The legendary coach critiques North Carolina’s crumbling pass protection and missed opportunities after early turnovers and a defensive collapse allowed the Fighting Irish to stifle the upset.
North Carolina needed two things to go right for them to pull off an upset at home against No. 3 Notre Dame.
They got maybe half of one thing on Saturday.
UNC needed to stop the Fighting Irish's rushing attack, making their offense one-dimensional on quarterback CJ Carr to make plays with his arm against a strong Tar Heels pass rush.
Instead, North Carolina was gashed by Notre Dame, who had a breakout running game on Saturday. The Irish rushed for 241 yards on 45 carries. Carr had a great day, throwing for 234 yards and four touchdowns.
The other thing UNC needed was for Billy Edwards to have his best day in a Tar Heels uniform. He has his moments, but had two critical interceptions in the first quarter that allowed the Irish to take a 21-7 lead. He finished the contest going 17 of 28 for 208 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions.
During his postgame news conference, UNC head coach Bill Belichick told reporters that the passing game needed to be better around Edwards. He noted that North Carolina didn't give Edwards enough protection to take some deep shots on Notre Dame.
"I thought Billy threw the ball well a couple times," Belichick said, via On3. "We weren’t able to give enough time."
North Carolina's offensive line struggled against the front seven of the Irish. UNC rushed 23 times for just 77 yards. That was certainly a disappointment for the Tar Heels playing at home and in the rain.
North Carolina wasn't expected to pull off an upset on Saturday, so the results weren't too terribly surprising. Still, UNC had opportunities to make it a closer ball game than it was, but the execution wasn't there.
North Carolina has a lot to fix this week.
North Carolina's defense was exposed by the Irish on Saturday. The Tar Heels gave up 186 yards and two scores to Clemson two weeks ago. It's unclear what the strength of this UNC defense is after Week 5.
The offense has to have some sort of a running game going forward if UNC wants to make a bowl game. Edwards is more of a game manager at quarterback, and he can't be relied upon to go out and win games from behind.
UNC will next play a 5-0 Pittsburgh team that should be ranked next week. The Tar Heels need to have answers to these problems to avoid a three-game losing streak.
