North Carolina’s 15-10 win over TCU may have sent social media into overdrive, but Notre Dame fans have plenty of reason to keep their feet on the ground. The Tar Heels got the result in Week 0, yet for most of the afternoon they looked a lot like the same old North Carolina team people were ready to dismiss after last season.
The biggest overreaction has come from the idea that Bill Belichick is suddenly “back.” That’s a fun storyline, especially when there isn’t much else to chew on this early in the season.
But the actual game told a much less dramatic story. North Carolina’s defense did enough to make life uncomfortable for TCU, and that matters.
The offense, though, never really found another gear.
Billy Edwards gave the Tar Heels a respectable opening quarter, helping them stay tied 10-10 heading into the second period. He finished with 232 yards on 16-of-28 passing, but he never found the end zone through the air.
North Carolina also had at least one drive that got inside the Horned Frogs’ 20 and came away with only a field goal. After the first quarter, that was basically the ceiling.
The scoring sequence told the whole story. North Carolina’s win came with a snap through the end zone on a TCU punt and that lone Tar Heels field goal.
Outside of that, the offense couldn’t build anything sustained. Edwards was under pressure often, took three sacks, and spent plenty of the day with hands in his face.
Against a TCU defense that is not regarded as one of the nation’s elite units, that’s not exactly the kind of performance that should have Notre Dame shaking.
The ground game wasn’t much better. New offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino leaned into it, nearly splitting the play-calling with 29 rushing attempts and 28 passes, but the results were thin.
North Carolina managed only 90 yards on those 29 carries. Benjamin Hall led the way with 36 yards on 11 attempts, and Edwards himself had the longest run of the day with an 11-yard scramble.
There was at least one encouraging sign for North Carolina in the way the defense handled TCU, but even that came with limits. Holding the Horned Frogs to 10 points is a real accomplishment. It just doesn’t turn this into a finished product, and it certainly doesn’t erase how uneven the offense looked.
For Notre Dame, there was plenty to like in the tape from the other side. The Fighting Irish are still sorting out their running back rotation, and Jeremy Payne gave them a clear example of what works. He carried 25 times for 142 yards, a 5.7 yards-per-carry average, and broke loose for a 48-yard run.
That’s the real takeaway here: one Week 0 win doesn’t suddenly remake a team. North Carolina beat TCU, but the Tar Heels didn’t show enough to justify the wildest praise floating around online. Notre Dame’s October 3 matchup doesn’t look any scarier because of what happened in Ireland.
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