The Clemson football team will take on the North Carolina Tar Heels Saturday. Here’s a look at what UNC Analyst Luke Tucker had to say about the match up.
The Clemson football team will travel to North Carolina this weekend to take on the Tar Heels in a pivotal ACC match up.
To help us break down the game between the Tigers and Tar Heels, we reached out to our friends at Old North Banter to discuss the match up.
Here’s what Site Contributor Luke Tucker had to say about Clemson, and the game that will take place this afternoon.
1. It has been a bit of an up-and-down season so far for UNC. What went right in the first two games and what went wrong in these last two?
To say that UNC has had an up-and-down season up until now is far from being an understatement. From taking down an SEC rival to falling to a team who had zero wins against a Power 5 opponent since 2014, Carolina has gotten off to quite a roller-coaster start. At 2-2, the Tar Heels have wins over South Carolina and Miami, with losses against Wake Forest and Appalachian State.
A key aspect of the team’s 2-0 start was a bit of a “bend, don’t break” mentality of defense. UNC gave up an average of 379 yards per game over the first two contests but limited the “big play” and held opponents to a combined 6-24 on third-down conversions.
Over the past two games (both UNC losses), the Tar Heels have allowed opponents to convert on 40% of third downs. Also, after freshman quarterback Sam Howell led fourth-quarter comebacks in the first two games, the magic seems to have run out over the last two. With opportunities to win on the final drive of each of the last two contests, Carolina has lost on a controversial out-of-bounds call, as well as a blocked field goal this past weekend.