In my colleague Christian Schneider’s secondary preview two weeks ago, he noted that generally, you expect an interception per 5 passes defensed. UNC as a whole, as he points out, had just seven interceptions on 59 defended passes in 2017. The year before, the team famously picked off just 1 pass on 51 passes defensed. Over the past two seasons, the Tar Heel defense has intercepted 14 fewer passes than history says they should have. At some point, it has to regress positively, right?
Based on the Tar Heel offense’s display against California, it’s going to have to do so if the Heels want any chance of a competitive season.