UNC football's defense steps up in strong showing against Syracuse

It’s been a while since Cedric Gray was 5-0. The last time he played on a team with the same record, it was an AYF squad — the Ballantyne Gators.

However, that changed on Saturday after a dominant defensive performance against Syracuse in UNC’s 40-7 win at Kenan Stadium.

The senior linebacker led the team in tackles with eight, and recorded his first sack since the season opener, en route to the defense allowing the least amount of points in a game since their 38-7 win against Duke in 2021.

“I think we’re a lot more confident,” Gray said. “I think I said that two weeks ago too as well. Our confidence, it doesn’t waver. Even when teams make plays, or whatever happens, we just believe that we’re that good and we’re gonna make plays in the game to impact the game.”

Ahead of Saturday, Gray said that if the Tar Heels could contain dual-threat Syracuse quarterback Garrett Shrader, they’d have a good day defensively — and that they did.

The defense limited the Charlotte native to 124 passing yards and 28 rushing yards, his lowest total yardage all season. All game, he was unable to gain little momentum against the Tar Heels, resulting in just the fourth time in the second Mack Brown era that UNC allowed seven points or less.

“Talking to [assistant head coach for defense Gene Chizik] before the game, he was talking to us and he was saying, ‘We can’t come back in here after the game and say we didn't stop [Shrader],’" Gray said. "We knew we had to stop him. So I’m glad that we went out there, executed, and were able to contain him.”

“Gene Chizik’s done an unbelievable job, him and the staff, of getting people to start playing defense like we’re supposed to,” Brown said. “This may be the best defense against a good offense we’ve played since I’ve been back. I thought it was.”

The defense didn’t allow the Orange to compose themselves and have any prolonged drives  — all 11 Syracuse possessions lasted less than four minutes, with just three lasting longer than three minutes. The quick stops from the UNC defense gave the ball back to a red-hot North Carolina offense that had seven straight drives which resulted in points to open the game.

After being chased around in the backfield by defenders all game and throwing an interception to junior cornerback Alijah Huzzie, Schrader was benched in the fourth quarter and replaced by backup quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson.

“Everybody was locked in," graduate defensive lineman Tomari Fox said. "We were dialed in from the first snap. We talked [to] ourselves going in, ‘They’re coming off a loss so if you give them any kind of hope, they’ll take it and run with it.’”

Next week, that perfect record will face one of its biggest tests yet. For the fourth time ever, North Carolina will play in Kenan Stadium as a 5-0 team when they take on one-loss Miami in a game that could have major implications for the ACC Championship game.

If the Tar Heel defense can dominate like they did on Saturday in their game against Miami, and parlay that into the rest of the season, good things will come for the Tar Heels.

@thenoahmonroe

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