By Bob Holliday, WRAL Sports contributor

Building on the success of the last two seasons, UNC, NC State and Duke all opened the 2024 campaign with victories.

Prior to 2022, it was quite unusual for all three to earn bowl bids—most autumns, one or even two of the schools suffered a losing season. But Mack Brown of UNC, Dave Doeren of NC State, and Mike Elko, formerly of Duke, have built winning programs and there is every expectation that Duke’s new coach Manny Diaz will maintain what Elko started.

As it looks now, all three teams will have at least a chance to play for the ACC Championship. Certainly, Miami looks like the heavy favorite to win one of the two championship slots in Charlotte-based on the games of week one. But with traditional powers Florida State and Clemson both suffering opening losses, the ACC race looks wide open. UNC and NC State probably have a better chance than Duke because Miami does not appear on their schedules. The Blue Devils do have to play the Canes.

But that’s enough speculation. Let’s focus on the here and now.

Tar Heels win in Big Ten country

North Carolina recorded a victory at Minnesota that my old friend Art Chansky, columnist in Chapel Hill, states is the first Tar Heel season opening road win against a team from a power conference since 1993. The win was costly, and yet significant in other ways. Costly because quarterback Max Johnson broke his leg and will be out for the season. Significant because the Tar Heels beat a physical Big Ten team on its home field, and also because Johnson’s backup Conner Harrell directed three scoring drives, including Noah Burnette’s game-winning field goal.

This is a different Mack Brown team than the ones that relied heavily on the strong arms of Sam Howell and Drake Maye. This team runs the ball—Omarion Hampton powered his way to 129 yards against a defense focused heavily on him. This team can dominate in the kicking game, not just Burnette’s four field goals, but also punts and punt returns, which can make a real difference in field position. Finally, defensive coordinator Geoff Collins’ defense looks notably better in week one than any UNC defense I can recall in the past decade.

That said, the passing game must improve. Though Johnson led the Tar Heels on an 80-yard drive for the team’s only touchdown, he passed for just 28 yards in the first half and threw an interception that gave the Gophers possession on the UNC 6-yard line.

Johnson appeared to finally find his rhythm in the second half before getting hurt, he finished 12-19 for 71 yards. Harrell went 2-4 for 34 yards. We should note that one of his passes came on a well executed ran-pass option that helped send receiver J.J. Jones on a 32-yard gain. This set up the game-winning field goal and was arguably the Heels’ offensive play of the game.

This was a defensive victory, and when was the last time we said that about a Carolina team? The Tar Heels held Minnesota to 244 yards, just 78 of those coming on the ground. Collins’ crew allowed just one sustained scoring drive, limited the Gophers to 14 first downs, and forced a fumble that gave the offense possession at the Minnesota 22-yard line.

UNC’s defense sacked Max Brosmer five times and recorded seven tackles for loss. Jahvaree Ritzie had a huge night with three sacks and three tackles for a loss.

It was a narrow victory to be sure. A last-second, 47-yard field goal attempt by the normally reliable Dragan Kesich barely missed, sailing just to the right. It marked Kesich’s second missed field goal of the game.

Now, the schedule works in UNC’s favor. The 1-0 Tar Heels won’t see another Power Four opponent until the end of September. The next three games against Charlotte, NC Central and James Madison should give the Heels a chance to boost their air game by a couple of notches, getting both Harrell and backup Jacoby Criswell a chance to get lots of reps throwing to the team’s top receivers.

However, Carolina must take care to play with the same intensity we saw at Minnesota. NC State’s struggles with FCS foe Western Carolina should serve as a cautionary tale.

Wolfpack mount fourth-quarter comeback

All preseason, the vibe emanating from west Raleigh proffered continued excellence on defense even without departed star Payton Wilson. Western Carolina wasn’t buying the hype, however.

The Catamounts scored the game’s first touchdown after a costly interception by the Wolfpack’s heralded transfer quarterback Grayson McCall. WCU scored a second touchdown in the first quarter on a seven-play, 75 yard drive. Fifty of those yards came on a run by Cats quarterback Cole Gonzales, who appeared to be left unaccounted for in NC State’s man coverage scheme.

State did finally take the lead at 17-14 early in the third quarter, only to see Western march 75 yards again to go back up 21-17. The Catamounts maintained that lead into the fourth quarter.

Write this down. NC State then ranked No. 24 nationally, spent just 3:24, that’s three minutes and 24 seconds in the first three quarters, with the lead at home against an FCS opponent.

Tony Gibson’s defense played better as the fourth quarter started, forcing two punts, a missed field goal and a fumble. Still, few State fans expected to see the school from Cullowhee gain 364 yards. The 242 passing yards were especially surprising given the skill of the Wolfpack’s returning players in the secondary.

In fairness, the Pack lost one of its defensive leaders, Caden Fordham, in the game’s first few minutes to a targeting call. State’s secondary dropped a couple of interceptions early, which might have changed the course of a tight game.

But next up for State is 12th-ranked Tennessee, which just hung 69 points on Chattanooga. Gibson and his defensive staff have some work to do preparing for Nico lamaleava, who torched Tennessee’s Saturday opponent with 314 yards passing in the first half.

Also, State’s offense must play better Saturday against the Vols. To be sure, KC Concepcion had his usual game, diving for a low ball to record State’s first touchdown against WCU, notching the second touchdown on a jet sweep and a third score by running away from the defense for a 35-yard touchdown catch early in the fourth quarter. Concepcion’s third touchdown gave his team the lead for good.

McCall had moments but was inconsistent, throwing that early interception and missing 14 of his 40 attempted passes.

Highly touted Duke transfer Jordan Waters also played an uneven game, twice failing to pick up the first down on fourth-and-short scenarios in the second quarter.

Waters, like his teammates, played better with the game on the line in the fourth quarter, breaking off an impressive 50-yard touchdown run. While Waters had only 22 rushing yards in the first half, he finished the game with 123 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Against Tennessee, McCall and Waters must be at their best for four quarters.

This offense has other options and we saw some of them on Thursday night. Wide receivers Noah Rogers and Wesley Grimes can get separation for big gains. Tight End Justin Joly is also a weapon. The big guy caught five passes for 75 yards in the opener. Offensive coordinator Robert Anae has the creativity to roll out some different schemes and formations this Saturday that Tennessee has not seen yet.

As McCall settles in at quarterback (he had not played in a game for 11 months), this offense has the potential to be one of State’s best, certainly the program’s most explosive offense since 2018. After a couple of seasons where the Wolfpack had to rely on its defense to win games and try to manufacture just enough offense to win, 2024 brings a refreshing change.

But can this offense keep up with Tennessee?

Duke throttles Elon

Duke kicked a field goal on its first possession. Then, neither team scored for 21 minutes. Inside the two-minute mark, Elon drove to the Blue Devils’ 32-yard line, and the Phenix nearly tied the game. Jack Berkowitz’s 49-yard field goal attempt hit the crossbar.

The Devils then struck quickly going the other direction. Maalik Murphy, impressive in his first start at Duke quarterback, found Eli Pancol alone on the sideline. Pancol legged it 55 yards, setting up Jacquez Moore’s touchdown run.

Duke started the second half the way it began the first, driving for a field goal. The Blue Devils didn’t get their second touchdown until late in the third quarter when Murphy connected with tight end Jeremiah Hasley. The big play on that drive was Murphy’s beautiful strike to Jordan Moore for 47 yards. The Blue Devils notched a third touchdown in the fourth quarter on a pass from Murphy to Pancol.

Elon spoiled Duke’s bid for a shutout with a field goal in the game’s closing seconds.

Duke did not commit a single penalty. Considering Diaz’s years coaching Miami, which committed tons of penalties, that’s a pretty significant feat, especially in an opening game.

The Blue Devils played quite well defensively, limiting the Phenix to 140 total yards. Duke’s rebuilt but still stout front seven, recorded eight sacks and 16 TFLs.

Offense was another story. Not only did the Blue Devils twice settle for field goals against an FCS defense, Duke turned the ball over on downs in both the first half and the second half. A fifth drive was blunted by a Murphy interception.

In general, Murphy looked quite good throwing the football. However, in my view, he made a few errors in judgment. Several times he threw into coverage and he once led a receiver to a near collision with an Elon safety. His interception came late in the third quarter when he overthrew Waters on a deep ball.

The good news – and there was a lot of good news about Murphy – was that he spread the ball around. Ten different receivers caught passes. Murphy, a Texas transfer, passed for 291 yards on 26 completions in 40 attempts.

And he did it with very little help from Duke’s running game. The Blue Devil backs gained just 59 yards on 27 carries. Whoa!

Getting the ground attack going should be priority No. 1 for Duke this week as the Blue Devils prepare for a road game at Northwestern. Getting just 2.2 yards per rush won’t cut it if Duke expects to beat a Power Four opponent.

Source: wralsportsfan.com