There's a reason football games don't end after two quarters. The North Carolina football team's expectations have changed, such that it's now reasonable to ask head coach Mack Brown about a dismal second quarter in a 31-6 blowout win.
"People are questioning quarters now, I remember that happening when we got really good before," Brown said at his press conference on Tuesday. "'What happened at the second quarter, man?' Well they don't count quarters, they count games."
There's plenty of things the Tar Heels could improve on before their game on Saturday against UNC-Charlotte: catching punts cleanly, cutting down on the penalties, finding better success on deep throws. But at the end of the day, UNC defeated a conference opponent by a margin of 25 and opened its season with wins over a Power 5 two years in a row for the first time since 1996 and 1997.
Brown contended the "disastrous" second quarter wasn't even that bad. UNC only had the ball on offense twice due to a fumbled punt return by Dazz Newsome, and the Tar Heels limited the Orange to just three points. For the rest of the game, Howell threw two interceptions, one a poor throw deep and one a tipped pass that was recovered by the Syracuse defense.
There's plenty to be optimistic about for UNC heading into its next game. The Tar Heels established the run, outrushing Syracuse 160 to 68, and involved star backs Michael Carter and Javonte Williams in the passing game.
"The running backs have always been a big part of the passing game in this offense," offensive coordinator Phil Longo said. "That probably didn't happen as much as I would have liked it to last year, so we emphasized that in summer camp. To do that though, you have to have backs that can catch the football."
Carter finished the game second in reception yards for North Carolina with 60 yards and six catches to go along with his 78 rushing yards on seven attempts. Williams had one catch on a swing pass he took for 22 yards.
"Our guys, they can catch the swings, they can catch the wheels, they can catch the verticals, they can catch the check-downs underneath," Longo said. "We have the full gambit at our disposal right now from a play-calling standpoint … a lot of that is just an extended run game. When we throw a swing out to the perimeter, I see that as much as a perimeter run, it's just another way to get these athletes in open space."
Defensively, the Tar Heels played as well a game as could be expected while shaking off the rust. Syracuse's weak offensive line allowed seven sacks by the Tar Heels, but defensive coordinator Jay Bateman still saw room to grow.
