Through one half of football Saturday afternoon, the North Carolina Tar Heels are outplaying Virginia in just about every aspect.

There's one surprising area that UNC (3-4, 0-3) is particularly outplaying the Cavaliers (4-3, 2-1) in: defense.

North Carolina took a 24-6 lead into the half, holding Virginia to a pair of Will Bettridge field goals. That wasn't even the most impressive part of the Tar Heels' surprising performance, though.

UNC generated six first-half sacks against the Cavaliers, with the final one coming from top edge rusher Kaimon Rucker, to end the half. North Carolina limited Virginia to just 77 first-half yards, two weeks after allowing Georgia Tech to gash its defense for 500 yards.

Six different Tar Heels have sacks: Rucker, season sack leader Jahvaree Ritzie, defensive end Des Evans, defensive back Alijah Huzzie, defense lineman Beau Atkinson and linebacker Amare Campbell, who is a captain for today's game.

Virginia made it all the way down to UNC's 1-yard line on its first drive, after its own defense forced a punt. A bad snap and two incomplete passes later from Anthony Colandrea, the Cavaliers had to settle for a field goal.

On Virginia's second scoring drive, star wide receiver Malachi Fields caught a 34-yard pass that got him down to North Carolina's 12-yard line. After a 2-yard Colandrea run and an incomplete pass, the Cavaliers settled for a field goal – again.

Outside of Virginia's two scoring drives, the Tar Heels forced a negative yardage total of -14. We didn't see a ton of big plays from the Cavaliers in the first half and, while that could easily change in the second half, we're very encouraged.

Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.

This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire : UNC generates six sacks, holds Virginia to under 100 yards in first half of football