Extra Points: Lights, Camera ...

The Game Operations department is ready for Saturday and the Tar Heels' game against Notre Dame: Staffing from concessions to parking has been ramped up post-Covid, gatekeepers have brand new ticket scanners, and the Revel XP tailgating consortium is five years into presenting tented villages around Kenan Stadium for its biggest year ever. Former Tar Heel offensive lineman Harris Barton is even helping host a gathering for Tar Heel lettermen in the quad around the Bell Tower.

The retailers on Franklin Street are ready: Sutton's Drug Store is stocked up on hamburgers, and Alumni Hall is ready with jerseys, hats, face paint and temporary tattoos. The Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership is blocking off Henderson Street beginning at 12:30 Saturday with live music, games and food from Linda's Bar & Grill.

Lower level seats across various online ticket brokers are going for four and five times face value. And that weather forecast is sublime: Seventy-six and sunny for Saturday afternoon in the Southern Part of Heaven.

"There's definitely more of a buzz around campus, you're playing a national program, one everyone knows about," Tar Heel safety Gio Biggers says.

"Notre Dame, it's a storied program," adds defensive tackle Ray Vohasek. "They have movies, Rudy, who didn't watch that stuff? It's exciting to play them the third year in a row. ABC game, it's what you wish for growing up as a kid."

The hors d'oeuvres of a home opener against an opponent from the SWAC and road trips to Boone and Atlanta to face Sun Belt teams have been dispatched. Now the main course of the 2022 football season commences with the arrival of pseudo-ACC partner Notre Dame in Kenan Stadium this weekend and then Virginia Tech the next Saturday.

The Tar Heels have had an open date to rest and rehabilitate a handful of injured players, self-scout themselves and continue to fine-tune what's working (they are No. 4 nationally in scoring offense and No. 1 in net punting) and develop what's been up-and-down (the defense has been stout at times, porous at others). And Coach Mack Brown and his staff have hammered home the idea of finishing—when you're ahead 41-21 against Appalachian State and 21-3 against Georgia State, seal the deal.

"Both of those games, we could have taken over," Brown says. "We had the momentum both games. You have to go finish, put your foot on the gas, make a stop and play as a team.

"I'm happy to be 3-0, but we still have to grow up."

And what better litmus test than the Fighting Irish, a national brand and a team that has left a bitter taste in the Tar Heels' mouths for two years running? Two years ago in the depths of that odd Covid season and with a scant 3,535 spectators in Kenan Stadium, the Irish wore the Tar Heels down along the line of scrimmage, dominated the second half and collected a 31-17 victory. Last year in South Bend, the Irish prevailed by a 44-34 margin, with one touchdown coming after the Tar Heels stopped the Irish on fourth down, only to have a facemask penalty resurrect the drive. Carolina was within four points in the fourth quarter but surrendered a 91-yard touchdown run as Irish tailback Kyren Williams broke multiple tackles.

"We have to be tougher, play with more confidence in the fourth quarter and finish stronger," Brown says. "We've not been able to do that. They are very, very physical on both lines of scrimmage. It will be a great test for us."

Carolina's offense since Brown took the helm of the program in 2019 and hired Phil Longo as coordinator has thrown up prodigious numbers—witness averaging 37 points a game from 2019-21 for the most prolific three-year stretch in school history, highlighted by steamrolling Miami for 778 yards in 2020. What's remarkable through three games is that this year's offense essentially represents the second cycle of players revolving through after making hay for three years with talented players like Sam Howell, Michael Carter, Javonte Williams, Dyami Brown and Dazz Newsome.

Freshman Drake Maye has taken over adroitly at quarterback. The Tar Heels are using a tight end triumvirate of Bryson Nesbit, Kamari Morales and John Copenhaver to account for roughly one-third of their receiving output. Carolina has used the transfer portal to good advantage by finding two starters along the line in center Corey Gaynor (Miami) and Spencer Rolland (Harvard). Young players have begun to sprout wings at the skills positions, most notably slot receiver Kobe Paysour (14 catches and two touchdowns) and tailback Omarion Hampton (76 yards per game and five scores).

And they've done it without receivers Josh Downs and Antoine Green and tailback British Brooks. Downs and Green are close to returning to action, while Brooks was lost for the year in a training camp injury.

"Josh is the best player on our team," Brown says. "Antoine Green is an NFL receiver. To lose them plus British Brooks, we took a shot on that side of the ball. I'm proud of our and players for not making excuses. And we've recruited well enough that some talented young players have stepped up."

Meanwhile, the defense has taken some lumps by yielding a 75 percent completion percentage to Florida A&M, a 40-point fourth quarter to App State and an 18-point third quarter to Georgia State. But it has also had some excellent stretches, stopping App State on downs and intercepting a pass during a stout third quarter and closing out the Georgia State game by forcing four straight punts.

"The App game, we had two good quarters and an abysmal fourth quarter," defensive coordinator Gene Chizik says. "The Georgia State game, we had a bad third quarter. We're looking to find the four-quarter game. We look at the reasons why they happen and use those as teaching moments. Knowledge is power, right? We know what the issues were and we have the ability to fix them.

"Our best game is definitely ahead of us, and I don't think it will be long before we play that best game."

The breakdowns have ranged the gamut. Misfit gaps have led to long runs. Poor eye discipline and communication lapses contributed to some big passes. Vohasek noted that "sloppy footwork" has reared its head on occasion. Biggers added that he gives offensive coordinators at App State and Georgia State credit for unveiling some wrinkles they hadn't shown before.

"I think we have the talent to be a really great defense," Vohasek says. "We have not played to our standards at times. And we hear what's out there. I just use it as motivation."

Vohasek grew up in the Chicago suburb of McHenry, just a three-hour drive around Lake Michigan to South Bend. He knows of the Midwestern mentality of Fighting Irish football and marvels at their proficiency along the lines of scrimmage. "I think of them as 'O-Line U.,'" he says.

So he understands when Brown notes how the Irish were more mature, deep and physically stout in winning the last two years, particularly the 2020 game when an otherwise robust Tar Heel offense could muster only 32 rushing yards and 78 total yards in the second half. Carolina is now two-deep along the defensive front and opened the year starting five seniors or graduate students along the offensive line.

"I think we have made great progress, I think we match them from a physicality standpoint," Vohasek says. "Two years ago when we played them, they were an old team. That team that played Alabama in the playoffs was basically all seniors across the board. Notre Dame takes pride in their O-line and D-line. That's how they win games. But I think we've done a good job, and I think we're going to find out on Saturday how much progress we've made."

From the day in late January when the 2022 ACC schedule was announced, Brown easily segmented the first three games as a "mini-season" of sorts: Break in a new quarterback to replace Howell, let Chizik and new secondary coach Charlton Warren find their ballast, ramp up internal player leadership that he felt had not been sharp enough during a 6-6 regular season the year before.

Get to 3-0 with an off week. Mission accomplished.

"Now, just getting to 4-0 would be a huge accomplishment for us," Vohasek says. "Notre Dame has very good players. Anybody can beat anybody if you follow college football these days."

Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace is in his 33rd year writing features on the Carolina football program under the "Extra Points" banner. He is the author of "Football in a Forest" and reports from the sidelines of Tar Heel Sports Network broadcasts. Follow him at @LeePaceTweet and write him at leepace7@gmail.com

Players Mentioned

British Brooks

John Copenhaver

Josh Downs

Corey Gaynor

Antoine Green

Omarion Hampton

Sam Howell

Drake Maye

Kamari Morales

Bryson Nesbit

Kobe Paysour

Spencer Rolland

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