North Carolina Tar Heels: Keys To The Season, Top Game, Top Transfer, Fun Stats
North Carolina Tar Heels: Key To The 2022 Offense
Stop letting defensive fronts dance on the quarterback’s head.
To be fair to the North Carolina offensive front, as great as Sam Howell was, he played a whole lot of hero ball and held on to the thing for way, way too long at times trying to make something big happen – for good and for bad.
So there’s that, and the offensive line gave up a whopping 49 sacks.
Last year’s front five allowed 3.77 sacks per game. By comparison, as recently as 2018 it gave up fewer than one per outing.
The pass protection was bad, and the plays allowed behind the line were worse. The Tar Heels allowed the most in the ACC – giving up well over seven per game – and now they have a new starting backfield and almost all new starting parts on the O line.
North Carolina Tar Heels: Key To The 2022 Defense
Come up with a freaking third down stop already.
It starts by not being steamrolled over by the better running teams, and it continues by generating more of a pass rush against the decent air attacks. And then, after all that, get off the field when there’s a chance to do it.
North Carolina was abysmal on third downs, allowing teams to convert on 42% of their chances. The worst part about that is how the D actually wasn’t all that awful on third downs over the first part of the season and overall held four teams to well under 30%.
Florida State kept rolling at will on the Tar Heel D. Pitt seemed to stay on the field as long as it wanted, and South Carolina held a third down conversion party in the bowl win. In all, North Carolina allowed five teams to convert 50% or more of their tries.
North Carolina Tar Heels: Key Player To The 2022 Season
OT Asim Richards, Sr.
The quarterback situation needs to be settled, and it would be nice if British Brooks or one of the running backs turned into a killer, but none of this is working if the offensive line doesn’t start keeping teams from living rent-free in the backfield.
The 6-5, 320-pound Richards is going into his third year as a starter, and he’s by far the most experienced one of the bunch. The line has to be better and it has to go through an overhaul. Richards has to become special.
North Carolina Tar Heels: Key Transfer
EDGE Noah Taylor, Sr.
The Tar Heels were okay at getting to the quarterback. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t outstanding, and now leading sacker Tomon Fox is gone.
Virginia’s Noah Taylor is an all-around playmaker on the outside with the versatility to be an outside linebacker or a quick end, making 169 tackles over the last three years with 12.5 sacks and 28.5 tackles for loss. He might not be Fox, but he’ll be turned loose on the outside of the veteran Tar Heel line.
North Carolina Key Game To The 2022 Season
Virginia Tech, Oct. 1
There might be other big games on the slate, but North Carolina has a massive Virginia Tech problem.
First, the game comes after the showdown with Notre Dame and before the trip to Miami. Second …
Really, North Carolina has a Virginia Tech problem.
The Tar Heels were able to survive a wild 56-45 battle in 2020. After opening last season with the total opposite type of game in an uggo of a 17-10 loss to the Hokies, they’ve lost five of their last six and seven of the last nine in the series.
North Carolina Tar Heels: 2021 Fun Stats
– Sacks: Opponents 49 for 277 yards – UNC 29 for 192 yards
– Fumbles: UNC 14 (lost 5) – Opponents 12 (lost 4)
– Average Score Per Game: UNC 35.2 – Opponents 32.1
2022 North Carolina Preview
Offense, Defense Breakdown
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
North Carolina Top 10 Players
North Carolina Schedule & Analysis