Heels finish regular season 8-4. That is what I call progress.
I want to suggest a new team award at UNC. Let’s call it the Trimane Goddard Save The Game From A Crappy Prevent Defense Foister Upon Us By A Sorry Defensive Coordinator Award. Once again UNC was protecting a touchdown lead in the final two minutes and once again the defense went into one of the worst prevents, possibly in the country allowing Duke to march downfield. And for the third time this season, it came down to Trimane Goddard making a play. Against Miami it was a take away in the end zone. Against Notre Dame it was a fumble recovery. In this instance it was another INT inside the 20 with Duke looking at a legitimate shot to score six, then go for two to tie the game. I am not one to call out coaches in the first season but the excuse we were given for the fact Everett Withers had the last ranked defense in the nation at Minnesota was due to personnel. Part me is beginning to wonder if it was not the personnel but maybe Withers is not a very good DC. Time will tell but just understand that what we see this season might be the start of a pattern. If the Heels are struggling on defense next season we will have our answer.
The offense played much better this week with TJ Yates regaining his form on 15-19 for 190 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT. Shaun Draughan had a big day with 110 yards rushing and one TD of his own. Overall the offense was balanced which is what you love to see. A performance like this gives the Heels a high note to end the season on and gets everyone back on the same page heading into the bowl game.
Now the Heels wait to see where they go bowling at. The ACC title game must happen first before the bids get doled out, mainly because where Boston College ends up will impact matters down the line. If BC wins the ACC and heads to the Orange Bowl the rest of the picks probably go in order. If BC loses then they will likely get shuffled down a since they are a wholly undesirable bowl team to invited. My guess is UNC gets the Champs Sports Bowl but we will see.
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UNC’s defense this year was adequate but not feared. I respect defenses that impose their will upon the offense rather than sitting back and giving up short yardage and short yardage. Here’s hoping we’ll have better depth next year to wreak havoc on the opposition. Take them out of their game — that what I’d like to see our defense do.
Not the greatest game by the Heels. But great win over Dook! Now all we have to do is a)watch basketball and b)wonder which bowl we go to!
While the Heels played well enough on offense, there was still a sense of playing not to lose that we have seen all year with the prevent defense that even the announcers were joking about. If you listen to Butch Davis’ remarks after these games, no one is asking why his defensive coordinator insists on this defense which has not worked all year. Is it becasue we really do not have the speed or talent in the secondary and zone coverage is the best fit? The defensive schemes are so predictable that opponents passing games have picked us apart all year even going back to the Rutgers game. Defense wins games and championships and ours is not quite there yet. How about a little blitzing once in a while? Shoop’s play calling had some high spots in Durham but spent too much time trying to run between the tackles instead of using Draughn’s speed on the corners. How many screen passes have you seen from this offense all year? It’s hard to believe that this is the same team that shut down GT and BC earlier in the year. We were lucky at Miami and the Notre Dame game to come away with wins but missed opportunities will be the footnote of this season.
We can only hope that a strong bowl appearance against a good opponent and more consistent play will close out the season on good note.
Go Heels!
PRGuy,
I couldn’t agree more. This defense is talented, quick to the ball, and can force turnovers, but isn’t feared. I think this is mainly because they give up gobs of yards and don’t apply pressure on the opposing QB nearly enough.
I’m not impressed with Winters, and I hope he has success at UNC. But if we want to improve on 8-4 and build the championship program Butch Davis harps about, then we need defenseive linemen that don’t just take up space and can get to the QB, and we also need linebackers that can do the same. Dropping seven or eight will only lead to QB’s finding soft spots in the zone and gashing you for big plays (see Maryland and UVa) and will also open up the oppsing offense’s running game as well.
Another part of me actually believes how great this year would have been if we wouldn’t have racked up all those interceptions. Would we still have the same record? I don’t know. And maybe Winters isn’t that bad and for some reason schemed around the fact that maybe we don’t have the personnel to blitz as much as other teams. If that’s the case, then a lot of work has to be done in recruiting.