For the first time in quite a while the excitement seems to be back in Chapel Hill. Don't get me wrong, it was there last year as well but due to the NCAA investigation just days before the season started, the wind got taken out of those sails pretty quickly.
I credit alot of that excitement to the "X Factor". The X Factor was the unknown that was Tar Heel football before the kickoff against James Madison. Nobody knew exactly how the Tar Heels would perform. You had a Red-Shirt Sophomore QB with all of two passes under his collegiate belt. The running backs were largely a question mark coming in with Ryan Houston being the only one with any real game experience and he had not had any contact in about a year, Giovanni Bernard was a Red-Shirt Freshman in his first game back from ACL surgery, and A.J. Blue had changed positions due to the transfer of Hunter Furr. The defensive backfield also did not have alot of experience in what was perceived to be one of the 'Heels weakest areas.
Some excitement should also be credited to Giovanni Bernard. I don't think the 'Heels have had a running back with that kind of shiftiness since Kelvin Bryant or Amos Lawrence if you want to go that far back. As soon as I saw his first carry, I'm thinking "The 'Heels may have something here...". His second TD run was a thing of beauty. He is also the perfect compliment to power back Ryan Houston.
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