UNC Football: Tar Heels embarrassed by Yellow Jackets in Atlanta

The UNC football season is over following an embarrassing loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The rest is just formality.

Give the Tar Heels credit; when they lose, they do it in grand fashion.

After beginning the season with a top-10 ranking and hopes of a 2022 College Football Playoff appearance, the Tar Heels crashed and burned in their opening game against the Virginia Tech Hokies in Blacksburg. That game, who they lost to, and the way they lost it, had most of us thinking that those lofty expectations of postseason glory were all but gone, as were any hopes of Sam Howell making good on all of that preseason hype that made him an early favorite in the Heisman Trophy race.

Still, the Tar Heels had hope after a number of upsets to highly-ranked teams across the nation, as well as early losses within the Atlantic Coast Conference. Could they turn it around, win the Coastal Division and still get to the ACC title game? We had all hoped so, but after a pair of blowout victories over Georgia State and Virginia, the Tar Heels got back on the wrong side of the win/loss column with an embarrassing defeat to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday night.

It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to anyone, what with the futility that North Carolina has shown in Atlanta and to the Yellow Jackets as a whole over the past couple of decades. But on paper, Tar Heel fans still felt like their team was the better one, and should march into Mercedes-Benz Stadium and take care of business. That simply didn’t happen.

After gaining an early 7-0 lead on an outstanding 23-yard touchdown run by Sam Howell, everything went downhill. By halftime, Georgia Tech was leading 13-7, and the Tar Heels couldn’t seem to drive the ball to save their lives. A handful of mistakes led to all of the Yellow Jackets’ first half points, including two Sam Howell fumbles that directly resulted in 10 Georgia Tech points.

The hemorrhaging didn’t stop there, as Tech came out and scored two touchdowns in the first 10 minutes of the second half. It was 27-7 in the waning minutes of the third quarter before the Tar Heels scored again — more than 36 minutes of game time between their first touchdown and their second. Tech quickly scored again to extend the lead to 21 before the Tar Heels got a touchdown and two-point conversion to pull within 13.

That was the only life the boys in light blue would show as the fourth quarter wore on, giving up 10 more points to the Yellow Jackets — and scoring none of their own — before the game clock finally and mercifully hit double-zeroes.

Sam Howell’s passing numbers alone look solid, going 25-of-39 for 306 yards and two touchdowns, but his three turnovers were an absolute killer. So, too, was the play of the offensive line, which continues to struggle through the early-goings of the season. The Tar Heels’ receivers can’t seem to create much separation, and that doesn’t help things either. The ground game struggled mightily against the Yellow Jackets, netting just 63 yards on 35 carries for a meager 1.8 yard-per-carry average. And the UNC defense still can’t stop a dual-threat quarterback — especially one wearing a Georgia Tech uniform — no matter the game, season or decade.

And that’s not all. There were a lot of questionable coaching decisions in this one, and those should be talked about as well. Both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball, things were messy. Balls were thrown two or three yards behind the line of scrimmage when Sam Howell and the Tar Heels only needed to gain two. The Tar Heels had a 2nd & 1 that they couldn’t convert on three tries. The list goes on.

I’m not sure what all needs to happen at this point, but something needs to change. The current approach simply isn’t working, and this UNC team isn’t on a path to win a lot of games and finish the current season on a strong note.

The Tar Heels will look to rebound next Saturday when they take on rival Duke in a noon game at Kenan Memorial Stadium.

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