By Doc Kennedy

A championship-winning coach once told me, “It’s hard to get a team up for every game on the schedule.” It’s likely even harder when you’re facing an FCS team while trying to wash the bitter taste of two disappointing defeats out of your mouth.

North Carolina came out for a noon start against Campbell, showing the hangover effects of the last two games. The Tar Heels were sleepwalking for most of the first quarter and a half, with two punts on their first three possessions and allowing the Camels to march down the field for 10 early first downs and four third-down conversions. The first quarter ended tied at 7, and with Carolina nursing a 14–7 lead late into the second quarter, the Heels felt like they dodged a bullet as Campbell missed a 33-yard field goal.

After the missed field-goal attempt, Omarion Hampton and Drake Maye started doing Omarion Hampton and Drake Maye things that primed the pump of the offense. Carolina scored two touchdowns in just over three minutes late in the second quarter to blow the game open, and then kept the pedal down after halftime as the Heels eventually cruised to a 59–7 win.

It’s hard to read too much into the results of a blowout win that was exactly what was supposed to happen. UNC looked hungover through most of the first half on offense and the defense was getting gashed much as they were last week vs. Georgia Tech. When the Heels finally decided to show up, they exerted their will as expected against a team that lost their last game to Richmond, 44–13. But the important thing is that Carolina did shake the cobwebs and pick up their seventh win of the season.

With that in mind, here is the get-right edition of the Good, Bad, and Ugly Report:

Good

Omarion Hampton

Hampton continued to show he is arguably the best running back in the ACC, posting 144 yards and two touchdowns on only 15 carries. This was Hampton’s fourth-straight game over 100 yards, and he now has over 1,000 yards on the season.

Drake Maye

Maye was a crisp 16 of 23 for 244 yards and four touchdowns. Again, Maye’s yardage numbers haven’t been eye-popping because they haven’t needed to be with Hampton in the backfield, but four touchdowns are four touchdowns.

Connor Harrell

UNC’s big lead allowed Maye’s understudy to shine, rushing for a 61-yard touchdown and completing all four of his passes for 71 yards and another touchdown.

Bad

UNC’s defensive pressure

Carolina had five sacks against the Camels, which seems pretty good, except that the Tar Heels had nine sacks in the season opener against South Carolina and have only had 12 sacks in the eight games since. While the defense has been getting a number of QB hurries, actually getting home to the quarterback will be a key point in the last three games.

Penalties

UNC had 10 penalties for 98 yards. After being one of the least-penalized teams in the league for the first half of the season, Carolina has struggled with the yellow laundry since the Miami game.

Ugly

End of the first half

UNC had scored two touchdowns in just over three minutes late in the second quarter and, after Campbell fumbled a squib kick and the Tar Heels recovered, had a chance to add more points. Maye completed two passes and overcame a 15-yard penalty to set Carolina up at the Camel 19 with nine seconds left. With no timeouts but the clock stopped to set the chains, UNC’s coaches were simultaneously calling on the offense to spike the ball and trying to run the field goal unit onto the field. What resulted was worthy of a Benny Hill soundtrack and, in the end, an easy scoring opportunity was wasted. Carolina’s clock management hasn’t always been stellar and the special teams have been questionable, but this was an error of epic proportions. The Heels are lucky this did not come back to haunt them.

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If the goal of this game was to clear the baffles, cruise to a comfortable win, and get the starters some rest, then mission accomplished. If the goal was to look sharp doing so, maybe not so much. The important thing now is to right the ship in conference play against a Duke team playing without Riley Leonard, before ending the season at Clemson against a suddenly rejuvenated Tigers team who beat Notre Dame today, and at N.C. State, which is almost guaranteed to have some weirdness involved. We will have to see if today was enough to calm the waters, or if the team and its fans will have to hold on for a wild ride over the last three games. Experienced UNC fans are certainly preparing for the latter.

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 @GoHeels