For the second consecutive week, the North Carolina Tar Heels’ first-half defense helped them gain a crucial halftime advantage.
Trailing Florida State 3-0 after the first quarter on Saturday afternoon, UNC quickly responded and took and 11-point lead into halftime. North Carolina kept generating pressure up front, with five sacks amongst its defensive linemen, led by a career-high 3.5 from Beau Atkinson.
Most impressive about the Tar Heels’ first-half defensive performance, though, was their ability to limit the Seminoles to just three points. UNC nearly replicated that last week against Virginia, limiting the hosts to six first-half points, while generating six sacks.
Florida State statistically has the ACC’s worst offense this year, but that doesn’t make North Carolina’s defensive start any less impressive. This is the same Tar Heels’ unit that allowed over 1,000 combined yards to Pitt and Georgia Tech, so this sudden resurgence is encouraging to watch,
UNC limited the Seminoles to just 61 – yes, 61 – first-half yards. FSU played both Brock Glenn and Luke Kromenhoek at quarterback, with Glenn completed 1-of-3 passes for 33 yards. Seminoles running back Lawrence Toafili gained just 20 yards on six carries, while Kromenhoek was limited to six yards on a team-high seven carries.
We watched Virginia start to generate some rhythm on offense in the second half last week, but it was too late. Florida State could very well do the same thing today, as I saw a couple big plays in the first half, but North Carolina’s offense could put this game out of reach.
To see the Tar Heels’ defense is playing this well, this late in the season, is an encouraging sign for a possible bowl berth. Just think of the possibilities if UNC played this well defensively earlier in the year, too.
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