Here are five things UNC must do to beat No. 16 Miami on the road

North Carolina has a chance to make a statement or get embarrassed Thursday night when it takes on No. 16 Miami on ESPN at 8 p.m.

UNC (1-2) was embarrassed in its first two road game losses, to California 24-17 and East Carolina 41-19. It redeemed itself against Pitt with a 38-35 win at home.

But beating the 16th ranked Hurricanes (3-1) won’t be easy. They average 43.5 points per game, which is tied for 17th best in the country, and give up on average 18.5 points per game, which is 29th in the country.

The benefit UNC has in this game, is that it will return eight players who were suspended earlier this season.

One of those players is senior defensive end Malik Carney, who had eight tackles and 2.5 sacks against Cal. His suspension was staggered. UNC had struggled getting pressure on the quarterback without him, particularly in its 41-19 loss to East Carolina on Sept. 8.

The other is quarterback Chazz Surratt, UNC’s leading passer last year (1,342 yards). Surratt is a dual threat. He had five rushing touchdowns, and eight passing touchdowns in nine games. He also had three interceptions.

UNC has struggled at quarterback at times. Junior Nathan Elliott, who UNC coach Larry Fedora said would start on Thursday, has passed for 670 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions through UNC’s first three games.

Elliott’s best game was against Pitt last week when he was 22-31 for 313 yards with two touchdowns. But his tendency to overthrow receivers and turn the ball over, coupled with Surratt’s potential as a dual threat quarterback, could force Fedora to make decision on whether to swap the two quarterbacks if Elliott struggles.

The Hurricanes are in a similar situation. Miami coach Mark Richt declined to say which quarterback would start on Thursday. The Tar Heels will likely have to play its best game to beat the Hurricanes though.

Here a five keys to the game:

1. Get pressure on the quarterback.

There’s a reason UNC shut down Pitt in the second half. It was able to get pressure on the quarterback. UNC finished the game with three sacks and five quarterback hurries.

The Tar Heels’ second half performance against the Panthers was similar to its performance against Cal on Sept. 1. In that game, UNC had five sacks. Had UNC not turned the ball over, the result would have likely been different.

But Carney, who had 2.5 sacks against Cal, is returning after missing the last two games. Carney is UNC’s best pass rusher. UNC failed to get to East Carolina quarterback Reid Herring and paid for it. The Tar Heels had only one sack and Herring had 290 passing yards.

In Miami’s lone loss against LSU, 33-17, Miami quarterback Malik Rosier was sacked four times.

2. Stop the run

Over the last two games, UNC has given up 224 rushing yards per game. ECU ran for 220 yards, while Pitt ran for 228 yards. The Hurricanes can run the ball, too. They average 209.5 yards on the ground, and have two dual threat quarterbacks in Rosier and N’Kosi Perry.

But Miami’s 209.5 yards per game average is 37th best in the country.

Even if the Tar Heels are successful in getting to the quarterback, if they cannot stop the run they will struggle to keep Miami off the scoreboard. The Hurricanes are not a team the Tar Heels want to try to match point for point.

3. Run the football, and run it effectively

The Tar Heels’ best chance at a win is to run the football well. They need to have a balanced attack, but running needs to be their first priority. If the running game is not going, that forces them to pass more, which would be bad news. Elliott has not fared well in third and long situations. Most quarterbacks don’t.

UNC will have to run the ball effectively on the early downs. So when Elliott does have a third down, that down is more manageable.

Ohio State transfer Antonio Williams ran for a career high 114 yards and had two touchdowns against Pitt. Against ECU, he had 96 yards in the first half.

4. Win the turnover battle

UNC’s defense has not created a turnover through its first three games. Its special teams created one on Saturday against Pitt and it changed the momentum of the game. UNC converted the turnover into a field goal and went up by 10 points late in the third quarter.

UNC’s defense needs a takeaway because it has not stopped the run.

On offense, UNC has no room for error. Turnovers put UNC behind 24-3 against Cal. UNC spent the second half playing catchup. If UNC gets down early against Miami, it will likely be tougher to climb out of that hole.

But if UNC can win the turnover battle, it will have a chance.

5. Throw the intermediate pass

UNC has had success throwing the screen pass to its best playmakers and allowing them to get into one-on-one situations with defenders. But there comes a time when those plays become stale.

That’s where Elliott could throw more intermediate passes.

While Elliott hasn’t been deadly accurate on intermediate throws, or passes that travel 10-19 yards, he hasn’t been bad. He just hasn’t thrown the intermediate pass much. But all of Elliott’s touchdowns have come on those kinds of passes.

In the three games he has played, he is 10-22, for 189 yards 3 TDs, 1 INT.

This story was originally published September 26, 2018 at 4:31 PM.