In a game where offensive possessions were highly offensive to those watching in the stands and at home, North Carolina was able to mount a second-half comeback and win its opener against Minnesota on the road.

Thanks to 4 second-half field goals and some stout run defense, the Tar Heels overcame a 7-point halftime deficit to beat Minnesota in Minneapolis, 19-17.

Here are 3 takeaways from the game.

North Carolina pass game exits with even more questions

It wasn’t for the lack of a ground game. Carolina tailback Omarion Hampton ran for 129 yards — his 10th career game going over the century mark on the ground. Still, North Carolina was unable to get its pass game off the ground.

Heading in, coach Mack Brown hinted that both quarterbacks — Texas A&M transfer Max Johnson and Conner Harrell — would play in the game as UNC tried to determine who gave it the best chance to win. Instead, it was Johnson running the show.

But he completed 12 of his 19 passes for 71 yards before being forced out of the game with an injury late in the third quarter. Johnson had several gaffes, and a 3.7 yards-per-pass average is brutal. But when Harrell entered the game full-time, UNC played it ultra-conservative.

Harrell threw just 3 passes in the fourth quarter while the Tar Heels ran it 8 times in a game that was far from decided. The Tar Heels were gifted a turnover and starting field position at the Minnesota 22 with 11 minutes to play in a 1-point game. They managed to go backward and settled for a field goal.

Harrell finished 2-for-4 for 34 yards. On a third-and-5 deep into the fourth quarter, North Carolina kept the ball on the ground rather than trying to throw for the first and settled for another field goal.

Because Minnesota’s kicker missed 2 of his 3 kicks on the night, that decision proved the safest option, but it also felt like a statement of sorts on the level of trust in the pass game with Harrell at the controls.

In his lone start last season, Harrell threw for 207 yards against West Virginia in Carolina’s bowl game, but he was picked off twice in a 30-10 loss. If Johnson misses any extended time and Harrell is tasked with running the show in the interim, how does the offense evolve? If Johnson is able to brush off what looked like a serious injury and return quickly, he’ll need to be better than he was Thursday night as well.

Carolina opened the post-Drake Maye era with a win that had nothing to do with its quarterback play.

Max Brosmer delivers on final drive

A transfer up from the FCS level, Brosmer took some time to settle into a groove, but you saw the potential on Minnesota’s final drive of the night. Brosmer fired deep to Daniel Jackson on the first play of Minnesota’s final possession and drew a pass interference penalty that moved the ball from the 25 to the 40. On the very next play, he hit Elijah Spencer for 20 yards and a first down with an absolute dime.

Brosmer let the ball go before Spencer came out of his break. And Brosmer put it through traffic and hit a small window. The broadcast noted at the time that was the kind of play a coaching staff hopes to see when it signs a senior quarterback and they were exactly right.

Brosmer added 9 more yards on a second-and-12 to get Minnesota to right around the 30-yard-line and set up a potential go-ahead field goal.

He finished the game 13-for-21 for 166 yards. Brosmer didn’t throw a touchdown pass, but he also wasn’t picked off. Jackson was held to 55 yards on 4 receptions. Marcus Majors, filling in for the unavailable Darius Taylor, had 73 yards and a score on 20 carries. Had Taylor been in the lineup, Minnesota may have had better luck with the ground game (just 78 total yards on the night at 2.4 a carry).

The hope was that Brosmer, a former FCS All-American, would provide an upgrade at quarterback over last year’s play. He gave Minnesota a chance to win in the fourth quarter. How does Brosmer look with Taylor in the backfield next to him?

Minnesota fails at the little things

Brosmer aside, the final possession for Minnesota was a mess.

After 3 successful plays to open the drive, a blatant holding penalty wiped away a 14-yard run that had Minnesota in the red zone and backed it up to the UNC 42. A pass short of the sticks on second-and-12 kept the clock running and Minnesota — reluctant to use its final timeout — wasted several seconds setting up a third-down running play. After a 4-yard run from Jordan Nubin and a spike, Minnesota had the ball at the UNC 29 with 9 seconds to play and a timeout in hand.

Run it to the middle of the field, fall down, call a timeout, and kick the game-winner.

Instead, Minnesota ran the ball to the right hash and then pushed its field goal attempt wide right.

Had the ball been in the middle of the field, the 47-yard attempt from Dragan Kesich would have been good.

Kesich also missed a 27-yard kick in the first quarter. North Carolina’s Noah Burnette made all 4 of his field goal tries, including 2 in the fourth quarter to win.

(UNC’s special teams as a whole were very sound. Punter Tom Maginness had 3 punts that averaged 51 yards and, on 1 occasion, pinned Minnesota at its 2-yard-line.)

The Gophers finished with 6 penalties. They gave up 5 sacks and 7 tackles for loss. They fumbled it twice, losing 1 of them. They went 4-for-12 on third down. And their clock management in the fourth quarter was questionable at best.