Bye weeks have been known to be resets for teams heading into them with losing streaks, and that’s exactly what it did for Mack Brown and the North Carolina Tar Heels team.
Whether it was losing games because of allowing massive points or losing big leads, fans were starting to lose faith in the UNC football program, and Paul Myerberg and USA Today were also told by their weekly re-rank program.
North Carolina started out in the mid-50s before eventually falling all the way down to No. 79 heading into their bye week last week.
The offense played well last week led by Jacolby Criswell and Omarion Hampton, and the defense put up historic numbers totaling 10 sacks, 12 tackles for a loss, and two interceptions including one for a touchdown.
Seven players got in on the sack party, including Kaimon Rucker, who had three sacks, and Beau Atkinson, who had two sacks. Antavious Lane, Amare Campbell, Alijah Huzzie, Jahvaree Ritzie, and Desmond Evans all had one sack each.
Rucker also had 3.5 tackles for a loss and one of the interceptions. Ritzie had the other interception and returned it for an 84-yard pick-six.
USA Today’s praised the Tar Heels’ effort in the latest re-rank after Week 9 against Virginia has North Carolina at No. 63, up 16 spots from their previous rank.
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