The junior signal-caller threw for 304 yards and four touchdowns, completing an astounding 77 percent of his passes. UNC's defense was unable to apply pressure, giving Brohm all kinds of time to convert long completions and all kinds of room to create scores in the red zone on play-action rollouts.
"(Louisville) has a great quarterback that can throw on the dime and they made some explosive plays," Bunting said.
The ease that characterized Louisville's opening drive, which spanned 80 yards in just under three minutes and ended in a three-yard score by Bush, served as a signal for the looming onslaught.
"Coming into the game, I felt like if we could score on the first drive, UNC may remember last year," said Louisville coach Bobby Petrino.
But unlike last season, North Carolina struck back. Ronnie McGill made his return from injury known early, as he powered his way into the end zone for a two-yard score to cap the team's first series and tie the score at 7.
However, it would be two quarters and almost 40 minutes before UNC put more points on the board.
In the meantime, the Cardinals simply took over.
Louisville defensive end Elvis Dumervil - or in the words of Bunting, "the second coming" - catalyzed his team by making an incredible read on a screen pass attempt by UNC quarterback Matt Baker. The read resulted in Dumervil recording his first career interception and ending North Carolina's hopes of tying the game at 14.
Three drives later, Dumervil and Brohm sealed the Tar Heels' disastrous fate. After Connor Barth missed his sixth field goal of the year, Brohm found wideout Mario Urrutia over the middle for a 73-yard touchdown and a 24-point lead.
On UNC's ensuing series, Dumervil, who pushed his nation-high sack total to 15 after Saturday, took Baker down on two consecutive plays, leading to a North Carolina turnover on downs and another Louisville score just before the half.
"(Louisville's) offense is explosive and they can score any way they want to," said McGill, who finished with 26 yards and a touchdown. "And that number 58 (Dumervil), he's one of best I've played against.
"You can't cut him, you can't block him up high, you can't run away from him and you can't run toward him. If you put him on the bench, maybe you could do something with him."
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When UNC's Wallace Wright fumbled the second half's opening kickoff return, it was clear that the Tar Heels could not find the necessary momentum or enough answers to get back into the game.
Neither Bunting nor his players could pinpoint exactly what happened to create the large final deficit, and the stat sheets shows few glaring differences.
Louisville outgained UNC by only 119 yards on offense. Both teams were perfect in the red zone (UNC was 2-for-2 and Louisville was 7-for-7). And aside from a garbage-time fumble return, the Tar Heels' two other turnovers resulted in only three Cardinal points.
So what went wrong?
"I can't put my finger on one thing (that led to the loss)," said Baker, who threw for 224 yards and one interception. "We got just beat in every aspect of the game."
This helpless feeling will haunt the Tar Heels as they enter their bye week before facing Virginia, another team that had its way with UNC last season. But Bunting sees this game and the extra week of preparation as blessings in disguise.
"It's disappointing because I thought we were about ready to play our best game," he said.
"But we've played very well at times during the first four games, so I'm not going to let this game get in the way of what we've done. We will get better because of this game."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
