Heading into Saturday night, the expectation from many national analysts was that the matchup between the Tar Heels and Gamecocks would be a shootout and it was hard to argue with that. While the Tar Heel offense looked solid, it was the team’s defense that made the difference in this one.
It all started up front with edge rusher Kaimon Rucker, who put together one of the most dominant performances that we have ever seen from Tar Heel defensive lineman. Rucker had eight total tackles on the night, 5.5 for a loss and two that were sacks. For his efforts, he was awarded Defensive Player of the Week honors from the Walter Camp Football Foundation.
His monster performance was just part of an outstanding night defensively for the Tar Heels. While the unit has some things to tighten up on the back end, the defensive front six was simply flawless the entire night. They were the main reason the defense allowed just 11 yards rushing on 31 rush attempts and finished with 9.0 sacks and 16.0 tackles for loss last night.