UNC truly a much better team when it doesn’t believe the hype
As hype videos go, N.C. State had a winner posted on social media channels prior to Saturday’s game at North Carolina. The game footage was standard in what would be seen from any school, but a voice over added the punctuation by asking, “What’s a ram to a wolf?” before the word “prey” flashed in red letters.
Best believe, the No. 14 Tar Heels saw it before the game too and the message wasn’t well received in their locker room. But they didn’t respond on Twitter, they took it to the field. North Carolina rolled up 578 yards in total offense, allowed just 34 rushing yards and forced four turnovers in its 48-21 win over the No. 23 Wolfpack. Afterwards, quarterback Sam Howell had something to say about the video, too.
“That’s more for them just to give them some false confidence before the game,” Howell said during his postgame video conference with reporters. “We don’t really care about them. I mean, we know what a ram is to a wolf, I think we saw it out there (Saturday.) It could have been a lot worse than it was. So I’m not going to say anything else about that.”
Howell has now led the Heels to two wins over the Pack. Couple with last year’s 41-10 win, it marked the first time since 1982 and ’83 that UNC has scored more than 40 in consecutive games against State.
His words are about as animated as Howell gets in public and even then, he didn’t raise his voice nor did he start talking faster as if he were angry. It was all matter of fact. And that sums up this year’s team.
UNC head coach Mack Brown called them a “strange bunch” because they’re not very loud and he can’t outwardly gauge their temperament. Coming off a road loss at Florida State and facing their top in-state rival, Carolina reverted to playing like the team Brown would like to see on a consistent basis. Unemotional. Focused. Relentless.
“They’re pretty much like this all the time and that’s why it’s so hard to read them sometimes in pregame,” Brown said during his postgame video conference. “Sometimes they’re dancing and sometimes they’re quiet. Sometimes they’re picking at each other a little bit, but it’s not a demonstrative team where people are screaming and shouting at each other all the time. That’s just not who they are.”
Carolina revealed a lot about who they are against the Pack. The defense was down two potential starting cornerbacks when it was announced before the game that senior Patrice Rene would miss the game with a lower body injury. Storm Duck, also diagnosed with a lower body injury, has been out since the fourth quarter of the Boston College win.
It didn’t matter. The Heels quietly went about their business. Sophomore safety Don Chapman shifted to cornerback to start the game and floated between there and safety throughout. His diving interception in the end zone stopped a NCSU scoring drive and helped the Heels finally have a game with multiple takeaways.
“We have a bunch of players that are more quiet, but we know they’re grinding,” Chapman said during his postgame video conference. “And I can count on the next man like, it’s a brotherhood. We really believe in each other to go out there and do what we’re supposed to do.”
They’re still far from a finished product. Special teams caused headaches as kicker Grayson Atkins missed a 22-yard attempt in the first half. The offense still shows signs of self-sabotage like when tackle Asim Richard got a holding penalty that stalled out a drive that had reached the State 25. Or when Dyami Brown dropped what would have been a 45-yard catch in the first quarter. The defense again allowed an opponent to score a touchdown on its last drive of the first half. All problematic, yet all fixable.
The Heels appeared to learn from being bounced from their No. 5 ranking after losing at Florida State last week when Brown said they came out, “way too full of ourselves.” Carolina showed against the Wolfpack that it’s a much better team when it doesn’t believe the hype.