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ATLANTA – Oh, what a difference a week makes.

The fourth quarter had become a virtual cuss word around the Kenan Football Center this past week, given North Carolina’s historically bad performance in attempting to slow Appalachian State in Boone in game two of the 2022 campaign.

The Tar Heels won, but the mood didn’t entirely reflect that from the fan base, even some media, and nobody admitted it within the program, but it’s hard to think there wasn’t a great deal of concern behind the curtain.

That vibe shifted some in UNC’s 35-28 win over Georgia State on Saturday at Center Parc Stadium. The Heels did a literal flip from the week before, and it enabled them to leave with their third win in as many games.

How about zero points, 58 yards, and three first downs? Those were the Panthers’ fourth-quarter stats, and the Heels felt pretty good about it.

“We feel a lot better,” defensive lineman Kaimon Rucker said.

The game wasn’t trending that way, however.

The Heels were stout in the first quarter allowing three points and 58 total yards. They were so-so in the second period, giving up seven points, 98 yards and six first downs. The third quarter, however, had the look and feel like a week earlier at App State. Though, it wasn’t as bad.

Still, Georgia State scored 18 points, racked up 205 yards, and picked up 10 first downs. But instead of wilting defensively, like they did in Boone, until a stop on a two-point conversion attempt that would have tied the game, the Heels buckled down and went to work.

“I feel like once we established that and was able to lock in, it led us to not letting them to score a single point in the fourth quarter,” Rucker said. “You can’t get much better than that. I feel like we had a way better performance today than we did last week.”

GSU didn’t run more than four plays on a possession and had two three-and-outs. In fact, Carolina had forced just one three-and-out over its first two games, but had six Saturday. Two were on the Panthers’ final possessions. Georgia State’s last four possessions ended in punts.

App State, by the way, punted just once.

So, while the Heels gladly expressed pleasure in the differences in numbers (40 points, 338 yards, 18 first downs in the final period in Boone), they also believe that wasn’t them, and what took place in Atlanta is a better representation of them as a unit.

“Whatever happened last week was not us,” linebacker Power Echols said. “And this week with preparation, we knew, ‘Let’s play to our brand of defense, let’s play to our standard.’ And when the offense gave us points we were able to capitalize.”

And while it has plenty to fix, the team saw a healthy glimpse of the direction it could be heading defensively.

The fourth quarter Saturday is that evidence.