Let’s be clear upfront.
This was all about the defense. I actually watched this game on ESPN360 and I am not convinced the offense is much better than it was a week ago. Yes there were changes made and it was nice to see the rushing attack show up for once. Then again what does that really mean? Of course the offensive line is going to dominate an I-AA defensive line so we will see if that carries over. I still have major concerns about the passing game. Not so much where T.J. Yates is concerned, he did a serviceable job going 14-20 but I am looking at the receiving and basically it was Shaun Draughn and Ed Barham at the TE spot but nothing to the WRs. If I did not see his name on the stat sheet I would swear to you that Dwight Jones is still injured. Two receptions for seven yards hardly seems to productive. Greg Little had eight yards receiving but was flagged for a personal foul totaling 12 yards which means his day resulted in -4 yards. And where was Erik Highsmith at? No receptions on the day? Very weird though if John Shoop was content to either roll Yates out for short passes to the TE or toss that swing pass to Draughn with regularity, there may not have been many options downfield to the WRs. As I said, it still looks sketchy out there on offense. The good news is Zack Pianalto could be back for FSU and the offensive line will hopefully be healthier. That and the extra time should help work out some of the offensive issues though I am fairly pessimistic about the low nature of that ceiling. Oh, it was once again been affirmed that Yates is all UNC has at QB. That is all.
The defense was beast-like doing awesome stuff like stripping the football from ball carriers and taking it the other way for a TD or vintage Bruce Carter with the pick six. The UNC defense forced six turnovers, an element I think has been missing in otherwise good defensive performances so far this season. Going plus-5 in turnover margin goes a long way towards dominating the game. And Robert Quinn is playing like a man possessed(with NFL 1st round draft aspirations.) Quinn added another sack to his season total and 1.5 tackles for loss to maintain his top ten standing nationally in both those categories. As much as we assumed Marvin Austin would be that impact player on the defensive line, it has actually been Quinn who has set the tone for the defense. Quinn is only a sophomore. Awesome.
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Yates actually had some receivers open downfield, but he simply tossed bad balls, overthrowing them, especially one to a wide open Greg Little that he overthrew by about 4 yards.
Carolina’s backup quarterback situation is, in a word, DREADFUL.. Hanson looked HORRIBLE… Two picks, against a I-AA defense is horrible.
How bad must Mike Paulus be, if he doesn’t even see any action after Hanson throws two picks???
I’m hoping this team can get some work done over the bye week. I still don’t understand why they aren’t getting Dwight Jones involved in the offense.
I’m still hoping we can find some offense before the Florida State game, but I’m not holding my breath. Hopefully some linemen can get healthy or we are going to be in trouble the next two games.
There were a couple of things tonight that give me hope: more carries for Houston and Draughn did a good job as a reciever. Ed Barham actually caught a pass. J Boyd and D Jones did a good job.
Now the ugly, the root problem is the Oline, but after watching Skinner, Lewis, Wilson, Harris, Taylor and Ponder it’s clear that we have one of the worst QB’s in the conference. I’m telling you, lots of guys were open tonight and Yates doesn’t come close or throws the ball somewhere else…….. Having said that, I don’t even want to think about Yates getting hurt again, geez. Cameron Sexton ought to be our QB this year.
The D was great except for the TD run. Hopefully some guys, including Blue can heal up for FSU.
I have to confess, that I’ve enjoyed checking out the comments from state nation tonight.
Wolfpack Nation is completely entertaining, especially for the constant cycle of coach and AD bashing which this kind of stuff tends to instigate. Their problem is the lack of another major sport to fall back on. If football goes south, we can drown our sorrows in basketball(not being less enthusiastic over football but taking comfort in basketball mind you.) For Wolfpack fans what is there after this?
Yes, the passes that Yates threw long were impossible to catch. It was painful to see that we don’t really have a deep threat and when we do it can be attributed to some amazing receiver play. The passing to running backs was nice and fairly effective but we don’t have anything in terms of a long deep ball. Many of the deep plays had good separation but there just wasn’t enough accuracy to get the job done. The online continued to suffer some challenges but having Jolly back seemed to help, it’s just hard to tell how much you have gained against GS. Still movement in the right direction. Go Heels!
Yates really isn’t that bad. The O Line really is that bad. I’m not sure why some of the criticism for the passing (and somewhat on the running) game isn’t on these young receivers. Plenty of times, it seems like they run wrong routes, break off routes too quickly, or fail to block. Yates has had at least 3 picks this year because of bad route running on timing routes. Highsmith and Boyd have potential, but they’re not there yet…one good ECU game does not a good player make.
I don’t put much of that on Yates; he’s a serviceable QB and the best one we have. He would be doing acceptably well with a better that horrendous OL and receivers that actually know their positions. Not that I want Blue to remain hurt, but I’d rather not see him in the game as a QB again…he’s predictable and seems to be not very smart with the ball. On offense, the only clearly above average players we have are Pianalto, Dyer, and Houston; only one of those is healthy. That’s going to make the QB look worse than he really is.
Thankfully, on defense, nearly every player is above average.
I really do think the Heels could win or lose each remaining game, other than VA Tech, who I imagine we’ll play close before the exhausted defense finally folds in the 4th quarter.
Anytime you can beat an SEC opponent, that is nothing to sneeze at.
Just shows how excellent our trio of WRs were last year…