We’ve beaten up the Tar Heel defense plenty on this website, with good cause. They have been pretty poor from a national standpoint. UNC had the misfortune of slipping one spot in the FBS total defense rankings to #126 during a bye week. That really takes some doing.
Gene Chizik’s “bend don’t break” philosophy has watched teams march up and down the field, piling up yardage, but not as many points as you’d expect. The defense has been surprisingly strong in goal-line stands, most famously against Miami and Duke, and the run defense has been stout against the Hurricanes and Virginia Tech.