As has become tradition, UNC and NC State will meet in the final weekend of the regular season. And unlike last weekend’s dud against Georgia Tech, the Tar Heels probably won’t need any extra motivation for this game.
The Carolina-State rivalry may not hold the grandeur of Ohio State-Michigan or Auburn-Alabama, but it practically brings the Triangle to a standstill whenever it’s played. Look no further than last year, when the Wolfpack scored 13 points in the final two minutes to complete a miracle comeback and stun the Tar Heels in Raleigh.
Even with that defeat, UNC head coach Mack Brown holds a 2-1 advantage over NC State since returning to Chapel Hill in 2019. He said this week carries special significance to him.
“There’s enough players on this team that have played [NC State] for three years,” Brown said. “There’s enough players on this team from the state of North Carolina. And they have a lot of buddies on the State team. So they laugh and pick at each other and they hang out together all summer and do that kind of stuff. That’s what makes this so fun. I like Rivalry Week probably better than any other week of the season.”
To make sure 2021 doesn’t repeat itself, UNC’s offense will need to find its groove once again. The normally explosive unit was held without a point in the second half of last week’s loss to Georgia Tech. Now, they face an NC State defense which ranks in the nation’s top 25 in yardage allowed. Offensive coordinator Phil Longo said while Saturday’s loss was painful, there is a silver lining after having time to debrief.
“We addressed some of the little things that we didn’t do [against] Georgia Tech,” said Longo. “We tried to refine some of them today and correct some of them today. I really think this game against Georgia Tech for this team, and I can speak specifically to the offense, can [be beneficial to] us if we learn from the mistakes that we made in that game.”
Defensively, it was a different story. Brown said Carolina played some of its best defense of the season against the Yellow Jackets, but just couldn’t come up with a critical stop when it needed to.
The Wolfpack come into today in a similar position to Georgia Tech: with uncertainty at quarterback. Starter Devin Leary has been out for the season for quite some time, but now star backup M.J. Morris is also injured. Morris didn’t play in State’s loss at Louisville last week. That leaves Jack Chambers and Ben Finley as the quarterbacks likely to take snaps. UNC struggled against Georgia Tech’s tandem of Zach Gibson and Taisun Phommachanh, and defensive coach Gene Chizik said Carolina is anticipating another one-two punch against the Wolfpack.
“In practice, you’ve gotta decide when he’s at quarterback, here’s what we’re getting This is what we’re gonna look at,” Chizik said. “When this one’s at quarterback, this is what we think. So it’s a little bit of a cat-and-mouse game, because you’re not really sure who’s gonna show up. But you definitely have to prepare for both, and we’re doing that.”
With both Chizik and Longo focused on correcting past errors, it’s not a stretch to say the Tar Heels will come out just a little more fired up than they did against the Yellow Jackets. Brown certainly seems to think so, and he said he’s confident Carolina has all it needs to earn another win in the rivalry.
“There’s guys that wished they’d practiced a little harder and wished they’d prepared a little better,” Brown said. “They’re life lessons more than anything else. Sometimes you can say stuff and it sticks, and sometimes it doesn’t. It’ll stick more this week than last week.”
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
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