Gio Lopez looks more like the quarterback that was promised
A lot was made about Gio Lopez not completing a pass for two hours during the TCU game. Part of that was his fault, part of that was Freddie Kitchens' fault. But after throwing a pick six and surrendering a fumble that was returned for another touchdown, anything resembling a pulse was going to be a marked improvement.
While the Heisman campaign is still a pipe dream, a more reasonable version of Gio Lopez was on display in Charlotte. We were told that Lopez was a dual threat. While he wasn't junior-season Sam Howell, Lopez did use his legs to great effect, running for 44 yards on nine rushes. More important than the raw numbers was when he ran. Three of his rushes were for first downs when Carolina on third down. Having a clutch option to move the chains will be vital to the offense all season, and now that Lopez has put this on tape, it might force defenses to have to drop coverages to account for his run threat. That could open up passing space downfield.