Miami whapped North Carolina, 47-10, on Thursday night, and if you just looked at the total yardage, you’d be confused by that margin. The Heels held nearly even there and put up 10 more first downs than the Canes did.
Miami destroyed UNC with the Turnover Chain-est game in Turnover Chain history
The Canes had their most takeaways in a game since 2012 and tied a school record.
But:
It was a hidden-yardage special!
Miami took the ball away six times, the most of the Turnover Chain era and most since a 2012 game against NC State. The Canes also had Jonathan Garvin, Joe Jackson, and Romeo Finley score defensive touchdowns, tying a school record.
It was a completely dominant defensive night, even though the Heels had respectable total numbers — that part was largely because UNC simply kept having possessions due to Miami scoring so quickly. On a yards-per-play basis, Miami’s N’Kosi Perry more than tripled UNC’s average pass, 10.4 to 3.3, and Miami had the ground edge as well.
Though the Heels finally had all their players back from a ridiculous suspension, including intended starting QB Chazz Surratt, that didn’t matter a lot on the night. Surratt starting his season in Week 5 didn’t exactly appear advantageous, as he threw three picks.
To a certain extent, Miami’s success has lived and died with its Turnover Chain identity over the last two seasons. The Canes were among the national leaders in 2017 in takeaways, but saw the chain mocked ruthlessly during a string of defeats. We also saw Miami have the tables turned by LSU in 2018’s opener, when the Tigers employed hidden-yardage voodoo of their own, winning comfortably despite getting outgained.
When the chain’s summoning footballs like it was Thursday night, the Canes are gonna be almost impossible to beat, though.
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