Tag: North Carolina football

The Tar Heels’ defense works to get Geoff Collins ‘swole’

How ‘swole’ will Geoff Collins be by the end of the season?

Mack Brown brought in former Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins to be his defensive coordinator this season in hopes of getting the defense to a place where it wasn’t a liability.

Over the last three games, Collins has proved just that.

Many had question marks about his capabilities after the team’s four-game losing streak, but Collins implemented an incentive-based system full of cookie cake and push-ups that have motivated his defense.

Power Echols gave us insight into how Collins is doing just that, via Inside Carolina.

He has to do 10 push-ups every time we get a turnover, so we try to get him as swole as possible by the end of practice and get him a good workout in, but he just preaches that each and every day in practice.

Mack Brown had nothing but praise for Collins defense over the last three games.

They’ve stopped the run, they’ve disrupted the quarterback. We forced two turnovers last week, we had three tonight. So now, they’re starting to force more turnovers.

Even Jacobly Criswell acknowledged the strength of the defense on Saturday.

We had a couple of drives to where I fumbled, and just unacceptable by me, and a couple of other things happened to where we just weren’t on rhythm, and the defense did a good job giving us the ball back,

Collins’s incentive-based system for his defense has cultivated a relationship between the DC and players that every team hopes to have.

The fact that players are enjoying what they are receiving and willing to go out and leave it all on the field for Collins proves what we all wondered about his leadership capabilities.

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PHOTOS: Tar Heels roll past Wake Forest, even up conference record

Check out how the game looked from the sidelines as UNC took down Wake Forest.

North Carolina came out of its second bye week to take on its first ACC team at home since its winning streak started. Wake Forest came into Kenan Stadium and served up the Tar Heel’s third straight win against an ACC team.

The star of the show, Omarion Hampton, once again had a stellar performance. He finished with 244 yards and a touchdown on the ground with five receptions for 16 yards through the air as well.

The defense wasn’t going to shy away from the spotlight either as Power Echols intercepted Michael Kern, after Hank Bachmeier left the game injured, for a 42-yard touchdown. They managed two sacks and five tackles for a loss as well.

Check out the photos from the sideline in Carolina’s “Blue Out.”

UNC football goes Carolina Blue Out against Wake Forest

The Tar Heels will host a “Carolina Blue-Out” on Saturday against Wake Forest.

North Carolina will head back home after two road games between their two bye weeks. The last four weeks have been fun for Tar Heels fans, getting back into the winning grove with dominant performances against Virginia and Florida State.

They scored 41 points and held Virginia to just one touchdown in their first road win while scoring 35 points against Florida State and also allowing just one touchdown as a defense.

Last week, they enjoyed another bye week with the opportunity to enhance their skills and chemistry together as they take the field tomorrow at Kenan Stadium in North Carolina.

As they take the field, they will wear a uniform combination that the team hasn’t dawned yet this season. They are promoting a “Carolina Blue-Out” to fans attending the game and as a result, the team will be in Carolina blue helmets, jerseys, and pants.

In the Tar Heels’ announcement post on X (formerly Twitter), Antavious Lane is seen repping the Carolina blue everything.

Lane leads the Tar Heels in tackles this season with 57 total tackles, including 40 solo tackles, which is nine more than any other player on the team. Lane also has one sack for two yards, two pass deflections, and two forced fumbles.

North Carolina will kick off at 8:00 pm ET in Chapel Hill, NC, airing on ACC Network.

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Former UNC standout QB outshines NFL’s No. 1 pick in Week 10

In just his fifth start, the former UNC QB drafted at No. 3 outshines the No. 1 overall pick.

In three seasons at UNC, two where he was the starter, quarterback Drake Maye threw 618 completions for 8,018 yards and 63 touchdowns with 16 interceptions. He also ran 302 times for 1,209 yards and another 16 touchdowns with his legs.

Over last offseason, Drake Maye was the No. 3 overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft, the third quarterback taken off the board after USC’s Caleb Williams at No. 1 and LSU’s Jayden Daniels at No. 2.

Maye took over the starting role in New England five weeks ago and has since beaten the New York Jets and the Chicago Bears while losing to the Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Houston Texans in five starts.

In his most recent win on the road in Chicago, Maye had the opportunity to face off against the No. 1 overall pick, Caleb Williams.

Not only did the Patriots win, but Drake Maye outshined the quarterback drafted before him. Maye threw for 184 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He had a 67.5 QBR and a 79.4 QB rating. Maye also had 24 yards rushing.

Williams ended the game with 120 yards yards through the air and 15 yards rushing. He has zero touchdowns or any interceptions. However, his QBR was just 13.6 and his QB rating was 63.2, both well below Maye.

It remains to be seen how the season will end, but at this point, Maye can be considered the second-best rookie quarterback behind Washington’s Jayden Daniels.

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PHOTOS: Tar Heels take down Florida State, start a win streak

North Carolina is now on another winning streak, check out the photos at Florida State of their second-straight win.

The North Carolina Tar Heels went on the road and won their second straight ACC game today. They are officially back over the .500 mark with a 5-4 record and are working their ACC record back to the .500 mark at 2-3.

It was all North Carolina, all game on Saturday. The offense totaled 500 yards from the line of scrimmage and the defense allowed Florida State only 201 total yards including just 42 on the ground.

The front seven of UNC’s defense has allowed just 49 yards on the ground by the opposition in their last two wins. Omarion Hampton ran for a single-game career-high in touchdowns with four on the night on 32 carries for 172 yards while also totaling 93 receiving yards and another touchdown through the air.

Check out the photos from North Carolina’s huge win!

Omarion Hampton sets career-high in win at Florida State

UNC’s star running back scrambled for a single-game career-high at Florida State.

North Carolina went back on the road in Week 10 of the college football season after destroying Virginia last week in their first ACC win and first football win in the previous five weeks.

They kept that momentum moving through the week and brought the same energy into Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida, on Saturday afternoon, beating Florida State 35-11.

In the win, UNC football topped 500 yards of offense and 23 total first downs including 211 yards on offense and 289 yards on the ground.

The rushing attack was led by preseason All-American Omarion Hampton, who has continued putting up stellar numbers. He ran 32 times for 172 yards, averaging 5.4 yards per carry with a game-long run of 43 yards.

He also had four touchdowns in the win, marking a single-game career-high for the junior running back from Clayton, North Carolina.

Hampton scored his first touchdown on a one-yard punch-in in the second quarter and followed it up with one of the same just 10 minutes later on a two-yard punch-in.

His third touchdown of the day came on a 31-yard scamper, breaking multiple Florida State tackles to mark the third time this season that he has scored three touchdowns. He set his career-high later in the third quarter with another one-yard score.

Hampton is only getting better and is up to 1,178 yards and 13 touchdowns this season.

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UNC defensive end named Bednarik Player of the Week

UNC defensive end names Bednarik Player of the Week in just third game this season.

After a four-game slide, the North Carolina football team got back on the right side of the win-loss column on the road in Week 9 against Virginia.

They snapped the four-game losing streak while simultaneously picking up their first conference win this season. Not only would a win have been sufficient, but they put the stomp on Virginia winning by 27 points giving up just one touchdown and two field goals on the day.

While the offense played well under Jacolby Criswell‘s 293 yards through the air and Omarion Hampton‘s 105 yards on the ground, the defense was the most spectacular showing by the Tar Heels in the game.

As a team, they totaled 62 tackles, 10 sacks, 12 tackles for a loss, two interceptions, and one touchdown.

The defense was led by Kaimon Rucker (DE) who was also selected to be the Bednarik Player of the Week.

Rucker finished No. 2 on the team in total tackles with eight including five solo tackles. He led the team with three sacks and 3.5 tackles for a loss. Rucker was also one of the two players to record an interception in the win.

In just under three total games played this season, Rucker has 16 total tackles and 12 solo tackles. He has four sacks and an interception.

He will look to get back into this form and duplicate this game against Florida State on Saturday.

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UNC football surges up USA Today Sports re-rank after win

Here is where the UNC football program ranks in the latest USA Today Sports re-rank

Bye weeks have been known to be resets for teams heading into them with losing streaks, and that’s exactly what it did for Mack Brown and the North Carolina Tar Heels team.

Whether it was losing games because of allowing massive points or losing big leads, fans were starting to lose faith in the UNC football program, and Paul Myerberg and USA Today were also told by their weekly re-rank program.

North Carolina started out in the mid-50s before eventually falling all the way down to No. 79 heading into their bye week last week.

The offense played well last week led by Jacolby Criswell and Omarion Hampton, and the defense put up historic numbers totaling 10 sacks, 12 tackles for a loss, and two interceptions including one for a touchdown.

Seven players got in on the sack party, including Kaimon Rucker, who had three sacks, and Beau Atkinson, who had two sacks. Antavious Lane, Amare Campbell, Alijah Huzzie, Jahvaree Ritzie, and Desmond Evans all had one sack each.

Rucker also had 3.5 tackles for a loss and one of the interceptions. Ritzie had the other interception and returned it for an 84-yard pick-six.

USA Today’s praised the Tar Heels’ effort in the latest re-rank after Week 9 against Virginia has North Carolina at No. 63, up 16 spots from their previous rank.

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UNC hits historical defensive mark in Week 10 win over Virginia

UNC defense not only bounce back, it showed out at Virginia.

North Carolina had been on a defensive demise over the past five weeks of football. From giving up 70 points to James Madison to dropping a 21-point lead against Duke, the defense lost multiple games over that losing streak.

The defensive line wasn’t getting to the quarterback, the secondary wasn’t keeping receivers in front of them, and the linebackers let lead rushers into the secondary, it was just a mess from start to finish.

However, the bye week transformed the North Carolina defense. They came out in vengeance last week against Virginia totaling 10 sacks, 12 tackles for a loss, two interceptions, one touchdown, and 62 tackles.

The total of 10 sacks was marked the most in a single game by a North Carolina defense since 2000 at Wake Forest.

Seven players got in on the party including Kaimon Rucker, who had three sacks, and Beau Atkinson, who had two sacks. Antavious Lane, Amare Campbell, Alijah Huzzie, Jahvaree Ritzie, and Desmond Evans all had one sack each.

Rucker also had 3.5 tackles for a loss and an interception. Ritzie had the other interception and returned it for an 84-yard pick-six.

Atkinson had 2.5 tackles for a loss, and Lane had 1.5 as well. Lane led the team in total tackles with nine on the day, including eight solo tackles.

Hopefully, North Carolina can carry that defensive momentum into the next game against Florida State on the road in another ACC game.

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Omarion Hampton reaches 1,000 yards in just eight games

Omarion Hampton dominates again this week and reaches the 1,000-yard mark in just eight games.

The UNC football season hasn’t been one that fans would like to remember. It started with three straight wins and was followed by four straight losses. This week, they got back on the winning side at Virginia to even their record at 4-4 after eight games and a bye week.

However, the most consistent and best play week-in and week-out has been running back Omarion Hampton. Hampton is a top-five back in the nation and through just eight games has already topped the 1,000-yard mark.

Last year, Hampton had just 1,504 yards and didn’t reach 1,000 yards until Week 10 against Campbell.

In all but one game this year, Hampton has totaled over 100 yards rushing. He ran for 129 yards against Minnesota on the road followed by 77 yards against Charlotte in Week 2, a game where he got hurt and played just half.

He ran for 210 yards and three touchdowns against NC Central, followed by 139 yards and three touchdowns against James Madison. Hampton totaled 103 yards on the road at Duke and 106 yards against Pittsburgh.

In Week 6 against Pittsburgh, he totaled 137 yards against Georgia Tech, which put Hampton at 901 yards total on the season. This week, he ran for 105 yards and two touchdowns, eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark on the season.

Hampton is averaging 125 yards per game, which would project him to finish the year with 1,509 yards.

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