Kicker Noah Burnette leads UNC football to season-opening win ...

“Basically just hit my ball,” he said. “A lot of people have questioned my distance, my range. So it felt good to get that one under the belt and just continue to work to just hit the same ball every time I go out there.”

The Tar Heels needed everything Burnette could give on Thursday.

Graduate quarterback Max Johnson threw for just 28 yards in the first half, and when he exited the game with an injury in the third quarter and was replaced by sophomore quarterback Conner Harrell, Burnette proved to be a reliable three-point boost. 

Brown said their confidence in him was high. That should come as no surprise to those who remember UNC’s dramatic 47-45 double-overtime victory over Duke last season. Burnette made all six of his field goal attempts.

But he hasn’t always been that clutch.

In the last home game of the 2022 season, the Raleigh native missed a game-tying field goal in double overtime against N.C. State. 

Still, Burnette chose not to transfer. UNC brought in a new kicker, Ryan Coe, for the 2023 season. Then, when Coe was injured early last season, Burnette seized the opportunity to return as UNC's kicker.

“They brought in Coe for competition,” Burnette said last fall. “[It] made me a better kicker. Obviously, when he goes down, I knew I had to step up.”

Cue the Duke game, where Tar Heel fans rushed the field. It was a proud moment for Burnette, but he wasn’t satisfied — he didn’t want to be known for just one performance. 

Burnette’s been hitting the ball a lot better this season, allowing him to maximize his distance. Experience has helped, too. Now that he’s been in more high-pressure situations, Burnette said he doesn’t get in his head as much.

When he sets up, everything fades to the distance. It’s quiet. 

Well that, and a couple of Minnesota fans “saying some things on the sideline.”

“Getting into that position again and making it,” Burnette said, “I don’t want people to just think that it was a fluke in the Duke game. I want it to be something that people trust me to go out there and make those kicks.”

And, as his teammates indicated on Thursday, there’s nobody they’d rather see in Burnette’s place. 

“I believe in Noah in every single play,” graduate defensive lineman Jahvaree Ritzie said. “Literally on the sideline we’re all saying, ‘You got this Noah. You got this Burnie. Burnie gon’ get this.’ No doubts, no fears in Burnie. He gon’ step up every single time.”

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