It took three quarters for the North Carolina Tar Heels to break away from NC Central, but it finally happened.
After taking a 7-point lead into the fourth quarter, UNC exploded for 28 fourth quarter points en route to a 45-10 win over the visiting Eagles.
As I predicted earlier in the week, North Carolina got off to a slow start. NC Central marched down the field on its first possession, draining the clock on a 12-play, 75-yard drive, capping it off with J’Mari Taylor’s 5-yard touchdown run.
The Tar Heels could’ve easily escaped the Eagles’ first drive not allowing any points, but two penalties extended the Eagles’ drive and led to their lone touchdown.
Penalties ended up playing a major role in the game overall, as UNC finished with 16 penalties for 102 yards. This was more than the previous two weeks combined, when North Carolina committed a total of 11 penalties.
Head coach Mack Brown wasn’t pleased with his players’ lack of discipline, especially early.
“NC Central came in thinking they couldn’t block us and then wanting to keep the ball,” Brown told media during the postgame press conference. “And it worked, partially because of the inflicted wounds that we had through penalties. We can’t have 10 (first-half) penalties. We’ve been so good in the first two weeks not to have penalties – and here we are, we look up and we’ve got 10 at halftime and 16 for the game. A couple of times, I thought we lost our composure. We can’t have that.”
The Tar Heels cleaned up their act in the second half, committing just six penalties. Mack noted that momentum started shifting towards UNC after the second quarter goal-line stand, when defense held NCCU to just a field goal as time expired.
“We talked about what wins and loses football games at halftime – and that this game would’ve been probably out of reach if we hadn’t had the penalties, but we did,” Brown said. “And you need to grow up, quit having a lack of discipline and a lack of composure. And we just told them the truth and said the start of the blowout was the goal-line stand.”
North Carolina gets a significantly-tougher test next weekend, when Sun Belt power James Madison comes to town. The Dukes (2-0), who beat Charlotte and Gardner-Webb in their first two games before a bye week this weekend, haven’t played the Tar Heels since 2016.
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