First look: UNC football takes its three-game ACC win streak to Boston College
The defensive coaches at Boston College won’t have to evaluate a lot of North Carolina game video this week or take many notes.
Not from the Tar Heels’ 31-24 win over Wake Forest.
UNC running back Omarion Hampton ran the ball 35 times for 244 yards in Saturday’s game. He caught five passes. It was like old-school football from Carolina’s past, with Don McCauley or Mike Voight or Kelvin Bryant getting the ball time after time and gashing defenses.
Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson called Hampton a “heck of a back.” UNC coach Mack Brown calls him “freakish.” Other ACC coaches, including those at BC, likely have other things to say about No. 28 in UNC blue.
Late in the fourth quarter against the Deacons, when most backs would be tiring, Hampton took the ball, leaped through the line of scrimmage, rammed into safety Nick Anderson and barreled his way six yards to the end zone. UNC had expanded the lead to 31-17 – on that play, Hampton the unstoppable force.
“He’s so powerful. He’s better in the fourth quarter than in the first,” Brown said.
Hampton is Boston College’s problem this week. The Tar Heels (6-4, 3-3 ACC) and the Eagles (5-5, 2-4) have a noon kickoff at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, and BC will be looking to bounce back from a 38-28 road loss to No. 14 SMU in Dallas.
The Eagles, with junior Grayson James taking over at quarterback, led early in the second half and trailed 31-28 with six minutes left in the fourth quarter before a final SMU touchdown.
James, a transfer from FIU, was 18-of-32 passing for 237 yards and a TD, and broke off a 20-yard scoring run. James came off the bench to lead the Eagles past Syracuse after starter Thomas Castellanos struggled, then got the starting nod from BC coach Bill O’Brien for the SMU game.
UNC is unlikely to alter a game plan that Brown calls his “Run the Damn Ball” attack. Hampton could get the ball another 35 times.
“He makes defenses line up to stop him.” Brown said Saturday. “And where we’ve got to get better is we’ve got to take advantage of those alignments that are just totally in place to stop him.”
UNC players to watch: the O LIne
The group doesn’t get mentioned a lot – not enough for Hampton’s liking. Namely, center Austin Blaske, guards Willie Lampkin and Aidan Banfield, and tackles Howard Sampson and Trevyon Green.
Questioned late Saturday about his career performance running the ball, Hampton quickly deferred to the big guys up front doing the grunt work.
“I am really close with the O-Line,” Hampton said. “We go out to eat all the time, we watch film together and do stuff together. I feel for us, having that relationship with each other, it builds more on the field. So I feel it’s super good to have a close relationship with them.”
UNC’s line has had its challenges. Offensive line coach Randy Clements was slowed by a serious illness. Injuries cropped up and the Heels once had Zach Greenberg, a graduate transfer from Division III Muhlenberg College, starting at center.
But two bye weeks were helpful. The band is back together. Hampton has room to run.
Key game matchup
“Stop the run, disrupt the quarterback” has been the defensive buzz phrase at UNC in the three-game win streak and will be heard again this week.
James is a big guy at 6-3 and 226 pounds and a Texas native who spent three seasons at Florida International before the transfer to BC. While mobile enough, he has averaged just 2.3 yards per rushing attempt in his career, with a career-long run of 28 yards at FIU in 2022 – James was sacked 14 times that season.
The Heels had 17 sacks in the road wins against Virginia and then Florida State, then two against Wake Forest. They’ll go after James, looking to bull-rush their way through the pocket and keep him hemmed in.
Betting odds
The early lines out of Las Vegas have UNC as a 2.5-point favorite and set the over/under at 54.5 points.
How to watch
The ACC game will be shown on The CW Network and available by such cable providers as Spectrum. Streaming services include fubo TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV Stream, Sling TV.
North Carolina (6-4, 3-3 ACC) at Boston College (5-5, 2-4)
When: Saturday, noon.
Where: Alumni Stadium, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
TV: The CW Network.
The series: The Tar Heels and Eagles have played eight times, UNC leading 6-2 in the series after five straight wins. The Heels have won the last two visits to Alumni Stadium – 26-22 in 2020 and 31-13 in 2009. The Eagles’ last win came in the 2004 Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte, 37-24.
