CHAPEL HILL - North Carolina ranked 72nd in scoring defense last season, allowing 27.3 points per game. The Tar Heels began the year holding five of their first six opponents under that mark before allowing 30 or more points in five of their last six games.

Under head coach Gene Chizik, Carolina allowed 404.4 yards per game, second to last in the ACC and 94th in the country. A big part of Carolina’s problem was that it struggled on first downs. In fact, the Tar Heels had so many issues they ended up defending more first downs than only nine other teams in the nation.

New defensive coordinator Geoff Collins has placed a premium on handling first downs better, putting opponents behind the chains, and getting them into more predictable situations. So, to best understand what needs fixing, we dove into the numbers on how UNC defended on first down last fall.

Here, we take a look at its stats on first down, and how it translated to wins and losses: