While loss to Wake Forest was giant step back, one foot still moves UNC football

Someone go get Rece Verhoff some ice — maybe a whole cooler of it. Find some bubble wrap, or something sturdier, and encase the senior kicker’s right leg. The UNC football staff should do whatever possible — cupping, dry needling, a full sports science intervention — to keep Verhoff’s golden boot at peak production.

Because on Saturday night in Winston-Salem, it was the only dependable part of North Carolina’s offense. The Tar Heels slogged through stalled red-zone trips, dropped passes and a lackluster ground game in their 28-12 loss to Wake Forest at Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium. And they can credit all 12 points to Verhoff, whose four field goals — including a school-record 57-yarder before halftime — served as the team’s only scoring output.

North Carolina didn’t reach the end zone once Saturday. The last time that happened? In 2016, under coach Larry Fedora.

If the past month offered hints that UNC (4-6, 2-4 ACC) was finding its footing under Belichick, Saturday provided a loud and convincing rebuttal. After beating two struggling ACC teams in Syracuse (the Orange started a true freshman at quarterback) and Stanford (the Cardinal boast the worst offense in the conference), the Tar Heels seemed to be building a stout defense and finding just enough on offense.

But Wake Forest — the most complete team UNC has faced since early October — chipped away at that recent polish and showed it was more like a thin veneer.

“Obviously a disappointing game,” Belichick said after the loss. “Just not good enough in any area — offense, defense, special teams, coaching, playing. We just didn’t have a good night, and certainly wasn’t enough here. So let’s go back to work this week and see if we get back on track.

We’re a better team than what we were tonight, but we just weren’t very good.”

The numbers back Belichick up. Wake Forest, ranked outside the top-85 nationally in every major offensive category entering the weekend, racked up 414 total yards, including 223 on the ground — the most UNC has allowed since its season-opening blowout loss to TCU.

North Carolina allowed two knockout touchdowns of 50 and 70 yards. The first of those, the early back-breaker that saw Wake Forest’s Carlos Hernandez scoop up his own quarterback’s fumble and take it to the house, can largely be dismissed as a fluke play. But the 70-yarder in the third quarter? That began with UNC misreading a flea flicker and ended with Hernandez sprinting untouched down the sideline as six Tar Heels chased him.

But the defense, to quote UNC wideout Jordan Shipp, was “balling” in comparison to what the offense mustered.

North Carolina managed five drives that reached the Wake 30. Once there, UNC only scored nine points — all from field goals.

“It sure was [a big factor],” Belichick said. “We need to finish those drives. We got the ball down there, just didn’t have enough to go for it.”

This should come as no surprise from the Tar Heels, who have struggled all season in the red zone and rank 114th in the nation in red zone offense.

Against Wake Forest, UNC’s offense once again seemed to tighten up once it got within striking distance. The Tar Heels’ offensive line, which had a hard time protecting quarterback Gio Lopez from pressure the whole game, couldn’t hold blocks long enough for the run game to create space.

Nine rushing attempts from the Wake 30-yard line amounted in a net loss of two yards. Eight throws from Lopez in that same area resulted in just one completion.

Play-calling fluctuated between tentative and desperate. A trick play — Shipp throwing to tight end Jake Johnson in the end zone — sailed over everyone, killing a prime scoring chance in the second quarter after Khmori House forced a Demon Deacons turnover.

When asked on Saturday what led to the red zone issues against Wake Forest, Belichick said it was a result of “small little things.”

“There’s several drives,” he said. “A lot of poor plays. But in the end, we didn’t get it done.”

Shipp, though, elaborated a bit more — and with far more emotion than his head coach.

“We’re killing ourselves,” Shipp said. “It’s not Gio’s fault. It’s not the center’s fault, the guard’s fault, the tackles, receivers, running back — it’s just everybody taking their turns with ‘my bad.’

One ‘my bad’ ruins the whole play.”

His frustration felt like a throwback to UNC’s early season blunders, when the Tar Heels lost three straight Power Four games by blowout. Before this Saturday, it looked like the offense had cleaned up some of self-made mistakes.

Against Wake, they resurfaced in full force.

“Once we get back, we look at the iPads, we’re like, ‘Damn, we messed up here,’” Shipp said. “It’s just, like I said, self-inflicted wounds.”

With Duke and NC State remaining, UNC needs to win both in-state matchups to reach bowl eligibility in Belichick’s first season. In the offseason, with all the attention and hype surrounding the program, that modest benchmark seemed like a given. A month ago, with a more clear picture of this team in view, it appeared realistic.

Now, after a jarring performance against Wake Forest, the climb ahead looks much steeper.

Shipp said the offense needed to “look in the mirror” after the loss and “figure out what’s going on.” Belichick told the media his approach after this defeat will be the same: take a look at it, make corrections, make adjustments and get ready for the next one. He reemphasized his confidence in Lopez at signal caller, who ranks sub-100 nationally in adjusted total quarterback rating.

“I thought he did pretty good job tonight,” Belichick said. “He’s under a lot of pressure... thought he hung in there, made some good throws.”

And so, unless something changes for the Tar Heels, the most trustworthy aspect of this UNC football team might be Verhoff’s kicking game.

After a giant step backward, the only thing moving North Carolina forward could be a single foot.