UNC offense struggles, fails to finish drives in Saturday loss at Wake Forest

The North Carolina Tar Heelskeep searching for offensive answers during football games, but a lack of consistency keeps hurting them.

Saturday at Wake Forest was a similar story. UNC put 12 points on the board, but failed to score a touchdown for the first time all season, losing 28-12 in a day with just 257 team yards.

North Carolina (4-6, 2-4 ACC) kept marching onto Wake's (7-3, 4-3 ACC) half of the field, but continued failing to finish drives. Luckily for the Tar Heels, Rece Verhoff enjoyed quite a day, hitting from 40, 42, 47 and a career-long 57 yards.

The Tar Heels had possession of the football 11 times, with their first drive coming just over two minutes into Saturday's game. UNC marched up to its own 43, but punted away to the Deacs.

North Carolina moved the football up to Wake's 16-yard line on its next drive, then settled for a field goal. The Tar Heels racked up 58 yards on 13 plays.

UNC forced a fumble early in the second quarter, taking over at the Deacs' 31. North Carolina gained just 10 yards in seven plays, then the Deacs blocked Verhoff's field goal attempt. On the Tar Heels' second third quarter drive, they moved down to Wake's 24, but settled for three points. UNC drove to Wake's 18 on its next drive, then the hosts blocked another Verhoff field goal.

First fourth quarter drive: a field goal from the Deacs' 29. North Carolina had zero yards the rest of Saturday's game, heading back into the visitors' locker room with more offensive questions than answers.

Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.

This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC football totals 257 yards, can't finish drives in Wake Forest loss