For the first six games of the season, it looked like North Carolina’s defense was vastly improved. But the last two weeks in losses to Virginia and Georgia Tech shows that it was all fools gold.
In the loss to Virginia last week, North Carolina allowed 436 total yards and 228 rushing yards. That trend continued in Week 9 against Georgia Tech as UNC allowed 635 yards total and 387 on the ground.
But perhaps the most shocking stat from Saturday’s game was that UNC allowed 246 rushing yards alone in the fourth quarter. That included 11.2 yards per carry as they sealed the deal with three touchdowns.
It was tough to watch as Georgia Tech got whatever they wanted on the ground and UNC couldn’t stop them. As soon as UNC extended the lead to 11 and it looked like it gave them some breathing room, the Yellow Jackets rolled off a 70-yard touchdown run just a few plays later.
As for the defense being gassed, they weren’t on the field much in the third quarter but after playing a lot against the Cavaliers last week, the toll is starting to set for this unit.
Following the game, Mack Brown noted that he thought the defense was beyond this.
“It’s one of those, I didn’t know what to say,” Browns said. “And I’ve been doing this 35 years … I thought we were beyond that on defense.”
But in reality, they weren’t beyond this. And it leads us to believe that it was fools gold this whole time.
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