The Tar Heels started their second half of the 2024 season on Saturday in Charlottesville looking to hit reset on this season and end a four-game losing streak against a Virginia Cavaliers team that ruined their 2023 season. They did more than hit reset, dominating from the word go in a 41-14 beatdown in the 129th meeting of the South’s Oldest Rivalry. Here is a look at the biggest takeaways from today’s much-needed victory.
The Tar Heels Kept Swinging
Saturday was the first game for the Tar Heels since the passing of Tylee Craft and like he always told them to do, they kept swinging. The defense played with an intensity that we have not seen from them since the start of the season despite a slow start on the game's opening drive where Virginia went right down the field and put a field goal on the board. Offensively, the aggression from Chip Lindsey and the players, primarily at the end of the first half, took the pressure off the team in the final 30 minutes. The team needs to play with this type of intensity moving forward to build off this game and get to bowl eligibility.
Defensive Line Dominates
The biggest surprise on Saturday was the performance of this Tar Heel defensive line. While this room has been the strength of this unit, they had their issues creating pressure in that final month before the bye week. That was far from the case today, though, as the team registered ten sacks and twelve tackles for loss, a sack number they hadn’t reached as a team in a game since 2000. Leading the charge was senior edge rusher Kaimon Rucker, who was finally healthy and showed it by tallying eight total tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and three sacks, while also pulling down one of the team’s two interceptions. The other interception was the highlight of the day as Jahvaree Ritzie pulled down a deflected Anthony Colandrea pass and returned 83 yards for the first defensive line pick-six since 2009. Beau Atkinson was another player who shined, putting together his best performance of the season with four total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and two more quarterback hits. In total, eight different Tar Heels registered at least half a tackle for loss and seven of them finished with at least one sack. Asking for this type of performance every week is a lot to ask, but just being able to consistently win at the line of scrimmage and produce more pressure than they did during that four-game losing streak. With Rucker now healthy, there is reason to believe they can do that.
First and Second Down Success Leads to More Consistent Offense
We talked about how important first and second down success was going to be for the Tar Heel offense in this one and they did an amazing job on those first two downs all day long. The majority of that success came on the ground because of the stubbornness of Chip Lindsey to keep running the ball on the early down and the execution from the offensive line in the run game all day long. The Tar Heels converted seven of their fourteen third down attempts in large part because they faced just five third downs of 7 yards or longer. If this offense can continue to thrive on early downs, the offense will be able to up the type of points needed if this defense starts to struggle again as they did before the bye.
Jacolby Criswell Continues to Progress
One of the big questions coming into this game was whether or not Criswell would be able to build off his performance two weeks ago against Georgia Tech. He did just that, throwing 293 yards and two touchdowns while completing 63% of his passes. Accuracy was the biggest difference from him in this game, especially on the deep throws as witnessed by the beautiful touchdown pass to J.J. Jones right before halftime. This was also the first start this season where he did not turn the football over and there were very few turnoverworthy plays from him which made for a much smoother operation and kept the momentum in the Tar Heels' favor for most of the day. Saturday was a big win for this team, but especially Criswell who was finally rewarded for the steady progression he has made since taking over as the starter.
J.J. Jones and Nate McCollum Emerge in Nesbit’s Absence
With the injury to Bryson Nesbit, the Tar Heels needed some of their other pass catchers to step up and become targets that Criswell could rely on. Jones put together a career performance, catching a team-high five of his seven targets for 129 yards and two touchdowns. He gave the Tar Heels the big play threat that they have been lacking in this passing game for most of the year with four of his catches going for 25 or more yards including both of his touchdowns. McCollum, who had a quiet performance against his former team a couple of weeks ago, became a reliable target again this week, catching four of his five targets for 57 yards. With Nesbit out indefinitely, the Tar Heels need these two veterans to continue to perform to help this passing game continue its recent success.
Young Guys Need to Continue to Play in the Secondary
Just moments before kickoff, we were alerted to the fact that both Marcus Allen and Jakeen Harris would be out or at least limited in this game, meaning that we got a look at some of the depth at both corner and safety. The pressure from the defensive line made things easier on this group, but you have to give credit to the guys who took their places in this one. Will Hardy has a strong showing, doing a much better job than Harris had at helping in the run game and playing a very sound game in pass coverage. On the outside, Ty Adams did a nice job himself in coverage, as he was targeted just one time. Their performances don’t mean that we should see Allen and Harris again, but it should prove to the staff that they can rotate a little more down the stretch of the season if one of those guys is struggling.
Virginia Deserves Credit for What Did Following Tylee’s Passing
Virginia is a school that has dealt with the unthinkable tragedy of losing an active player after they lost three following a shooting on campus back in November of 2022 and after what happened a couple of weekends ago with the Tar Heels losing Craft after his battle with cancer, they wanted to show support for their opponent. Not only did the team wear the #TyleeStrong logos on their helmets, but they also wrote letters to the Tar Heels player leading up to the game to provide support following his passing. From everyone that is a part of the Tar Heel community, we want to extend a heartfelt thank you Tony Elliott and the Virginia football program.
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