CHAPEL HILL – So just how important is Malik Carney to North Carolina's defense?

It looks like that answer may have been rather apparent Saturday afternoon in Greenville, NC.

A week earlier, UNC’s senior defensive end put on a show during a 24-17 loss at California to kick off the season. He registered seven tackles, officially had three sacks, three quarterback hurries and each of his tackles limited the Bears to less than their average yards gained per play on the day.

For the game, the Tar Heels allowed Cal just 279 yards, including only 8 in the final quarter.

On Saturday at East Carolina, Carney didn’t play, sitting out serving the first of a four-game suspension resulting from selling team-issued shoes last winter. The result: 510 total yards and 41 points for the Pirates in their 22-point drubbing of the Tar Heels.

UNC’s defense never really got a handle on ECU.

“First of all, we got on our heels early on,” UNC Coach Larry Fedora said. “They went down on the field on the first six plays of the game and put the ball in the end zone. We got on our heels and never really bounced back.

“There were some times we made some big plays, but we couldn’t get off the field on third down. That was probably the biggest thing of the game for the defense is we didn’t get off the field on third down.”

ECU was 11-19 on third downs, and one of the times UNC got a stop on third down, ECU scored on a 22-yard run on fourth-and-2. Cal was 4-17 on third down.

Is Carney really worth a difference of 231 yards and a complete reversal on third downs?

Doubtful if looking at clear specifics, but there is a trickledown effect regarding performance and, as some of his teammates say, something that’s next to impossible for UNC to replace when he’s on the sidelines wearing short pants and sunglasses as opposed to on the field terrorizing opponents.

“Not having Malik on the field, you lost a lot of experience and definitely some leadership,” senior safety J.K. Britt said. “He’s a really big leader on the team, he’s probably the leader of the whole team, offense and defense. Not having him on the field, you lost that and you could feel it.”

Carney played 68 snaps at Cal, five more than the other end, Tomon Fox, and 20 more than the next Carolina defensive lineman. So, against ECU, which had one more offensive snap than Cal but averaged nearly three yards per play more, the Tar Heels had to make up for nearly 70 lost snaps with Carney out.

True freshman Chris Collins and redshirt freshman Jake Lawler played 27 and 15 snaps, respectively. Junior Allen Cater, who didn’t have much experience coming into the season, was on the field for 12 more snaps (45) at ECU than he was at Cal and Fox played eight more snaps. That’s 62 right there.

Britt said he sensed Carney not being on the field, though he attributed it to Carney’s leadership but also his knowledge of the defense and that he knows everyone’s assignment on each call.

Fedora underscored what it meant not having the Alexandria, VA, native out there.

“He’s an emotional leader, that’s probably the biggest thing,” Fedora said. “He does the most talking. In his absence, the other leaders – J.K. (Britt) and Cole (Holcomb) – they’ve got to be more vocal where Malik has been that guy that’s been that.

“When all of a sudden that guy’s not there, somebody else has got to step up and do it.”

It wouldn’t be fair to say nobody quite stepped up in that respect, but it’s also fair to suggest nobody else on the roster is quite like Carney. Not really even close.

And Carolina felt that a lot in Greenville and may until he returns.