The Tar Heels rolled into Boston College on Saturday looking to extend their win streak to four and continue the strong finish to this season. Instead, the team put together arguably their worst game of the season, getting thoroughly drubbed by the Eagles in a 41-21 loss. Here are our takeaways from an embarrassing blowout loss in Chestnut Hill.
The Tar Heel Team Fell Into the Trap
One of the things that we talked about on the preview podcast for this game was that this has the feel of a trap game and the team needed to at least match the energy and physicality that Boston College was going to bring. This Tar Heel team, as they have done too many times under Mack Brown, responded by getting outworked and out-toughed the entire day, confirming everything that former Tar Heel tight end Kamari Morales said about this program’s lack of grit earlier this week when he spoke with the media. We were hoping something might be different with what this team showed during the three-game winning streak, but as we’ve been taught so many times during Mack Brown 2.0, this team is always going to find a way to disappoint you.
Offense Looked as Bad as It Ever Has Under Mack Brown
The entire offense looked out of sync for most of the day and it resulted in arguably the worst performance on that side of the ball since Larry Fedora’s final season on campus. It took this offense until the 2:09 mark of the fourth quarter to find the endzone when Davion Gause found the endzone against the backup defense of Boston College to prevent the team from failing to score an offensive touchdown for the first time since the 2016 loss to Virginia Tech. Entering that drive, the Tar Heels had just 103 yards of total offense in the first 54 minutes of game action, including just three yards rushing. While you can’t completely discredit Boston College, Chip Lindsey has to wear a lot of the blame for what happened with this offense today. Running Omarion Hampton just eleven times is an inexplicable mistake as is the fact that quick completions weren’t built into the offense to help mitigate the pass rush that got to Jacolby Criswell seven times in this game. Lindsey will have to put together a much better game plan next week if this team is going to end the losing streak against NC State.
Jacolby Criswell Took a Significant Step Back
One of the other main reasons this offense struggled the way that it did on Saturday is because of how bad their quarterback played. Criswell was under a ton of pressure throughout the day and just like he was during the team’s four-game losing streak, he was rattled by it. His sloppy footwork led to a lot of inaccurate throws and his poor pocket awareness and inability to get the ball quickly led to a decent amount of the sacks that he took. The biggest issue, though, was the turnovers. After taking care of the football well in the last three games, Criswell threw a career-high three interceptions, highlighted by his third one of the afternoon where he threw the ball up to no one in particular for a pick-six which sealed the Tar Heels’ fate. While Lindsey didn’t set him up for much success, Criswell has to be more composed next weekend if the Tar Heels are going to beat NC State.
Boston College Dominated in the Trenches
The theme of practices around the Tar Heel football program all week was to match the physicality of Boston College, but that wasn’t at all the case on Saturday. The Eagles manhandled the Tar Heels on both sides of the trenches and it’s a big part of the reason why this game got as out of hand as it did. The Tar Heel offensive line had no answer in pass protection against a beat up Eagles defensive line as they allowed a season-high seven sacks and plenty of pressure. Both tackles were picked on throughout the day, especially when matched up against Donovan Ezeiruaku, who wreaked havoc all afternoon. On the other side of the ball, the Tar Heel defensive front couldn’t get off blocks in the run game and it allowed the Eagles to run for 228 yards at 4.4 yards per carry. The group got pressure on Eagles quarterback Grayson James early, but couldn’t finish the plays with sacks on those opportunities that disappeared as the day went along. While NC State hasn’t been anywhere near as dominant as they’ve been in the last few years in the trenches, the Tar Heels will have to be much better down there than they were this week if they want to win.
Mack Brown’s Future Shouldn’t Be His Decision
Earlier this week, there were multiple reports that Mack Brown was telling staff, players and recruits that he was planning to return next season. Since then, though, the Tar Heels have lost one of their top commits in the 2025 class and been beaten to a pulp by a very average Boston College team. Today’s loss was one that this program has become far too accustomed to over the past few seasons, especially late in the year, and proves that the decision on Brown’s future should be in the hands of Bubba Cunningham and the boosters following next week’s game.
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