For just the sixth time in program history, the Tar Heels are 6-0 to begin a season. After a first half that saw the Tar Heels spin their wheels quite a bit with penalties and a lack of pass protection, the team used a huge third quarter to run away from the No. 25 Miami Hurricanes and pick up their biggest win of the season. Here are our biggest takeaways from the Tar Heels 41-31 victory.
Tez Walker is the Real Deal
Saturday night was Walker’s first start as a Tar Heel and he justified every bit of the preseason hype that he was getting prior to the season. The Kent State transfer, who just became eligible prior to last week’s game with Syracuse, caught six of his nine targets for 132 yards and three touchdowns. All three of his touchdowns were receptions of at least 18 or more yards, all of which were very significant for the Tar Heels at the time they were scored. If those three touchdowns weren’t enough, Walker also made the play on the onside kick with 2:17 to go that prevented the Hurricanes from really being able to make things uncomfortable. This was the game that everyone was hope we would be able to see from Walker at some point this season and for it to happen this quickly and in a game of this importance shows just how special he really is.
Running Game is Back
After disappearing against Minnesota and Pittsburgh, the Tar Heels running game returned with a nice performance a week ago against Syracuse. The ground game was even better last night, carrying the offense the majority of the way and opening up the deep plays that resulted in touchdowns. Omarion Hampton put together another tremendous performance, running for 197 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. The offensive line wore another opponent down up front in the run game as well despite issues with penalties throughout the night. Miami’s running game was the one that everyone thought could have a big night in this game, but at the end of the night, the Tar Heel run game might have been the best unit on the field. With this offensive line healthy again and Hampton taking the bulk of the carries in the backfield, this running game is back to being a problem for opposing defenses.
Kaimon Rucker is the Best Player on This Defense
The Tar Heels have a lot of outstanding players on this defense this season, but none better than Rucker. The star edge rusher continued his amazing season on Saturday night, racking up 2.5 more sacks and three more quarterback hurries. All of those sacks and hurries came in the second half playing a big part in why the defense was able to stymie the Hurricanes offense for the first 20 minutes of the second half. It’s been a while since the Tar Heels had an edge rusher that they could trust to bring pressure week in and week out, but they finally have it in Rucker.
Found a Way to Win Despite Penalty and Pass Protection Issues
While this was the Tar Heels biggest win of the season, it was far from their cleanest. Penalties were a major issue, especially in the first half where the team had nearly as many penalty yards (97) as they did passing yards (105). The team finished the night with 14 penalties for 147 yards, the most penalties yards for the team in the last 25 years. That wasn’t the only area that the team struggled, especially early in the game. The offense wasn’t able to move the ball consistently in the first half because they could not protect Drake Maye. The Hurricanes had four sacks and got a ton of pressure in Maye’s face in the first half before a shift in the gameplan and better execution in the second half shut that down. These are issues that haven’t really popped up so far this year, but they are things that the team needs to note and avoid moving forward. The good news from last night is that they had these issues and still beat a top 25 opponent by double-digits.
This Team Continues to Prove They’re Different
One of the talking points around this game was the Tar Heels struggles historically to win big games like this and rightfully so. The program was 1-10-1 all-time in games against ranked opponents where they entered 3-0 or better with their only win coming back in 1939 over the Penn Quakers. This year’s team doesn’t care about that, though. They have been getting over humps the entire season and this was just the latest example. Not only is this team winning these games, they’re doing so in a fashion that no one else around the country has been able to do this season. The Tar Heels are the only team this year to beat five Power 5 opponents and they have done so by double-digits in all five. Let that sink in.