Tar Heel secondary stops Blue Raiders

The North Carolina defensive backs have taken criticism for giving up the big play, but in UNC’s home opener against Middle Tennessee State, the secondary made its own big plays, grabbing three interceptions in a 40-20 win.

The Blue Raiders opened the game with a 68-yard drive, and nearly took a 6-0 lead, but upon further review, the replay showed UNC safety Dominque Green tackled MTSU wide receiver Kyle Griswold inside the 1-yard line.

On third-and-goal, senior safety Tre Boston made a leaping, one-handed interception in the end zone to give UNC the ball.

“Coach (Fedora) came up to me after the game and told me that was a game-changing play,” Boston said. “I do believe that. After that, that’s really when we got our rhythm going. It’s big plays like that that really motivate our team offensively and defensively.”

On the ensuing drive, sophomore running back Romar Morris scored on UNC’s first drive, making one defender miss and beating another to the pylon for a 22-yard touchdown.

Though UNC allowed 68 yards on MTSU’s first drive, the Tar Heels held the Blue Raiders to just 21 yards in the remaining five first-half drives, and in the second quarter, UNC junior cornerback Tim Scott grabbed UNC’s second interception on an overthrown deep pass.

After causing zero turnovers against South Carolina last week, Boston said the defensive backs wanted to show what they could do.

“The secondary takes a lot of the hits and we don’t mind that,” he said. “Somebody makes a missed tackle up front, it always ends up being us. For us to go out there and play that game was special to us. Because we knew we had to do that.”

UNC added two more first-half touchdowns — on one-yard runs from Morris and quarterback Bryn Renner — and entered halftime with a 23-0 lead.

A miscommunication between UNC’s captains during the game’s opening coin flip allowed MTSU to receive the ball to start both halves, and this time the defense faltered.

MTSU running back Jordan Parker found a big hole up the middle for a 22-yard touchdown run, to cut UNC’s lead to 23-7.

Following a UNC punt, the defense allowed a 29-yard completion, and the Blue Raiders were once again driving deep into Tar Heel territory.

MTSU drove 51 yards before UNC sophomore safety Darien Rankin made the stop, intercepting a pass at the UNC 12-yard line to get the offense the ball back.

The ensuing drive led to a UNC 35-yard field goal, and the Tar Heels held at least a 13-point lead throughout the second half.

Defensive end Kareem Martin said UNC’s ability to stop the Blue Raiders on short-yardage third downs provided a spark.

“Third-and-one, that’s when you lick your chops as a defensive lineman,” Martin said. “It’s man-on-man, it’s whose line’s better. A few times today we were able to stop them on the third-and-ones. That just gave the whole team a lot of energy.”

UNC stopped MTSU on 10 of the Blue Raiders’ 18 third-down attempts, and denied both of their fourth-down tries.

The Tar Heels still allowed 401 total yards, including 243 through the air, but coach Larry Fedora said he was pleased with his defense’s performance after a 27-10 loss last week against South Carolina.

“We did a much better job of tackling today,” Fedora said. “I think the emphasis of the coaches in practice, the kids bought into it.”