By Doc Kennedy

After the season-opening debacle against TCU, North Carolina lumbered through its game with Charlotte before flexing a little versus FCS Richmond, so Saturday’s game at Central Florida was a good test to see how much the Tar Heels had improved over the past three weeks.

Test failed.

The Knights took the opening kickoff and shoved it down UNC’s throat and never trailed in a 34–9 win on a steamy Florida night.

For most of the game, UCF imposed its will on the hapless Tar Heels. Carolina slipped into many of their old habits, particularly with blown assignments and missed tackles. On offense, UNC was only able to muster three points and a single trip to the red zone before an unfortunate injury to starting quarterback Gio Lopez forced Max Johnson into the game, resulting in the only Carolina touchdown.

It was a pretty bleak performance, especially the final drive, which was longer than a David McCullough historical novel, consuming 18 plays, 93 yards, and took 10:26 off the clock.

In the end, UNC leaves the way many folks leave Orlando, tired, beaten and questioning its choices. With that in mind, here is the Central Florida edition of the Good, Bad, and Ugly Report:

Good

3rd- and 4th-down conversions

UNC was only 5 of 13 on 3rd down but a crisp 3 of 4 on 4th down for a respectable 8 of 17 rate of staying on the field. 

Demon June

June entered the game with the second-highest yardage total in the country among freshmen and earned 50 yards on only 10 carries, but didn’t get many opportunities with the Tar Heels playing from behind all game.

Bad

Time of possession

Time of possession is often an overrated stat in football; in fact, Richmond possessed the ball longer than Carolina did last week. Against UCF, it was not an overrated stat. A cursory glance shows UCF held the ball for about seven minutes longer than UNC, but more importantly, their four touchdown drives took over 20 minutes of game time, and that includes the minute-long drive at the end of the first half. The Knights just ground the Tar Heel defense into dust.

Ugly

Carolina offense

Once again, the UNC offensive output was pretty anemic. The Heels only had 217 total yards of offense, including only 63 on the ground. Runners besides June managed only 13 yards on 15 rushing attempts. Gio Lopez put up an interesting stat line, going 11 of 14 for just 87 yards, and only one pass was not caught, as he tossed two interceptions, including one inside the UCF 20.

After his injury, Johnson came on in relief and also completed 11 passes for a paltry 67 yards, but did connect with Kobe Paysour for Carolina’s only touchdown. Johnson was not sharp, and he spent a good part of the night with UCF defenders in his face. For all the defensive challenges UNC is facing, the lack of a functional offense is a bigger problem because even if the defense had held UCF to less than 20 points, it would have been more than plenty.

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With the loss, Carolina has been outscored 82–23 by a pair of Big 12 teams this season, as only the ACC slate remains for the Tar Heels. There are no more Charlottes and Richmonds on the schedule, and UNC heads into its first open date with nearly as many questions as they had after the TCU loss.

Carolina will welcome the Clemson Tigers, who are reeling after a 1–3 start but also have an open date before playing the Tar Heels. With four games of data, some time to heal some injuries (the status of Lopez’s injury is unknown as of this writing), and the opportunity to make some changes and adjustments, hopefully the next four games will be an improvement over the first four.

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

Photo via @UNCFootball