On banner day for ACC, North Carolina shows it remains class of Coastal
Until someone proves otherwise, North Carolina reminded the ACC Coastal that the division remains its playground.
Mitch Trubisky capped a career-high 453 yards passing and five touchdowns with a 2-yard strike to Bug Howard with two seconds left that gave North Carolina a 37-36 win Saturday that put it in the driver's seat in the division it won a year ago.
With affirmations, stunners and statistical monsters and a setup for next weekend's massive showdown between No. 3 Louisville and No. 5 Clemson, you can pick your narrative for just how nearly perfect this weekend has been for the ACC.
There was No. 13 Florida State rebounding with a rout behind Dalvin Cook's first 100-yard game since last year's regular-season finale, and Virginia Tech continued to impress, routing East Carolina.
Then, among the perceived non-contenders, Duke -- a 20-point underdog -- won at Notre Dame; Wake Forest edged Indiana to improve to 4-0 for the first time since 2006; Virginia broke through for Bronco Mendenhall's first win by jumping all over Central Michigan; Syracuse pulled away from UConn behind Amba Etta-Tawo's school-record 270 receiving yards and two scores, and Boston College finally put it together offensively in a rout.
Oh, and Clemson did its part too to set the stage for that clash. It wasn't perfect, but for a half the Tigers looked every bit the College Football Playoff contender we expected on Thursday night at Georgia Tech, and the defense put on a show in stifling Justin Thomas and Co.
Amid all those feel-good moments, it was the Tar Heels' win, though, that might have mattered the most for the Coastal.
Granted Larry Fedora's crew still has plenty of defensive issues. Ranked 106th in FBS against the rush coming into the weekend, it gave up 281 to the Panthers, but offensively North Carolina has found its groove under first-year starter Trubisky.
A week before against James Madison he threw for a career-high 432 yards on 24 of 27 passing -- which included a school-record 18 consecutive completions -- and Saturday he torched Pitt's 127th ranked pass D by hitting on 35 of 46 his attempts (76 percent). He hit his first 12 attempts to push that mark to 30, and has now thrown a Tar Heels' best 202 consecutive passes without an interception
"We had talked about before the game that we had an opportunity to establish the identity of this football team," Fedora told reporters. "And I can say there's a lot of grit in this football team for one, a lot of toughness -- all the intangibles that we need to be successful."
Amid Trubisky's record-setting day, receiver Ryan Switzer tied another program mark with 16 catches (for 208 yards), though he was denied the record he's been waiting for. Switzer remains one punt return shy of matching the NCAA record as one was called back for a holding call. That's the third time Switzer had one reversed for a flag.
"I don't even care if I get the record now," he would said. "I'm just tired of seeing flags on the ground."
A season ago North Carolina overcame a season-opening loss to an SEC team (South Carolina) and never lost again in the regular season in cruising to a division title. This time around it was a defeat to another SEC school (Georgia) in Week 2, and since then, the Tar Heels are 3-0.
Despite those offensive numbers, it's difficult at this point to see another similar run given those victories are against 1-2 Illinois, James Madison and a Pitt squad whose defense has allowed 993 passing yards the last two weeks. Plus, that Bulldogs team North Carolina lost to in the opener followed narrow wins over Nicholls and Missouri with a 45-14 loss to No. 23 Ole Miss this weekend.
Things figure to get stickier next week for North Carolina with a trip to Tallahassee and a pair of Coastal contenders in Virginia Tech and No. 15 Miami to follow. Those defensive issues -- the Tar Heels allowed 421 yards to Pitt -- figure to resurface again, especially with Justin Fuente's Hokies scoring 103 points the last two games, and the Hurricanes' Brad Kaaya completing a career-best 65.8 percent of his passes under Mark Richt.
But when North Carolina's offense is playing at this level, do any of those defensive troubles matter? They didn't a year ago when Marquise Williams was at the helm, and at the start of ACC play, they didn't matter with Trubisky.
It's more of the same for the Tar Heels, much to the chagrin of the rest of the division.
Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney and Facebook. His book, 'Tales from the Atlanta Braves Dugout: A Collection of the Greatest Braves Stories Ever Told,' is out now, and 'The Heisman Trophy: The Story of an American Icon and Its Winners' will be released Nov. 22, 2016.
