It wouldn’t be another UNC football game unless a poor defensive performance was involved.
The latest letdown came on Saturday at Duke, when the North Carolina Tar Heels allowed their archrival to score 21 unanswered, second-half points en route to a 21-20 Duke victory.
No team is particularly strong when it faces a 20-point deficit, but the Blue Devils (5-0, 1-0 ACC) are bad in particular. With Saturday’s comeback, Duke is now 2-72 when trailing by 20 or more points.
Saturday’s result didn’t surprise UNC football fans in the least. I was hoping North Carolina would keep its foot down and put the Blue Devils in the dust, but just like against Georgia Tech in 2022 at Kenan Stadium, another fourth-quarter collapse reared its ugly head.
There were a few instances where the Tar Heels came to their defensive senses, like forcing a Duke punt on their last drive and giving their offense a chance. Those positive moments were sadly, though, far outweighed by the negatives.
Duke is 1-72 all-time when trailing by 20 or more points. The Tar Heels led 20- midway through the third quarter. https://t.co/wjCQM4Q1Kn
— InsideCarolina (@InsideCarolina) September 28, 2024
If UNC gets a lead next weekend against Pitt, that lead probably won’t hold for long either. The Panthers have the ACC’s second-best offense in terms of yards per game (522) – and given North Carolina’s inability to slow teams down – we could have another JMU situation on our hands.
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