Omarion Hampton helps carry UNC football to 19-17 win over Minnesota

Omarion Hampton, UNC’s star running back, carried the offense yesterday in the team’s Week 1 win.

What a way to start the season for UNC football, a narrow win against a Big Ten school on the road. Hopefully, that spells for games to come and lights a fire under the coaches and players for the rest of the season.

Last night, in the 19-17 win against Minnesota, there was very little passing offense transpiring. Max Johnson had less than 30 yards passing in the first half and just two receivers had a catch.

Johnson finished with 71 yards before leaving the game with a terrible-looking injury to his knee. Conner Harrell replaced him and threw for 34 yards at the end of the third and fourth quarters.

As a team, the Heels produced just 105 yards of offense through the air.

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Enter Omarion Hampton, the man who carried the offense on the way to the win. He was handed the ball 30 times carrying for 129 yards on the ground. He averaged 4.3 yards per carry with a 16-yard scamper his longest of the night.

Hampton also caught five passes and was responsible for 17 of those 105 yards through the air as well. Hampton stole the show, just like we projected that he would, and he lifted the offense to get Noah Burnette in a spot to win the game.

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UNC quarterback Max Johnson has season-ending surgery on Friday

UNC starting quarterback Max Johnson had season-ending leg surgery today.

Spirits were high after the 19-17 season-opening win on the road for UNC football and company, but one question loomed over the entire celebration. What was the extent of Max Johnson’s injury?

During the third quarter of the game with just over two minutes remaining, Max Johnson dropped back for a routine play. He was hit low by multiple players and rolled around in an effort to be tackled.

However, in the course of the tackle, Johnson’s femur broke immediately causing him severe pain. Simultaneously, everyone from fans, coaches, and players, knew that something wasn’t right.

After attempting to walk off the field, he was eventually put on a cart not being able to bear any weight. Mack Brown would not give a comment postgame.

Now, we have learned the extent of his injury has led to season-ending knee surgery for the transfer from Texas A&M. Johnson still has one year of eligibility left and can use it if he is able to get back from this injury.

Our thoughts are with Max, the team, his family, as he begins his recovery and road back on the field, today.

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UNC football has pressing issues to address on defense

Looking ahead to week 2, these issues need addressing by Geoff Collins on the defensive side of the ball.

UNC football went on the road and did something that they haven’t done since 1992, they won a season-opening game in true hostile territory. However, despite winning 19-17 and ended up 1-0 through the first week, the Tar Heels looked anything but successful on the field.

Specfically, UNC’s defensive side of the ball had glaring issues. I will say this though, everything they did was better than last year, some issues remained the same, but overall, it was a much improved performance.

There are two majors areas of concern heading into next week — open-field tackling and third-down conversions. On multiple occasions throughout the game, Collins had PJ Fleck backed up for over 10 yards and allowed a conversion on a play over double-digit yardage.

However, the glaring issue that even played a part in conversions was open-field tackling. When the big men got to the quarterback or when the defensive backs broke up a pass, it was electric.

When a pass was caught, though, or a runner broke the line, the ability to tackle that player was a problem and yards after contact were plentious.

Overall, the gameplan of the defense and the execution was at a place that fans haven’t seen it in a long time.

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Noah Burnette’s perfection shined in UNC football’s narrow win

North Carolina came away with a win in Week 1 because Noah Burnette was perfect on the field.

Last night’s win was not a spectacular performance on offense or defense for UNC football. The Tar Heels had severe weaknesses on both sides of the ball, except the special teams group.

Kicker Noah Burnette was not only considered the most valuable player of the winning team, but he was also perfect from the field hitting four field goals and scoring the most points of any player on either team.

After Minnesota’s kicker doinked a “chip-shot”, it was quickly realized that the difference between the kickers would be the difference in the score. That sentiment proved correct as the Gophers missed a game-winning field goal with four seconds left in the game for his second missed field goal.

Last season, his sophomore year, Burnette went 18/19 on field goals in 6/6 from over 40 yards and hitting zero field goals of over 50 yards. Last night, he not only started perfect, but he also did something he didn’t do at all last season.

He is now 2/2 from over 40 yards and 1/1 from over 50 yards with 100% total accuracy heading into Week 2 of the college football season.

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Minnesota football mistakenly lit off fireworks after a missed game-winning kick to North Carolina

Many teams are still working out the kinks both on and off the field.

It is still early in the college football season and many teams are still working out the kinks both on and off the field.

Never was that more apparent than when the Minnesota Gophers hosted the North Carolina Tar Heels on Thursday night. Heading into the final seconds of the game, Minnesota kicker Dragan Kesich had an opportunity to secure a victory for his team.

Kesich, who missed a 27-yard field goal attempt earlier in the game, missed a 47-yard field goal and North Carolina was officially victorious. Despite that, though, the fireworks operator still set off the display for the home crowd.

This was a sitcom-worthy awkward series of events.

Hopefully for Minnesota fans, isn’t a preview of what is to come as the season progresses for the Gophers.

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PHOTOS: UNC football’s season opening win at Minnesota

Check out the photos of UNC football taking down Minnesota in the season opener!

The UNC football program went on the road in Week 1 and took down Minnesota. For the first time in over three decades, the Heels are winners of a true road season opener.

Max Johnson scored the only touchdown of the game for North Carolina before heading to the locker room late in the third quarter with an injury. The injury was to his lower leg, and he was barely able to put weight on it.

Conner Harrell ended the game at quarterback, but it was kicker Noah Burnette who can be credited with the win. He went four-for-four on the night including a 50+ yarder.

Here are some photos from the win tonight:

UNC football starting QB Max Johnson leaves game with injury in opener

UNC starting quarterback Max Johnson goes down after being hit and twisted in his knee.

North Carolina opened its season tonight with a game on the road against Minnesota. Heading into the halftime, the Heels had just 28 yards through the air, and starting quarterback Max Johnson was struggling to get things going.

He came out into the second half and started to click with different receivers. Only two players caught passes in the first half and six different players caught passes on the first drive out of the break.

In the middle of the third quarter, Johnson went down on a third down and was hit low by two Minnesota players twisting his knee and landing awkwardly. Johnson immediately grabbed his knee.

With just over two minutes left in the third, the entire stadium was silent as Johnson could barely make it over to the cart and was obviously in extreme pain.

Conner Harrell will take over as quarterback with UNC down 14-10 and just over a quarter left to play. Johnson, who had one interception and a rushing touchdown earlier in the game, is on his way to the locker room to be evaluated.

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USA Today sees ACC up for grabs and UNC football could capitalize

With Florida State’s loss in Week 0, many USA Today analysts see the ACC up for grabs with Miami, NC State, and UNC vying for that spot.

UNC football opens up with Minnesota tonight and after a loss by Florida State to open their season, many analysts see the ACC up for grabs including those at USA Today.

Of those analysts, the three names that came up included Miami, NC State, and UNC. Miami drew most of the surprise team’s attention and NC State saw equal voting to win the ACC. However, UNC football was involved in the conversation and can be seen as a dark horse.

Paul Myerberg had this to say about the ACC’s chances.

While Clemson, Miami and maybe North Carolina are seen as the most obvious teams to fill the Seminoles’ shoes atop the conference standings, N.C. State may be the most complete team in the conference.

Two specific games on the schedule will be very influential on the chances of winning the ACC and vying for a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoffs — November 2nd at Florida State and November 30th vs NC State.

If they lose one of those games, there is still a chance, but they can’t lose an easy win and one of those difficult games as well and expect to be the regular season ACC champions.

It all begins tonight with Minnesota and a possible opening road victory over a Big Ten team. Omarion Hampton has the chance to join the ranks of several non-QB Heisman Trophy winners if UNC is to win the conference.

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ACC Network ranks UNC’s Omarion Hampton as top-ranked conference player

UNC football’s superstar running back secured the top spot on ACC Digital Network’s top players this season.

Ahead of the season opener on the road against Minnesota, ACC Digital Network ranks UNC football star, Omarion Hampton, as the No. 1 player in the Atlantic Coast Conference heading into the 2024 season.

Hampton amassed 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground last season. He also caught 29 passes for 222 yards which totals to over 1,700 all-purpose yards over the course of 13 games in his sophomore season at North Carolina.

With Drake Maye and Devontez Walker, two major offensive playmakers last year in the NFL, Hampton is the star of the show and is projected to surpass 2,000 all-purpose yards and 20 touchdowns on the season.

That is a large part of why he draws this No. 1 ranking of the top players in the conference. He beat out newcomers to the ACC Preston Stone and SMU, Ashton Gillotte of Louisville, and Xavier Restrepo of Miami, who were the No. 2 through No. 4 players respectively.

Hampton gets his season underway against Minnesota this week and with the weather projected rainy, might get all the work on the ground as one of the most stable pieces of this revamped UNC offense.

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Former UNC running back makes Houston Texans 53-man roster

Former UNC football running back British Brooks made the Houston Texas 53-man roster today.

Former UNC football players around the league held their breath as all NFL rosters had to be cut down to 53 men today. After a training camp and preseason roster of over 70 men, 20+ of them theoretically, had to be waived from 32 teams.

One of those former Tar Heels, British Brooks, was one whose name was easily on the chopping block. The running back room in Houston brought in Joe Mixon from Cincinnati and had Dameon Pierce, Dare Ogunbowale, and Cam Akers along with more.

However, Brooks was not one of the players that the Texans decided to cut and did enough in the preseason to warrant a spot on a team.

Brooks ran one time for negative two yards in the Hall of Fame game in his first NFL action. He proceeded to run two times for three years in Week 1 of the preseason against the Steelers.

Week 3 is when he exploded onto the scene rushing five times for 23 yards and two touchdowns against the Giants. He capped it off with a five-attempt, 25-yard game against the Rams last weekend.

Houston chose to be thin in other areas to keep five tailbacks on the roster, the four aforementioned ones, and Brooks.

Brooks will now have the opportunity to make a name for himself and North Carolina at the professional level for the time being!

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