Notre Dame dominated the trenches to take down UNC

Let’s start with the good news: UNC succeeded in not getting blown out by Notre Dame in Kenan Stadium. It goes without saying that there’s no moral victories in sports, but if we’re all being honest with ourselves, it’s a notable achievement that deserves applause. Still, at the end of the day, the Irish were simply much more talented than the Heels, and ultimately they were able to come away with the 37-26 victory.

The running joke this season on the internet is that the Heels have had an A+ opening script to their games, and that’s how things kicked off today. The Heels defense was able to force Notre Dame to punt, and Billy Edwards Jr. immediately led the offense down the field in seven plays for a touchdown. Immediately after the Heels went up 7-0, we started to see exactly what many were expecting before kickoff — The Irish answered with a touchdown, intercepting Edwards, another touchdown, and yes, intercepting Edwards yet again and eventually going up 21-7. The vibes in Kenan Stadium was bad, but thankfully things started to eventually get better.

Things stalled out a bit for both offenses until UNC ran 15 plays for 97 yards and a touchdown. Edwards started seeing red during what was a close-to-flawless drive. Notre Dame didn’t have any time to run anything once they got the ball, and the Heels happily went into halftime only down seven.

The Heels were the receiving team coming out of the halftime, and Jadan Jefferson surprised us all by returning the kick 98 yards for the touchdown. After missing on the extra point, the Irish answered with a touchdown of their own, and then the game started going about how it did in the first quarter. Notre Dame insisted on pounding the ball down the Heels’ throats, and it became very clear that the front seven was gassed. C.J. Carr ended the drive by connecting with Nolan James Jr. to increase the Irish’s lead to 34-20.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, the Irish added three to the board to go up 37-20, and it really seemed like the game was over. But UNC kept fighting, which led to Edwards connecting with Jelani Thurman for a 10-yard touchdown. However, the Heels weren’t able to do enough from there to threaten to take the lead, that was all she wrote.

The difference in today’s game was the run game on both sides of the ball. Benjamin Hall, Demon June, and Jaylen McGill were held to just 64 yards on the ground, while Notre Dame’s Jonaz Walton tore the Heels’ defense apart for 120 yards by himself. The Irish shredded the Heels for 241 total rushing yards, which made things really easy for C.J. Carr when he did decide to air the ball out. The Irish quarterback finished his day 21-29 for 234 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. Again, it was clear that the Irish were the more talented team, so hopefully things do not look so bleak in the trenches for the Heels against Pitt.

As far as Billy Edwards Jr. goes, it’s hard not to be a little optimistic that he was able to perform better than he did against Clemson. He finished his day 17-28 for 208 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions. It goes without saying that the picks were pretty bad, but overall he was much more accurate in this game, and didn’t look as lost as he did against the Tigers. Credit to Bill Belichick for having unwavering faith in his quarterback, but much like the defense situation, we’ll have to see if he is able to apply this performance next weekend against a much “easier” opponent (please note that easier just means a team that is not on the fast track to the College Football Playoffs).

All and all, this was a loss that we all expected, but 1.) the Heels managed to beat the spread, and 2.) we saw enough to perhaps give some hope that they could at least end up bowl-eligible. The thing, though, is that it’s not easy to trust this team just yet. A road win against Pitt next weekend could maybe get us closer to believing that the Bill Belichick era is showing signs of improvement.