UNC 38, Connecticut 12

Sometimes statistics lie. So when Matt Hinton's brief summation of the UNC-UConn game is:

UConn outgained North Carolina by 115 yards and ten first downs and lost by 26 points.

it's not saying that the Huskies were on the wrong end of about seventeen bad bounces. It's just that UNC that many opportunities to put on sustained drives. These sort of things happen when Bruce Carter blocks three punts, in a performance that, had it been for a different team, would be described as A-Certain-Coach's-Name-Ball. That, coupled with two interceptions, gave UNC two touchdowns without the offense taking the field and four starts on the Connecticut side of the field. It was the defense's day, capped by a Marvin Austin slow-as-molasses interception return for a touchdown on a completely foolish Zach Frazer throw to avoid a sack.

In games like this, it's harder to judge the offense. The running game had one of those weeks where it clicked, with Shaun Draughn getting 109 yards on the ground and a touchdown. The passing game was middling, although Sexton was under center the entire game, nonwithstanding the talk of giving Paulus reps. Sexton had an interception deep in the red zone early on when a touchdown would have began to put the game away, but thanks to the defense only attempting 16 passes, not leaving much time to show his stuff. 

The stat "first Top 25 win out-of-conference since 1997" sounds impressive, and something for the team to hang their hats on, but UConn won't see the Top 25 again this season at their current rate. And really, how many OOC Top 25 games do you expect a middling team in a BCS conference to see over a ten year span? I'd put it at eight or nine. Still, overall another good win, enough to get people talking about winning out the season. It may be premature - I don't see a clear loss on the schedule, but it's still a young team - but more importantly, when was the last time you heard talk like that in Chapel Hill?