ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Heather Dinich

North Carolina did what it had to do, and looked like a team that can beat Maryland next week in the process. Remember, though, because the Tar Heels have losses to Virginia and Virginia Tech, they still need BOTH of those teams to lose once. The fact that Virginia Tech still has to play Miami and Virginia makes things very, very interesting.

A few immediate thoughts on UNC's 28-7 win over Georgia Tech:

• Turnovers, as expected, were the major factor in this game, and Georgia Tech committed all of them. The Yellow Jackets helped beat themselves with careless mistakes, something you can't afford to do against these opportunistic Heels. UNC scored 14 of its points off of the Jackets' mistakes.
• The Tar Heels won the battle up front, got great blocking all game, and were able to run the ball effectively for four quarters. That opened things up for the final touchdown, which was a 31-yard passing touchdown to Hakeem Nicks. UNC's offensive line deserves a lot of credit in this game, because even though they got beat today, Georgia Tech's front four is still the best in the league.
• Aside from their performance against Gardner-Webb, that was one of the Yellow Jackets' least impressive performances of the season. Part of it had to do with the fact that quarterback Josh Nesbitt wasn't 100 percent, and it was the offensive line's first game without Andrew Gardner.
• That being said, credit must go to North Carolina's defense, which did an excellent job of defending the option.