UNC Football: Tar Heels will have chance to slow down Christian McCaffrey

UNC is set to take on Stanford in the Sun Bowl and that means they will face Christian McCaffrey

In the 2016 Rose Bowl, the Iowa Hawkeyes saw just how good Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey really is.

McCaffrey ran wild on the Hawkeyes, rushing for 175 yards on 18 carries. He also caught 4 receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown. He even had a 63-yard punt return for a touchdown on that day. The game wasn’t close thanks to McCaffrey’s impact.

Fast forward 12 months later, McCafferey will play in his final college game ever and his opponent?

The North Carolina Tar Heels.

The season didn’t end the way the Tar Heels imagined when they kicked off training camp back in August. They were hoping to reach the ACC Championship Game for the second-straight season, after losing to Clemson in 2015.

But losses to Virginia Tech, Duke and North Carolina State really hurt their chances and instead put them in the Sun Bowl.

Now they have one more chance to prove something this season and they can do that by stopping McCaffrey.

It won’t be easy however and McCaffrey will be playing in his final college football game as he’s declared for the 2017 NFL Draft.

McCaffrey has been an all-purpose yards monster since arriving at Stanford. He’s racked up the yards in rushing, receiving and even returns which makes him difficult to stop. The junior has 1,913 combined rushing and receiving yards on the season, along with a total of 16 touchdowns.

But as dangerous as McCaffrey sounds, he can still be stopped.

Nov 19, 2016; Berkeley, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal running back Christian McCaffrey (5) scores a touchdown against the California Golden Bears as quarterback Keller Chryst (10) celebrates (back ground) during the third quarter at Memorial Stadium. The Stanford Cardinal defeated the California Golden Bears 45-31. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Against Washington, McCaffrey recorded 223 all-purpose yards in a 44-6 loss for the Cardinal. But the majority of those came on kickoffs. His longest play from scrimmage was just 13 yards as the Huskies did a good job containing him.

The key is to make Stanford one-dimensional.

Make their offense have to throw the ball and force them into bad decisions. That can be done with great defensive line play up front. The Tar Heels defensive line will arguably be the biggest key in this game.

If UNC can get pressure upfront, it will likely turn out to be a good day for the Tar Heels. In Stanford’s 3 losses this season, they failed to reach the 100-yard mark in each of those games.

Washington, Colorado and Washington State all dominated the line of scrimmage from the start and controlled the game.

That’s what UNC needs to do.

Junior quarterback Keller Chryst has led the Cardinal to a five-game win streak entering the Sun Bowl. He’s got a solid arm and is accurate enough to make you pay on defense.

During their five-game win streak, Stanford has eclipsed the 200 yard mark in all of those contests. Three times they have passed the 350-yard mark during that streak.

What UNC can’t do however is soley focus on stopping the run, get gashed and forget about Chryst. The quarterback has shown he can beat you with his arm when defense stack the box to try and stop McCaffrey.

It can also be a complete disaster if UNC stacks the box and fails to stop McCaffrey. That will not only open up the passing game, but allow McCaffrey to run wild.

Stanford struggles offensively when they fail to establish play-action early in the game. So UNC must dominate the line of scrimmage from the get-go and establish the tone.

The Tar Heels enter the game with the 113th-ranked run defense, which gives up an average of 236-yards per game.

We’ve seen them get gashed a few times this season.

But we’ve also seen them get gashed and find a way to pull it out in the end. That might be the scenario the Tar Heels are looking for. Just hope your offense can score enough points to win the game.

They certainly don’t want a scenario like last season’s bowl game in which Baylor rushed for 645 yards on 84 attempts. They averaged 7.7 yards per attempt, breaking records in the process.

For Tar Heels fans, they don’t want that result to happen again. But it could if they can’t stop McCaffrey.