Friday night, things looked great for the North Carolina football team with 02:12 left in the game. Up 30-21, fans were optimistic that the Tar Heels would come away from Carter-Finley Stadium victorious against No. 20 N.C. State.
All of a sudden, the team started to come apart. UNC allowed two touchdowns just 24 seconds apart from each other and even let N.C. State recover the rarely successful onside kick. Just like that, what looked to be a promising outcome turned into the team’s sixth loss of the season, putting them at an even 6-6 record.
In reality, UNC’s loss against the Wolfpack was a microcosm of their season as a whole.
The team came into the season ranked 10th in the nation, with junior quarterback and Heisman hopeful Sam Howell under center. In head coach Mack Brown’s third season back in Chapel Hill, the team looked to turn a corner and find its place among college football powerhouses. Optimism surrounded the team based on its performance in the Orange Bowl at the end of last season, reflected in UNC’s lofty preseason ranking.
There were signs from the beginning, though, that it would be difficult for the Tar Heels to match their success from the previous campaign.
The team lost four of its best offensive assets from a year ago, with running backs Michael Carter and Javonte Williams and receivers Dazz Newsome and Dyami Brown all departing. These four combined for 4,761 yards of offense and 48 touchdowns. The high expectations for Howell, a projected first round draft pick by some, did not account for the assets lost on offense.
Howell established a strong connection on the field with sophomore receiver Josh Downs, who finished the regular season with 98 catches for 1,273 yards and eight scores. Beyond that, the rest of the receiving core didn’t get involved enough for UNC to take its passing attack to the next level. The second receiving option on the team, senior Antoine Green, was short by 71 catches and 734 yards to Downs.
The running game was on again, off again with graduate transfer Ty Chandler. He delivered three games of at least 100 yards on the ground, including a 213-yard, four-touchdown performance against Wake Forest. Other games, he struggled to hit 75 yards.
The defense struggled to get stops most of the year, as the 31.6 points per game it allowed was two points worse than its mark from last season. The team also went 0-5 on the road, which kept it from being a real threat to most of the ranked teams that it faced.
