they were committing far too many penalties. Carolina had nine penalties for 90 yards compared to Notre Dame’s four for 24 yards. Think about that for a second. That is a net negative of 66 yards in penalties alone, and North Carolina simply isn’t good enough overall to overcome that against good teams.

North Carolina is the 19th-most penalized team in college football in 2020 out of 130 teams. That needs to change or any close games against good, and more disciplined teams, will end in a Tar Heel loss.

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