Important things to know about WVU's bowl foe, North Carolina
In the Duke's Mayo Bowl on Wednesday, Dec. 27, West Virginia football will face off against the North Carolina Tar Heels and after an underwhelming season for UNC, here's everything to know about the bowl opponent and what they'll bring to the table.
-- North Carolina's star players opting to head to the NFL Draft early:
To start, there are quite a few aspects of this squad that will be different than what West Virginia was planning for and that's the exclusion of three-star players who have decided to forgo the bowl game and test the 2024 NFL Draft.
First among those players who plan to skip the Duke's Mayo Bowl, give up their remaining eligibility and prepare for the NFL Combine and Draft is star sophomore quarterback Drake Maye.
Maye came into the 2023 season with high expectations, potentially even Heisman Award level expectations and himself and the Tar Heels did not live up. However, Maye's stock in the professional ranks remained high, as a projected top-10 pick.
Maye soared in career at UNC, earning All-American honors last season and ACC Player of the Year and ACC Freshman of the Year, as well as his placement among many other national awards such as the Davey O'Brien and the Maxwell Awards.
In his third season at UNC in 2023, Maye finished with 3,608 yards on a 63% completion rate, with 24 touchdowns and nine interceptions, while rushing for another 582 yards and nine touchdowns.
Taking over under center against the Mountaineers will be redshirt freshman Conner Harrell, who completed four passes on the season with 71 yards and a touchdown.
The second of these players to opt out is wide receiver Devontez 'Tez' Walker, who had a rollercoaster ride to play just eight games for the Tar Heels. After transferring over after two seasons for Kent State, Walker was denied immediate eligibility and missed the first four games of the 2023 season.
After an appeal made the wide receiver eligible, Walker was reinstated into North Carolina's offensive lineup and still ended as the team's leading receiver, finishing with 41 catches, 699 yards and seven touchdowns. However, he announced that he would give up his remaining two years of eligibility and a matchup with WVU to pursue an NFL career.
Walker announced that he will not be participating in the bowl game against West Virginia, taking his third-day draft projection and preparing for the upcoming NFL Draft, after three seasons of college football.
The final star player to opt out and take a chance on the NFL Draft is linebacker Cedric Gray, a force within the North Carolina defense for three seasons.
Gray not only became one of the best linebackers in the ACC with a first-team All-ACC nod last season, he's also decided to skip out on the Duke's Mayo Bowl and try for a spot in the NFL with a second-round or early third-round projection.
This season, Gray dominated for the Tar Heels' defense and led them in multiple categories including making the most tackles with 121 total, as well as 11 tackles for loss, five sacks and two interceptions. As an all-around defensive nightmare, North Carolina will be missing out but this may be advantageous for West Virginia.
-- North Carolina's other players to watch in the Duke's Mayo Bowl:
A couple of players to watch out for that will still be present against the Mountaineers is sturdy sophomore running back Omarion Hampton. He bulldozed for 1,442 yards and 15 touchdowns on the way to a Doak Walker award semifinalist nod, and will be relied upon heavily in WVU's bowl matchup, especially without the leading signal caller.
Tight end Bryson Nesbit, who finished third on the squad with 41 catches, 585 yards and five touchdowns, will be a threat in the receiving game as well as second-leading wide receiver J.J. Jones, who had 42 receptions for 658 yards and two touchdowns.
Two defenders also stick out for the Tar Heels' defense including junior linebacker Power Echols and another player at a safety-linebacker hybrid position named Jack, which is manned by senior Kaimon Rucker.
Echols is the second-leading tackler on the season behind Gray with 91 total tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles. Rucker was North Carolina's leading pass rusher as well with 8.5 sacks and 14 tackles for loss, making both players a threat against WVU.
-- What happened this season for North Carolina?
Looking at UNC's season as a whole it was certainly underwhelming in terms of preseason hype and expectations compared to where they finished with an 8-4 record.
In the preseason, North Carolina was ranked 20th and expected to improve on that mark with this aforementioned star talent.
However, after starting 6-0 with five wins over Power Five opponents including Minnesota, South Carolina, Pittsburgh and Miami to rise to a Top-10 rank nationally, the train was derailed with a shocking four-point loss to Virginia at home on Oct. 21.
The Tar Heels went on to lose their second straight the following weekend on the road to Georgia Tech by only four points, before they put up two straight wins, one against the rival Duke Blue Devils and an FCS opponent.
The season finished on a sour note and led to this bowl bid when North Carolina dropped its final two contests, firstly understandably losing to Clemson on the road by 11, before dropping its season finale to NC State by an astounding 19 points to finish with four losses and a tailing sense of momentum.
-- Statistics jumping out that West Virginia should prepare for:
After such high praise and expectations that saw UNC rise to a playoff contender and fall after being shattered midway through the season, North Carolina still has a dangerous offense and a defense that has played inconsistently.
The offense averages 36.5 points per game for the nation's 15th-best mark, but they also do it consistently with their yardage, ranking 10th nationwide in first downs with 300 on the season while accumulating 503.9 total yards per game, the nation's fourth-best average.
The Tar Heels do rely on the passing game more often with 306.8 yards passing compared to only 197.1 yards rushing per game, but a 6.8 average yards per play is an outstanding mark of overall efficiency across an entire season. However, North Carolina is one of the most penalized teams nationwide with 66 penalty yards per game and only eight FBS squads behind them with more.
Nationally, the UNC defense allows 405.4 yards per game, ranked 95th nationwide, and is behind in time of possession by three minutes on average, meaning that the defense struggles to get off the field.
This unit does have a solid +7 turnover margin and North Carolina also holds the 32nd best red zone defensive percentage at 78.4%, making this turnover battle and the battle in the red zone something to watch for this matchup.
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