Lessons Learned from UNC football program's regular season-finale loss to NC State

UNC wasted its time with Omarion Hampton

I would love to see Omarion Hampton pull on the Carolina jersey one more time, but for the sake of his longevity and NFL career, it's time for him to go. Without an ACC championship to play in, there's no need for him to play in whatever bowl a 6-6 UNC team gets invited to.

So UNC now finds itself saying good bye to a generational talent for a third time in the Mack 2.0 era, without anything to really show for. Sam Howell's last game was an unexpected bare-bottom spanking from a South Carolina team without a quarterback in the Duke's Mayo Bowl. Drake Maye's last game was a humiliating loss at NC State. And Hampton's will be a heartbreaker at home after he gave absolutely everything his body could give.

Hampton ran 22 times for 185 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown.

He caught four passes for 78 yards, including a 47-yard run after a shuttle pass for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:51 left in the game.

It should have been enough. But NC State gained yards on all seven of their plays, and Dave Doeren could have opted to take knees and force UNC to expend time-outs before kicking a field goal to win the game. NC State was like a cat playing with a mouse.

Whatever happens next for the North Carolina football program, the defense has to get figured out. Three coordinators and the head coach are paying the price for its failures. The state of North Carolina can only produce so much generational talent, and they will hesitate to go to the mothership university if they think their gifts will be squandered.