CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey met with the media Monday for his weekly press conference to discuss his unit’s performance in the loss at Clemson, some individual players, and look ahead to Saturday’s game at NC State.

The Tar Heels (8-3, 4-3 ACC) and Wolfpack (8-3, 5-2) kick off at 8 PM and the game will air on the ACC Network.

Above is video of Lindsey’s presser, and below are some notes about what he discussed:

*Omarion Hampton leads the nation in rushing averaging 128.5 yards per game, and over the last six games, he has passed the 100-yard mark each time averaging 158.8 yards per contest. He had explosive runs of 64 and 55 yards in the loss at Clemson, finishing the game with 178.

Lindsey says learning to effectively use his shiftiness is something that Hampton has improved on during the course of the season, and it’s allowed his explosiveness to go up a couple of notches.

*Lindsey was asked about UNC going for the 2-point conversion down 11 in the third quarter, and he echoed what Mack Brown said earlier, that it has to do with analytics, and that sometimes analytics change each game depending on the opponent. It wanted them to be more aggressive there, so they went for it.

*Drake Maye was 16-for-36 with 209 yards, a TD and interception. Maye missed badly on quite a few throws, though some of that issue was the windows to place the ball were really small. Clemson did an outstanding job covering UNC’s receivers, making things quite difficult for Maye.

So, what was Lindsey’s conversation like with Maye on Sunday?

“It was great. Typical Sunday. We watched the film. I’ve told you all before, he’s very critical of himself; if he places a throw here or there. I think for us as a unit, when we met, we got off to a great start from the standpoint of moving the football statistically – stats sometimes don’t tell the whole story…

“It’s probably the best secondary we’ve played so far. They really do a great job of playing tight coverage. They make you throw the ball in smaller windows and make you make contested catches. They challenge every throw; that’s part of there’s four or five Drake wishes he would have gone to this side or that side.”

*Lindsey had high praise for NC State defensive coordinator Tony Gibson. He got to know Gibson when coaching high school football and Gibson was at West Virginia. Lindsey attended some clinics there, and they have known each other for a long time.

State’s 3-3-5 stack defense is “unique” in how it aligns and disguises. Lindsey said the offensive line will have a huge challenge on their hands making calls and adjusting on the fly.

Also, he offered quite a compliment regarding Gibson and State’s defense, which is ranked No. 22 in the nation allowing 318 yards per game (No. 16 versus the rush), and is No. 29 in scoring defense, giving up 20.2 points per outing.

“Those guys play really hard… and when a team does that they are bought in to their coach.”