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The Daily Tar Heel
From the Press Box

UNC trails San Diego State 14-7 at halftime

With a poor first half performance by the No. 21 North Carolina football team, the Tar Heels find themselves down 14-7 at halftime.

The Aztec defense’s constant pressure on quarterbacks Marquise Williams and Mitch Trubisky held the UNC offense at bay and prevented the Tar Heels from making even one trip to the red zone.

While Williams went 8-for-13, he only managed to throw for 51 yards and rush for 19 on three carries.

On the other side of the ball, the Tar Heels defense proved to be porous plagued with poor tackle attempts.

Giving up 109 yards rushing on 17 attempts and 136 yards passing, UNC allowed the Aztecs to run all over the field.

If it weren’t for a 100-yard interception return by cornerback Brain Walker in his first game back after being suspended one game for a violation of team policy regarding hazing, the Tar Heels could reasonably be down 21-0.

After the Aztecs drove into Tar Heel territory and became the first team to reach the red zone all night in the second quarter, Walker poached a poorly thrown ball by SDSU quarterback Quinn Kaehler in the end zone.

From there it was a foot race that Walker wouldn’t lose.

That play may have put the Tar Heels up 7-0 early, but the Aztec offense wouldn’t be held down for much longer.

Making it a 7-7 game just more than a minute later, SDSU brought the game back to even with a three-play drive.

Since then, it’s been all Aztecs.

A 12-yard run from Donnel Pumphrey put the Aztecs on top going into the locker room.

If the Tar Heels are going to make up this one possession deficit it’s going to start with improved offensive numbers that included just 108 yards — not much more than Walker ran for on his interception return.

sports@dailytarheel.com

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