By Doc Kennedy

Last Saturday seems so far away.

Just one week ago, UNC manhandled South Carolina in a physically dominating show by the defense. On Saturday night against Appalachian State, the ghosts of Tar Heel defenses past came to haunt Kenan Stadium in Carolina’s home opener.   

Missed tackles? They were back. Giving up 3rd-and-long over and over? That, too. Crushing, drive-extending penalties? Check. Relying on the offense to have to bail out the defense? Play the hits one more time.

Yet, in the end, Carolina exorcized some of its ghosts on its way to securing a 40–34, double-overtime win over Appalachian State. UNC had lost six straight overtime games. The Heels also had lost four straight games when facing a quarterback who had previously been a backup in the season. And, ultimately, it was a great open-field tackle on third down and solid defensive back coverage in the second OT to seal the game for Carolina.

With that in mind, here is the white-knuckle edition of the GBU Report:

Good

Omarion Hampton

The sophomore running back started in place of the injured British Brooks and rushed for 234 yards and three touchdowns, averaging nine yards per carry. He was simply unstoppable in the overtime periods.

Drake Maye

Maye had a pedestrian night, for him, anyway. He was 21 of 30 passing for 208 yards. He also rushed for 57 yards and the game-winning touchdown in the second overtime. He played mistake-free ball and put the Heels in a position to win the game in regulation. But his 477 yards, two TDs and two INTs through two games are, well, pedestrian for him. The internet was abuzz during the game about new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey’s play-calling for Maye, especially as he only averaged less than seven yards per attempt. Lindsey’s usage of Maye will be something that bears watching as the season progresses.

Bad

Tight ends

After being such a huge part of the Week 1 win over South Carolina, the tight ends were mostly absent in this game. John Copenhaver (who had his right hand and wrist heavily wrapped) was a non-factor; a wide-open Kamari Morales dropped a likely touchdown pass and did not have a reception; and Bryson Nesbit had the only catch by a tight end, for nine yards (although he did reel in a pass in the end zone that was ruled out-of-bounds). In the absence of Tez Walker, all receiving hands need to be on deck.

Lack of sacks

After recording nine sacks against the Gamecocks, this week the Heels were not able to get to App QB Joey Aguilar one single time. But in defense of the defense, Aguilar was hurried nine times and he and his receivers sometimes just made plays. Nine sacks are obviously not sustainable, but with nine hurries, the defense has to get home at some point.

Ugly

Third- and fourth-down conversions

Appalachian was 8 of 17 on third down and 2 of 3 on fourth down, with the only fourth down they didn’t convert being the final play in the second overtime. That’s an effective 10 of 20, or 50%, when the Carolina defense had the chance to get off the field. Moreover, of all those third-down conversions, only one was for less than five yards, and four were for nine or more yards. It does no good to get teams off schedule or behind the sticks if you can’t get stops on third-and-medium and third-and-long. UNC will have to tighten that up quickly.

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Sometimes, you have to be just good enough to win, and that’s what happened on Saturday. It was a weird day with intermittent rain both before and during the game, plus, as someone observed on X/Twitter, the Tez Walker NCAA ruling almost seemed to bring the team down when it was expected to inspire them. The Mountaineers had plenty of inspiration too, coupling the desire to get even from last year with any chance to beat a ranked team, much less UNC just because. This was the final game of the three-game series that saw all three contests decided by a combined 11 points. Now, let’s never play App again and move on to Minnesota, with the Gophers coming to town next week.

Doc Kennedy is an alum and longtime UNC fan, and a former high school and college basketball coach who wrote this report for years on Tar Heel Blog.

Photo via @UNCFootball