Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: NORTH CAROLINA and doesn't really look like a foot‑ ball player. He's quick and has really good straight‑line speed. He's really shifty. "His best attribute in terms of his speed is his footwork, his ability to change direction so quickly. He can shake people out and it makes it dif‑ ficult for him to tackle because he doesn't have many options with his footwork to make people miss. That's what makes him so successful. If he has space, he has the potential to do some damage." North Carolina's rushing attack has featured several players already this season, with a name familiar to Notre Dame fans producing the best effort of the young season. In the 15‑point loss to Clemson on Sept. 27, freshman ball carrier Elijah Hood rushed 13 times for 71 yards and a touchdown as the squad's feature back. Hood originally committed to Notre Dame before decommitting and choosing the Tar Heels last August. "Hood played really well at Clem‑ son," Carter said. "Obviously Notre Dame fans saw he's a big, bruising back who likes to run through people. He's not the fastest guy on the field or will wow you with speed or outrun people, but he's a big, physical back." It all comes together to form a North Carolina unit high on talent yet still developing at a number of positions. "They are young," Carter said. "That's something fans don't really want to hear but they're starting one senior on offense and defensively they have a few more seniors, but really a lot of key guys at a lot of positions don't have much experience. "A lot of people were overly op‑ timistic maybe and that's a product of how they ended last season and a product of [head coach Larry] Fe‑ dora's optimism." ✦ 2014 NORTH CAROLINA SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 30 Liberty W, 56-29 Sept. 6 San Diego State W, 31-27 Sept. 20 at East Carolina L, 70-41 Sept. 27 at Clemson L, 50-35 Oct. 4 Virginia Tech L, 34-17 Oct. 11 at Notre Dame (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Oct. 18 Georgia Tech TBA Oct. 25 at Virginia TBA Nov. 1 at Miami TBA Nov. 15 Pittsburgh TBA Nov. 20 at Duke (ESPN) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 29 North Carolina State TBA 2014 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 30 Rice W, 48-17 Sept. 6 Michigan W, 31-0 Sept. 13 vs. Purdue* W, 30-14 Sept. 27 vs. Syracuse^ W, 31-15 Oct. 4 Stanford W, 17-14 Oct. 11 North Carolina (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Oct. 18 at Florida State TBA Nov. 1 vs. Navy+ (CBS) 8 p.m. Nov. 8 at Arizona State TBA Nov. 15 Northwestern (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 22 Louisville (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 29 at USC TBA * at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis; ^ at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.; + at FedEx Field in Landover, Md.