Extra Points: Flipping Coins

By Lee Pace

The Atlantic Coast Conference is represented this week with four teams in the AP Top 25—Miami at No. 6 and Clemson at No. 10 leading the way, with Pitt at No. 22 and SMU at No. 25 just sliding into the mix. Halfway through the season, there are six teams with one conference win and one loss and three teams at the bottom with 0-2 records who are ruing narrow losses from the last two weeks—California by one point to Miami, N.C. State by four points to Wake Forest and Carolina by one point to Duke last week and 10 points to Pitt last Saturday.

This is an age of college football with a dozen or so programs thriving on tradition, conference payouts and NIL resources and the rest relegated to the middle of the Bell Curve, reinventing themselves each year through the transfer portal. It's coin flip football. It's harder to figure the favorites and more common for tight games to come down to a half dozen plays going one direction or the other.

Case in point: the Tar Heels are 3-3 and gnashing their teeth over a handful of plays that allowed Duke to rally in the second half two weeks ago in Durham and snare a one-point victory and four snuffed offensive snaps on fourth down last Saturday against Pitt that could have turned the balance toward the Tar Heels.

"If we played the other five teams like we played Pitt, we'd be 5-1," Tar Heel Coach Mack Brown says. "There's not that much difference from team to team. We had tight games against Duke and against Pitt. A play or two here and we're winning those games. We as coaches have to do a better job than we've ever done in our lives and take those plays that aren't working and make them work."

That's what the second half of the season is all about. Take what's worked on offense, defense and special teams and bottle it up against six opponents (Georgia Tech, Virginia, Florida State, Wake Forest, Boston College and N.C. State) that combined in the ACC standings are 7-10. There are plenty of opportunities there. It all starts Saturday at noon against Georgia Tech in Kenan Stadium.

"We're moving in the right direction for sure," cornerback Alijah Huzzie says. "We just have to finish plays, finish drives, finish games, just finish everything we do."

Brown points to the Tar Heels having had nine penalties against James Madison and 10 against Duke but only five against Pitt. They didn't have a turnover against the Panthers and didn't allow a sack until the final play. The defense was mostly solid, with the bulk of Pitt's yards coming on eight plays. Nate McCollum had two kickoff returns for 75 yards. Carolina had a huge momentum swing with safety Kaleb Cost's interception and 84-yard return for a touchdown, but over six games, the Tar Heels have gained just six takeaways while allowing nine; that half a turnover a game deficit ranks near the bottom of the national rankings.

"These things are really positive," Brown says. "We can build on the things that are working and fix the rest. But we have to force more turnovers. We had our hands on the ball twice, we had the ball on the ground but couldn't bring it in. We have to take advantage of those chances."

Quarterback Jacolby Criswell has shown flashes of having a strong and accurate arm and is a powerful runner. He is learning to process the myriads of decisions a quarterback has to make in the blink of an eye and is spending considerable time with offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey and quarterback coaching specialist Clyde Christensen on his footwork. A thrower's aim and velocity are only as good as the base he sets underneath him.

"It all comes down to footwork," Criswell says. "I'm a big believer in footwork. I know my arm, I have the talent for it. Anytime I miss a throw, it goes back to footwork. I just have to keep working and progressing making sure my feet are on time on the deep balls."

The Tar Heels hope one significant catalyst to for a second-half run is the return of graduate defensive end Kaimon Rucker, who missed four games after a freak injury sustained in the weight room just days after Carolina's season-opening win over Minnesota. Rucker participated in a handful of snaps against Georgia Tech.

"Kaimon is a grown man with a grown man's thought process on everything," says defensive coordinator Geoff Collins. "He gave us nine to 10 snaps on third down, and the first play he was in for, he shot out of a cannon running at the quarterback. It's exciting to see him out there. Hopefully as he progresses, we can get him in there more on normal downs."

Saturday's game will be Cancer Awareness Game with the contest dedicated to wide receiver Tylee Craft, who was diagnosed in the Spring of 2022 with a rare form of lung cancer. Brown wore a T-shirt at his Monday press conference with Craft's jersey number 13 on the front and the words "Tylee Strong" above the number. Every player and coach will wear that shirt for the team's Bell Tower walk Saturday morning.

"Our team has gained a new perspective on life," Brown says. "Tylee checked in one day with a bad back, and the next day he's got cancer. We all know that it could be us tomorrow. It changes your outlook in a lot of different ways."

Craft has remained an active part of the program, attending nearly every practice and game and sitting in with the wide receivers in their meeting room. He graduated in 2024 and is working on a graduate degree. Sadly, his condition has deteriorated in recent weeks, with Craft riding a scooter on the sidelines at Duke two weeks ago and having to miss the Pittsburgh game entirely.

"It's devastating," says Criswell, who arrived in Chapel Hill with Craft in the 2020 signing class. "Tylee's a guy who came here with me. He's been here for this program every single day. The times he's not here, you're wishing he's okay. The times he is here, you say, 'This guy's a fighter. He's the type of guy I want around me.'"

A GoFundMe site has been established to help defray the considerable medical costs that have built up over 2.5 years. Those with the means to do so are invited to donate here.

Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace (Carolina '79) has been writing about Tar Heel football under the "Extra Points" banner since 1990 and reporting from the sidelines on radio broadcasts since 2004. Write him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him @LeePaceTweet.

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Kaleb Cost

Tylee Craft

Jacolby Criswell

Alijah Huzzie

Nate McCollum

Kaimon Rucker

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