The Tar Heels open their 2024 season on Thursday night in Minneapolis as they return the home-and-home matchup with the Minnesota Golden Gophers. In an ugly affair where both offenses struggled the majority of the night, the Tar Heels found a way to escape with a 19-17 victory thanks to a missed goal as time expired. Here are our five biggest takeaways from the heart stopping victory.
Noah Burnette Deserves All the Praise
This time last year, Burnette was sitting behind newly acquired transfer kicker Ryan Coe, and tonight, less than 365 days later, he is the hero for Carolina. It shouldn’t be all that shocking considering how good he was after taking over the job in last year’s game against Appalachian State, but he nailed four crucial field goals on the night. Three of the four that he hit came from beyond 40 yards, including the game-winner that came from 45 after an odd play call on 3rd down moved it to the left hash. This is a great start for a guy who the Tar Heels need to have a great season, especially if this offense is going to struggle as much as it did at times tonight.
Defense Made a Stand
Was it a perfect night defensively? No, but for the majority of the night, this group made plays. For starters, defensive coordinator Geoff Collins deserves a lot of praise for how aggressive he was, especially in obvious passing situations. This defense made life hell at times for Minnesota quarterback Max Brosmer with all of the pressure that was in his face, led by Jahvaree Ritzie, who had a breakout night with three sacks. That was part of a unit that registered five sacks and seven tackles for loss on the night. They were helped by a linebacking corp that was really strong all night with Power Echols outstanding tackling and Amare Campbell timely playmaking. The best player on this side of the ball, though, was Alijah Huzzie, who came up and made some key tackles early and did a great job in coverage on the outside. While they may have allowed some yards late, this defense deserves a lot of credit for a performance that was one of the best that we have seen from them in recent memory.
Missed Tackles Still An Issue
One of the main things that Collins wanted to clean up when he took over was the missed tackles and there is still work to do there. The secondary in particular had a rough night in this area, with both Stick Lane and Jakeen Harris missing three or more tackles and Tyrane Stewart missing two in just eight snaps. As a team, the Tar Heels missed fourteen tackles, a number that is going to be tough to overcome against some of the teams they will face later on this season. Expect this to be a big part of the focus for Collins and the leading into next week’s home opener.
Chip Lindsey’s Game Plan Was Not Good
The offense had a rough night, but they were not exactly set up for success by their offensive coordinator. The first in particular was rough considering he never called anything that could have helped get Max Johnson in a rhythm. Eventually, he came to the realization that easy completions like screens and swings route would help get him settled into the game a little easier, which it did prior to his injury. Once Johnson left the game, it appeared like Lindsey went even more conservative with his play calling, opting to run the ball even more. Leaning on Omarion Hampton was smart, but even some of the decisions with him like trying to run outside the tackle to the short side of the field late in the game made no sense. We saw last year in the bowl game that Lindsey is capable of crafting a good gameplan around Harrell and we need to see that starting next week.
Passing Game Has a Lot of Work to Do
When Drake Maye depart back in the winter, we knew there was going to be some drop off at the quarterback position, but I don’t think anyone saw this coming. Johnson and Harrell combined to throw for just 105 yards, the fewest in a win for the team since a 2007 victory over Duke. While the gameplan wasn’t great, the execution was far from where it needed to be. Both tackles had their struggles in pass protection and true freshman Aidan Banfield had his ups and downs in there as well. Johnson was late on nearly every throw that attempted in the first half, including the interception where he had Bryson Nesbit if he threw it earlier and put it out in front of him. Harrell had his issues, too, short-arming his first throw of the night and was never really able to settle in. J.J. Jones also had an inconsistent night, leading the team in receiving but dropping two passes that could have helped his struggling quarterbacks. This passing game has a few weeks to work out the kinks and hopefully a full week of practice with Harrell taking snaps exclusively with the ones can help unlock some of what we saw from him in last year’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
Omarion Hampton is Ready to Carry This Team
We knew that the Tar Heels were going to ask a lot from Hampton this season and last night he showed that he is ready to carry this team. He carried the ball 30 times for 129 yards and also caught a team-high five passes for 17 yards, the most that he has ever had in his career in a regulation game. The staff needs to manage his snaps over the next couple of weeks because they are going to rely on him to carry them once they get to conference play.
Max Johnson Injury Was a Scary One
Johnson had to exit the game in the third quarter after he was sacked and got his right leg rolled up on, causing him to stay down for an extended period of time. He was carted off with what appeared to be a leg injury at the time, but Mack Brown would confirm after the game that it was a hip injury. We at the Heel Tough Blog are wishing him the best in his recovery and we will keep you updated on the news that comes out involving his injury moving forward.
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