Throughout the 2024 college football season, the noise has grown louder surrounding UNC football coach Mack Brown’s future with the Tar Heels.
In the same week, reports surfaced about Brown’s intentions of remaining with the program beyond this year, UNC went to Boston College and walked off the field on the wrong end of a 41-21 blowout at Alumni Stadium.
Bowl eligible for the sixth time in the six seasons since Brown returned in 2019 for his second stint in Chapel Hill, UNC (6-5, 3-4 ACC) followed a four-game losing streak with three wins in a row before its dud against the Eagles (6-5, 3-4) on Saturday.
Boston College forced three turnovers and finished with more than 200 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. UNC’s loss snapped a five-game winning streak against BC, which dominated the Tar Heels in every facet from start to finish in the regular season’s penultimate game.
Here’s a breakdown of what went wrong for UNC at Boston College and what awaits the Heels in the final week.
UNC football’s poor start was too much to overcome vs Boston College
The Tar Heels had their worst first-half showing since giving up 53 points in two quarters against James Madison in late September. Boston College scored 21 second-quarter points and had a 24-7 halftime lead against UNC, which scored its only first-half touchdown on a 95-yard kickoff return by Chris Culliver in the second quarter. Offensively, the Tar Heels didn’t find the end zone until Davion Gause had a pair of rushing TDs in garbage time.
Boston College slows down UNC’s Omarion Hampton, gets turnovers from Jacolby Criswell
Across its three-game winning streak, UNC had a 7-1 advantage in the turnover margin. The Tar Heels had three turnovers against Boston College, which turned those into 14 points. UNC quarterback Jacolby Criswell had three interceptions, including a pick-six, as the Eagles keyed in on slowing down running back Omarion Hampton. UNC’s star player was limited to 53 rushing yards, ending his streak of eight games with at least 100 rushing yards. It was Hampton’s lowest rushing total since finishing with 28 yards against N.C. State last season. Overall, the Heels finished with 212 total yards, including 36 yards on the ground at Boston College.
NC State comes to UNC hungry to become bowl eligible
Coming off its embarrassing effort at Boston College, UNC heads back to Chapel Hill to face rival N.C. State (5-6, 2-5) on Nov. 30 (3:30 p.m., ACC Network) in the regular-season finale. The Wolfpack hasn’t lived to its high expectations this season, needing a win against the Heels to become bowl eligible. But N.C. State quarterback CJ Bailey called his shot after the loss at Georgia Tech, saying the Pack will beat UNC next week. The Heels, who have lost three of their last four games against State at Kenan Stadium, will try to snap a three-game losing streak to their rivals from Raleigh.
Rodd Baxley covers Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding those teams? Send them to rbaxley@fayobserver.com.
