Paul Finebaum analyzes North Carolina's strong season, Drake Maye

Paul Finebaum was a recent guest on the Dan Patrick show and gave his thoughts on a few storylines around college football. One of the more intriguing takes he had was on the 8-1 North Carolina Tar Heels. When asked whether or not North Carolina was as good as your uniforms look, Finebaum was critical of the team but swooned over quarterback Drake Maye.

“The quarterback is, I don’t think they are. And again, I’m really happy for Mac Brown because we were all writing him off last year, saying; he was too old,” said Finebaum. “He was 70 years old. And he has come back with a really nice season here. Unfortunately, he’ll play in an ACC championship game that will be about as off-Broadway as you can get against Clemson. But it’s still North Carolina, and they have great uniforms in basketball and football.”

North Carolina has fared far better in 2022 than in recent history. In fact, this is the Tar Heel’s best start since their 2015 season when they ended the year, 11-3, just barely losing to Clemson 45-37 in the ACC championship game. This year’s North Carolina squad appears to be much better on offense, especially at the quarterback position.

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In 2015 Marquise Williams was the Tar Heels’ starting quarterback and completed 218 of his 356 pass attempts for 3072 yards. He also had 24 passing touchdowns, 14 rushing, and ten interceptions in 14 games. Through just eight games this season, Maye has completed 222 of 312 pass attempts for 2964 yards. He’s accounted for 35 touchdowns (31 passing and four rushing) And he has thrown just three interceptions.

Finebaum and Patrick are correct North Carolina uniforms look great. But their play on the field this season has matched the quality of their unis.

Maye becomes first freshman in FBS history with 30 touchdowns through nine games

Maye has been outstanding as a redshirt freshman in his role as North Carolina’s starting quarterback. The Huntersville, NC native has played a big part in making the Tar Heel’s offense a Top-10 unit and making the UNC team a Top-15 team to this point of the season. His play has been so good that now it has earned him a spot in the college football record book.

After the Tar Heel’s 31-28 win over Virginia yesterday, Maye now has 31 touchdowns on the season. Per the ACC Network, that is now the most touchdowns by a freshman over his first nine games in FBS history.