Story of the Statlines: VT vs UNC

Touchdowns were hard to come by for the Hokies as the defense for the Tarheels took a huge step forward compared to previous weeks. Although the Hokies played a clean game with only 3 total penalties, the offense for UNC was punishing the defense all afternoon. As much as it is unfortunate, it's tough to create a positive story from this game.

This is not much of a crazy stat but it must be pointed out. In their previous 4 games this season, North Carolina has allowed on average 36.3 points per game playing some non power 5 teams. Now of course going into this game, the offense for the Hokies has been a work in progress that they hope will gain traction as the season goes on just averaging over 18 points per game. The defense for UNC also came into this game wanting to prove that their defense can be competent. Based on the score, we know exactly who won that battle.

Drake Maye has been an absolute stud for the North Carolina Tarheels and this game only proved his case for that mantra. He made the game look easy against our defense totaling the most passing yards he’s had on the season so far with 363. He also led their team in rushing which goes to show how important he is to their offense. While it was a great game for him, our defense on the other hand could not figure him out. Many drives contained long passing plays or Drake Maye running free in the open field picking up multiple first downs. Anytime the Hokies would attempt to counter a long passing play, a running lane would be open and vice versa. Overall, the defense could not figure out the offensive attack for the Tarheels.

This goes along with the second stat but I figured it should be put out there. It may seem that this is not that big of a deal but for all the Hokie fans out there, we know that these 4th down conversions for the Tarheels came at crucial times in the game. They mostly came early in the first half when the Hokies still were a score or two away from UNC. Instead of getting a stop on the Tarheels, the defense allowed 3 conversions to keep the drives going for the Tarheels. UNC also showed no hesitancy to go for it on 4th down which proves they had no respect for our offense if we were to take over on downs.