UNC In Need Of Major, Collective Improvement In Passing Game

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina sits 2-4 with plenty of areas to work on, and the passing game is near the top of the list.

>>> Welcome to the new home of Inside Carolina! Reactivate your account for $1 <<<

UNC ranks last of the 17 ACC teams in passing offense, producing just 162.5 passing yards per game. Gio Lopez has started in five of UNC’s first six games. In those starts, Lopez is up to 597 passing yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions, and he’s completed 59.8% of his passes. Max Johnson, who’s appeared in three games and made one start against Clemson, has 378 passing yards for two touchdowns with a 63.9% completion rate.

“I don’t know if anything has to change,” quarterbacks coach Matt Lombardi said on Thursday when asked if anything needs to be altered in UNC’s passing attack. “I think just execution has to improve. And that’s all 11 guys. That’s protection, that’s decisions at quarterback, that’s route running.

“I think that’s what’s great about our staff, our offense, nobody’s looking at one person and putting the blame on them. Everybody’s taking accountability, and that’s how it should be because when you do perform well, it’s a lot of guys that are performing well, and the entire team is doing well, not just the quarterback. So when it goes bad, he gets a lot of blame, and when it goes well, he gets most of the praise.”

North Carolina readied for both Lopez and Johnson to play on Friday. Lombardi said Johnson got a lot of practice reps during the team’s most recent bye week with Lopez’s injury status up in the air.

“So (with) the familiarity of the game plan and the offense, we felt like we had two guys ready, and if things weren’t going well, Max was ready to go,” Lombardi said. “At the end of the day, it’s Coach’s call, and whatever he wanted to do, whatever he felt was best for the team, we were going to go with and decide with and run from there.”

Lopez has dealt with injuries throughout the year, with a car accident that he confirmed took place before the TCU game, a back injury against the Horned Frogs days later and a leg injury against UCF that sidelined him for a game. He said Friday’s game against Cal was “the best I’ve felt this season.” Against the Golden Bears, Lopez completed 19 of his 35 passes (54%) for a season-high 167 passing yards.

UNC has had just one game with more than 200 passing yards, reaching that mark when Johnson threw for 208 in a loss to Clemson. The passing offense has produced one in-game 100-yard receiver this season, with Kobe Paysour recording 101 yards against Cal.

North Carolina hasn’t gotten many opportunities deep down the field this season. So far, 23 of UNC’s 107 completions have gone for 15 or more yards, ranking last in the ACC. For context, Louisville sits right about the Tar Heels at 16th with 30 such completions, and Duke is first in the conference with 63.

UNC is 19-41 (46.3%) on third down passes, including 6-15 on 3rd and 10 or more.

“We just need to do a better job of focusing on tightening up smaller things,” Jordan Shipp said on Thursday. “It’s not anybody’s fault or one particular thing, it’s a bunch of smaller mistakes that just need to be fixed. We’re just one block away, or one broken tackle, or one catch, one missed read. We’re just so close to having all these explosive plays added on. It’s just one small mistake that we need to fix. So that’s mainly what we’re focused on.”

UNC’s offense ranks last with 18.7 points per game and 267.7 yards of total offense. That offensive yards per game mark is North Carolina’s lowest since 1989, and the points per game average is the team’s lowest since 2006.

Lopez said after Friday’s game that the Tar Heels are learning to play more collectively. In the first five games, he felt they were “playing just (as) 11 individuals” when trying to figure out the offense.

North Carolina hosts No. 16 Virginia on Saturday looking to get something going in the passing game. The team feels it’s a matter of execution rather than scheme, but either way, the Tar Heels need more production through the air in the second half of the season.

“I think in any offense, if the quarterback plays well, the offense plays well,” Lombardi said. “I think that’s the name of the game. And we have to strive in our room to do a better job at that, especially on critical downs, third down, red zone. Our performance has to rise above everybody else’s. And I think that in our room, I would say that us getting healthier with Gio, and then Max getting more and more reps, it’s just giving two guys the opportunity to go and do that, and we just have to go execute on the field and prove that we can play with them.”