So far, the experiment in American democracy has worked, but we know it is always in danger of failing because it can be manipulated.       

While testing for COVID-19 went up between 2020 and 2022 as it became normal to get tested after a potential exposure, testing for HIV decreased.      

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports Well, that was ugly. Losing to Notre Dame in a normal season is usually a defensible shortcoming. They are a talented group year in and year out, contending for a spot among the nation’s best teams more often than not. This is not that Notre Dame team, though. They lost their quarterback in a loss to Marshall. They squeaked by Cal by the skin of their teeth. If there were ever a season UNC should maybe feel good about being able to beat the Fighting Irish, this was it. Carolina’s defense has been squeaking by all season, and the offense finally ran into a situation they couldn’t bail Gene Chizik’s group out of. The struggling Notre Dame offense hung 576 yards on a defense that has bent itself into pretzels without breaking prior to today. The Tar Heels jumped out to a 7-0 lead when Drake Maye hit the returning Josh Downs for the first points of the game. After the early score, the Carolina defense had Notre Dame facing a 3rd-and-7 with no less than three defenders putting hands on Drew Pyne. He picked up the first down anyway, and everything quickly started going downhill from there. The Fighting Irish scored 24 points in the second quarter to take a commanding lead before halftime that was never threatened in the second half. They’d do everything necessary to continue to tack on from there to put the game solidly out of reach for UNC. Notre Dame out-scored UNC 45-25* after that early optimism was put to rest. Caveat being that UNC got a big garbage time touchdown to put a bow on the day. UNC had absolutely nothing working on the ground. They totaled just 66 ground yards to Notre Dame’s 287. Drake Maye was sacked twice and the Heels lost a fumble that resulted in seven points for Notre Dame. Pyne was able to get almost anything he wanted through the air too, hitting Michael Mayer for 88 yards and a touchdown to lead the Irish. Lorenzo Styles and Logan Diggs each had more than 60 yards and a touchdown each as well. Chris Tyree and Audric Estime ran for 80 and 134 yards, respectively, and combined for three touchdowns. For UNC, Downs had two touchdowns in his return to action since the first game of the season. Antoine Green had two touchdowns for 150 yards as well, including the garbage time TD, but that was all the scoring to speak of. Maye was the team’s leading rusher with 36 yards on the ground. No one else was able to get much of anything going against the Notre Dame defense. Omarion Hampton did find the end zone in the fourth quarter after the game had been pretty well decided, but it was on a pass instead of via the ground. Notre Dame was threatening to make a bad situation worse late in the fourth quarter when Estime fumbled as he was heading into the end zone. Carolina was able to recover, so at least there was that. It’s frustrating to waste an opportunity to beat a team that has beaten up on UNC the last several years, even if it would have meant kicking them while they are down. Allowing as many points as Marshall and Cal combined to this offense is a tough pill to swallow. Apparently a date with UNC’s defense was the cure to what ailed them, though. I will leave you with a parting thought: Yeah! Either UNC has some of the worst defensive talent in the country in spite of recruiting ratings that say otherwise, or Mack Brown hired his buddy because he liked him and is paying the price with one of the worst units in FBS. One has to be true https://t.co/6EIoPwgGhQ— Alex Kirshner (@alex_kirshner) September 24, 2022

Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images Let’s pray that Touchdown Jesus doesn’t enter Kenan Stadium. After their first bye week of the season, the Tar Heels are getting set to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. This will be the Heels’ first home game since their win over Florida A&M, and the first home game against a Power Five team of the season. That is of course if you consider Notre Dame to be lumped in with actual Power Five conferences (sorry, low-hanging fruit). In all seriousness, the Heels need to have their best game of the season to take down the Irish. Sure, Notre Dame hasn’t looked very good compared to their normal standards, but UNC’s leaky defense could make this game way more difficult than it needs to be, and it ultimately could result in a loss. Defensive coordinator Gene Chizik insisted that no adjustments needed to be made and that they just need to play better, which is why it will be pretty damning if they come off of a bye looking just as bad as they did in their first three games. As for the offense, Drake Maye will get back star receiver Josh Downs, which will only make this group more dangerous than they were before. Notre Dame’s defense has been pretty good if we’re to focus on the fact that they held #2 Ohio State to just 21 points, so Phil Longo’s group also needs to play their best game so far. There’s no clear magic formula when it comes to attacking them, but thankfully UNC has been good both the run game and in the air, so ultimately we will just have to wait and see what happens. As always, we will be back after the game with post-game analysis and takes. Until then, Go Heels!