North Carolina did all its scoring in the second half and pushed past a banged-up Louisville team 14-7 Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill, N.C..

North Carolina (5-1, 1-1 ACC) controlled another middle-tier non-conference opponent and will take that momentum into the thick of the conference schedule, which includes a road trip to No. 8 Clemson later this month.

The Tar Heels will need their defense to keep playing as well as it did against Louisville (2-3, 0-0 Big East), which was without four offensive starters, including quarterback Will Stein. The Cardinals produced just one first down and 23 total yards in their first five drives of the second half before finding the end zone late. Freshman quarterback Teddy Bridgewater had to do everything himself, as the ground game produced just 100 yards on 38 carries. It was a big turnaround for a Tar Heels’ defense that gave up nearly 500 yards of total offense to each of its two previous opponents.

UNC’s offense wasn't much prettier, but it eventually got on the board midway through the third quarter courtesy of a 3-yard touchdown run by Giovani Bernard. Bryn Renner then connected for a 43-yard touchdown to Dwight Jones early in the fourth to make it 14-0. The Tar Heels entered the game ranked seventh in pass efficiency, but Renner only threw for 178 yards on 12-of-18 passing against a young, but improving Louisville defense.