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What: ESPN Thursday Night Game
Where: Lane Stadium, Blacksburg, VA
When: Thursday, October 29th, 7:30 PM
TV: ESPN
Records: UNC 4-3, 0-3 ACC; VT 5-2, 3-1
I’m depressed. The loss to FSU and the manner in which UNC collapsed over the final half of that game really sucked the life out of me. Now the Heels face a Thursday game in Blacksburg versus a quality defense while there are zero signs the offense is getting any better. Besides that, the Hokies are pissed off after losing to GT and playing with a sense of urgency since another ACC loss would torpedo their hopes for another trip to the ACC title game. Factoring these in with the fact VT now has an offense you have the promise this will be ugly.
UNC’s best and only hope besides a rapid onset of food poisoning after the pre-game meal is to turn this into a defensive battle, have the defense put points on the board and hold on. In other words, UNC has to beat the team who invented Beamer Ball by using Beamer Ball. Not likely but the good news on the offensive side is the starting offensive line is as close to healthy as it has been all season. Shaun Draughn hopefully gained some confidence from his performance last week, the same could be said of Greg Little.
Needless to say I am pessimistic but who knows they might surprise us all with a hard fought, competitive game and stumble into a win to avoid an unsavory 0-4 mark in the ACC.
Sigh.
VT 21 UNC 3
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I honestly think the football success of Wake, Louisville, Kansas and Kentucky a couple of years ago has led some fans at traditional basketball schools to have unrealistic expectations.
All of those programs have since come right back down to earth. I think you could argue that a lot of it was nothing more than a fluke. College football is fluky. The conference teams don’t even all play each other. They play limited schedules which are not statistically significant. Wake was probably the luckiest ACC team in history. They won a dreadful, pathetic ACC title game that no one went to or watched and then lost handily to Louisville, who have also since crashed.
UNC might have been just as lucky those two really good Mack Brown years. It isn’t as though they beat any really good teams those years.
The real fear for the UNC football stalwarts is that John Bunting was, indeed, getting all he could out of the program with his appearance that year in the Charlotte Tire Bowl.
Can I ask you something? How many different variations of the same comment are you going to offer on the football posts? I think you’ve made your point by now but every time you put something out there football related it is pretty much the same vein so why do you feel the need to keep posting it?
First, I hereby nominate a rule to be forwarded to John Swofford that next year, please, for the love of God, don’t stick us with three games in which our opponent is coming off a bye. Tonight’s game is the third time that’s happening this year and, coincidentally, all three times the team is also coming off a tough loss. Jus’ sayin.
Second, I really am tired of the “UNC will never be more than mediocre at football” mantra. There’s no law, to my knowledge, that says that anywhere, first off, and second off, what’s wrong with Carolina fans wanting our team to do well? Am I supposed to look at it and say, “Well, the Heels are awesome in basketball season, so I guess it doesn’t matter if never in the fall.” That’s not going to happen, so I want people to stop banging the “it’s just football” drum as if I’m going go magically just forget that football exists.
Finally, even if it’s true that “basketball schools just have fluky seasons in football, so don’t expect wins,” all that does is make me want to win MORE. Because all it does is prove that just because a school is a basketball power DOESN’T mean it can’t win in football.
So, I’m going to throw on my throwback LT jersey tonight, root my @$$ off for Butch & Co. to make it entertaining and maintain my delusion that next year will bring o-line depth and experience, the Brynn Renner era and the end of the Everett Withers saga. If you don’t care about football, fine, but let us stalwarts have our couple months in the sun (or shade as the case may be this year).
I am not sure that raising the question of whether John Bunting was in fact just as effective as the current coaching staff is the “same point.” I am not sure that asking whether UNC has ever had a major football win against a top ten team in the last 50 years is the “same point.”
The ACC is not currently a good football conference. It has actually been much stronger in the past and there are great numbers of ACC alumni playing in the NFL, but the trend has been downward since expansion.
What is anyone supposed to say here? You yourself basically say UNC’s chances against VPI are are related to food poisoning.
Are we all supposed to be sad? Sorry, I am not. Why not focus on the positive. I have in fact consistently said that the current coach is doing fine and should be supported.
But I see a lot of sentiment here about restoring UNC football. To what? Choo Choo Justice? Because that was the last time we had a legitimate title contender and most of us were not even born yet.
We have a winning record this record this year, although not so good in conference. We have had a lot of injuries. I don’t see any reason to be depressed. And I think it is bad karma to complain much about anything in the same calendar year where we just won the national basketball championship.
Welll, for starters, we have had more than one win in the last 50 years against a top 10 team. Both, somehow, coming during the Bunting years. In 2001, the 41-9 rout of FSU and in 2004, the last-second win against #4 Miami. I’d say those both qualify as major football wins.
Yes, it’s true that the ACC is not very good right now, but that doesn’t mean it never will be. SI’s own Stewart Mandel has pointed out as much, noting that conference strength is cyclical. Ten years ago, we were in the midst of a string of appearances by FSU in the title game, seven years ago, it seemed the power rested with the Big 10, and now it’s in the SEC. These things come and go.
Am I saying we can be a national power the likes of USC or Florida? Doubtful. But I know this program can be good enough to get its name in the top 10 every now and then. It happened 12 and 13 years ago respectively. And with college football having more parity than ever, there’s nothing wrong with having high hopes for the program.
Good comments Dshwind.
Please don’t argue with “William”. “William” is the guy who wears a sweater vest, arrives late, leaves early, and tells everyone around him to sit down, even during the Duke game.
He doesn’t like football yet continues to make disparaging comments to those us who pull for the Tar Heels every fall.
I’d love to see the Heels quiet the Blacksburg crowd tonight and then run the table.
The same vein I am referring to is the “basketball schools can never be consistent powers in football” mantra which has been raised and discussed and last I checked agreed was a valid point. No one here is talking about Choo Choo Justice or national titles. It would be nice to win games like last Thursday night and it would be nice to be competitive at Blacksburg in a Thursday night game. It would have been nice to see UNC close the deal last season when all they had to do was beat MD, NCSU and Duke to finish first in the Coastal Division.
I don’t think having those aspirations are wrong or raising legitimate complaints about the way the team is playing is either. That is what fans do. Good gracious, Inside Carolina has basically built an entire website on the premise of fans griping in a public internet forum.
It is part of being a fan and I seem to recall last March you were on here pretty frequently complaining about the way UNC was playing basketball even after they won games. All of that despite the fact they had only three losses, were 1st in the ACC standings and in perfect position for a #1 seed and run to the Final Four.
You don’t know what I wear and you don’t know what I like, Perspective, and I believe those sorts of personal attacks are against the rules of the site.
If you have a point then make it and leave me out of it. Everyone on here would like to see Carolina win the rest of their games.
I am not saying that UNC has not had a handful of upsets in football. What I am saying is that UNC has never beaten a top ten team when UNC was in a position to contend for a national title. Yes, everyone knows that “one time we beat Miami.” The fact that it gets repeated so much and was made into a video shows the rarity of our ever beating such teams.
The strange thing here is that I am saying we should be patient and support the team and yet, somehow the people who are arguing, I am not even sure what, see themselves as somehow “True Blue.” Just let the guy coach and let the players play. It is certainly better than 0-11.
All I am saying is let’s all be realistic and patient. Notre Dame has been trying to rebuild their program for ten years. Notre Dame!!!
Comparing our football team to our basketball team in terms of expectations and criticism is a difficult question but most would say that there is a huge talent disparity between the two programs. Three or four losses was less reasonable for the basketball team than perhaps 6 to 8 losses for the football team, although both suffered a lot of injuries which muddles the analysis.
I think we all agree UNC had no business being ranked at the beginning of the season. It wasn’t helpful, at least not this year, and probably unduly raised expectations, although last year was even more disappointing.
I just don’t buy the idea that a school can’t be good in more than one sport. There’s just too many places where it is being done consistently. Everybody knows them but for the sake of argument: Florida, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas to name a few. All of these schools have very good football programs and pretty decent basketball programs too. There are others that are weighted heavily football or basketball and not so much in the alternate sport but the point is even those universities that are considered basketball powerhouses have better than average football programs. Whether they can sustain them or not says less about the wants of the fan base and more about 1) the willingness to spend the money for top name coaches, 2) the ability to keep said coaches in place long enough to make a difference, and 3) the “image or draw” of the school that helps those coaches in their recruiting.
I’m a “basketball first” fan because I love the sport of basketball. But I still want the other sports at UNC to be better than average. That’s me as a fan of the school. As that fan I see nothing wrong with expecting UNC to be able to get football to a certain level of respectability and maintain it. My baby blue blinders tell me that’s possible. I’d like to think if Mack Brown had stayed UNC would be on the same stage that Texas is year after year. I know all about the friction between the football and basketball programs and how Brown was made to feel he took a back seat. I still think it could be done though, given the right football coach.
As has been pointed out, fans dissect wins and losses, looking for flaws and bright spots. It’s what we do and is why sports blogs are so dadgum popular these days. We also have high expectations that aren’t always met and we’re rarely satisfied with the product on the field or court until they secure the W that day. That’s part of being a fan. Gotta love it!
“The strange thing here is that I am saying we should be patient and support the team and yet, somehow the people who are arguing, I am not even sure what, see themselves as somehow “True Blue.” Just let the guy coach and let the players play. It is certainly better than 0-11.”
And if that was the extent of your comments I am not sure it would be a problem but it seems to go beyond that. There is an air of “UNC can never go above a certain level and if they do well the ACC really sucks so it is isn’t really that great” feel to some of your comments. Anyway, it rubbed me the wrong way so apologies if I was unfair in my response.
amen HP
The reasons for UNC’s extended period of mediocrity in football do not include the school’s excellence in basketball. In fact, the high profile provided for the school by basketball aids recruiting in all sports, including football. There is intense competition among the 5 D-1 schools in NC plus Clemson, South Carolina and UT for the home-grown high school talent. Among our recent coaches, only Mack Brown has been able to keep most of that talent for the Tar Heels and supplement it with a few very good out of state recruits. Add to that the fact that our last 2 coaches before Butch were in over their heads, and all questions about the program’s performance are pretty much answered. There may be other reasons, but basketball isn’t one of them.
William,
“I honestly think the football success of Wake, Louisville, Kansas and Kentucky a couple of years ago has led some fans at traditional basketball schools to have unrealistic expectations…
UNC might have been just as lucky those two really good Mack Brown years. It isn’t as though they beat any really good teams those years…
All I am saying is let’s all be realistic and patient. Notre Dame has been trying to rebuild their program for ten years. Notre Dame!!! ”
So, what are your realistic expectations? At least 10 years later, we’ll consistently have 7-6 type season each year and get lucky with a 9-4 once in a blue moon? That would make you happy?
william, I enjoy reading what you write when it comes to basketball, but I really don’t think you’re doing anything constructive by continuing to post these “you guys are setting yourselves up to disappointment by caring so much about UNC football” comments on football-related articles. Really, we have all read enough of those by now to know how you feel, and while you may have some reason to feel that way, it accomplishes nothing when you tell us not to have any expectations and just approach UNC football as something of a diversion prior to basketball season. Believe it or not, there is a large number of people out there who are passionate fans of UNC football — we want the football team to do well, get disappointed (sometimes to the point of irrationality) when they fall short, and do have expectations that UNC football will do something significant someday. We see that the ACC has been mostly mediocre since expansion, and the BCS bowl spot that goes to its champion has been right there for the taking. Why not us? We have the profile, resources, support, and facilities (the jury is still out on the coaching, though it’s definitely better than what we had during the Torbush-Bunting Dark Ages) to win the ACC in these days of parity within the conference, and that first BCS bowl appearance can certainly be the beginning of something special. It could help set up a season for the ages, and who would care then that UNC may not having the staying power necessary to become a long-term resident of the college football elite? Teams like Colorado and Brigham Young have won national titles (or at least shared them) in the modern era with “fluke” programs that didn’t stay elite, but you can’t take their championships away from them just because they got lucky for a few years. With the current state of the ACC providing for a relatively easy path to a BCS bowl — and the all-important poll perception as a national powerhouse for the following season should you get to such a bowl and win — UNC is as good a candidate as anybody to get a “fluke” run going. Just because we’ve never been to such heights doesn’t mean we can’t get there, because we have a favorable conference situation at the moment and because there’s a lot more parity in college football these days — I mean, come on, we have schools like KANSAS going 12-1 and getting to BCS bowls! Are you going to tell us that we dare not hope to at least match KANSAS? Is it such a bad thing to have hope, especially when the college football landscape has thrown up plenty of examples of instant wonders (Louisville, Kansas, Missouri, South Florida, etc.) that everyone knows we can match, if not trump?
P. S. — Notre Dame is a poor example for your argument that we shouldn’t get our hopes up, because their football program has been on the decline for well over a decade (ever since Lou Holtz left), mostly due to a series of poor coaching hires (Bob Davie, George O’Leary, Tyrone Willingham, and the jury’s still out on Charlie Weis). Yet despite their troubles and decline in program quality (their recruiting was epically bad under Willingham), they recovered quickly talent-wise and have one of the best offenses in college football now, and only a below-average defense is holding them back from returning to the elite. Yes, some of that is the Notre Dame brand name at work, attracting five-star talent to South Bend despite poor on-field results, but it’s proof that a quick ascension from rock bottom is possible, and what we lack in recruiting compared to them (and it’s not a huge deficit nowadays, since Butch is the best recruiter we’ve had since Mack Brown) can be made up through superior coaching (as we have a more well-rounded coaching staff compared to ND — their defensive coaches, Tenuta included, are a mismatched and unimpressive lot).
UNC had some great teams in the early 1950′s. They had a pretty good team in 1964 and won the Gator Bowl. They didn’t do a whole lot after that until the late 70′s and early 80′s. Mac Brown had three or four decent teams but he couldn’t beat Florida State. I am not going to go back and calculate the record during that time but 7-5 would probably not be too far off the average.
I don’t think this is happening at UNC because of Roy Williams, but I do in fact believe that Wake Forest fans have deluded themselves into thinking they can be a football power, when they already were a basketball power and started losing their focus. Now reality is beginning to set in at Wake Forest. I know Wake winning the ACC title was a great story of the little engine that could and all that, but secondarily, it was a huge embarrassment for the ACC that that was the best the 12 team league could present.
I understand there is a lot of money to be made in football, and every school wants to be a football power although I do question how much really circulates to these universities in general as opposed to a select lucky few.
I think the point has been thoroughly made that schools cannot, in fact, compete at the top levels in both football and basketball on a consistent basis. Yes, you can be good some years at both sports, as have UCLA, Tennessee, Texas, Michigan and OSU from time to time, and that is what we all hope for UNC. Maybe Texas oil money can push recruiting to levels where they can become the first, but ultimately people in Texas really don’t care about Longhorn basketball.
I guess ultimately, people who disagree with this point are likely to be more unhappy with Butch Davis. Who would we hire next anyway? Steve Spurrier?
In terms of rooting for a fluke, yes, I was on here a few weeks ago wondering about UNC running the table and not getting a slot in the title game. It is true that a less than great team can win the title in college football like those mentioned above and who knows given the slight number of games teams play and lack of a play-off.
Mack Brown had a 69-46-1 record at UNC over 10 years, which averages to 6.9 wins and 4.6 losses per season. Those figures, however, are skewed by his two 1-10 seasons at the start of the tenure (when he was busy fixing everything Dick Crum had broken recruiting-wise); if you throw the results from those two uncompetitive years out, he averaged 8.375 wins to 3.25 losses per year. I still don’t get what the references to his tenure and the Choo-Choo years are meant to do, however — so what if UNC doesn’t have a lot of history to fall back on in football? You don’t need a rich football history to win big in the current college football landscape — just ask Louisville, Kansas, South Florida, Cincinnati (who’re basically a lock to go to their first BCS bowl this year), etc. So what if the success may not be sustained longer than one recruiting cycle? A “lucky” championship earned due to one surprisingly good recruiting cycle is still a championship, and it’ll count the same as everybody else’s in the history books — just ask BYU and Colorado in football, and the Florida Gators in basketball.
At this point, I don’t think the majority of UNC fans are even trying to become the exception to the “perennial powerhouse in both sports” thing you continually refer to, william. Personally, I’m of the mindset that it can be done here, but I — as well as most of the UNC football fans — aren’t even seeing that as an immediate goal for this program. At this point, we just want to see a progression to Boston College-level success (consistent 8/9-win seasons under Tom O’Brien and his successors), with a further goal of contending for the ACC title and appearances in BCS bowl games. You do not need to be a “perennial powerhouse”-level program to achieve those goals (again, why can’t we aspire to at least match what KANSAS, of all schools, was able to do in football two seasons ago). UNC fans are understanding enough not to expect us to become an Oklahome or Florida overnight, but we do want to see the program heading towards the BC-type “plateau” (BC fans love that term for the O’Brien era, let me tell ya…) that makes contending for conference titles/BCS bowls possible. You do not need to be some singular exception to the “no perennial powerhouses in both hoops and football” rule to achieve that level of success.
As for Butch Davis, the jury is still out on whether he is “the” coach to take us to that next level. I don’t see the inference, though, that if Butch can’t do it, no one can — look at what Bobby Petrino did at Louisville, Mark Mangino did at Kansas, Jim Leavitt did at South Florida, Chip Kelly is doing at Oregon, and Brian Kelly is doing at Cincinnati. None of those coaches were paid nearly as much as Butch and had anywhere near his reputation when they started on their jobs. Should Butch fail to do what we expect of him — knock on wood — then there’s no reason why UNC can’t hire a coach with a similar profile as those guys. The only thing we’d need to do is run a good coaching search and hire the right candidate (which might be too much to ask of Dick Baddour…).
One thing that comes to mind in the conversation about whether or not UNC could become a football power is the recollection of how we were left out of a better bowl at least once when Mack Brown was coach. I believe it was the year we played Mississippi State, when we had only one loss. Why couldn’t we have gotten a higher profile team to play? Because UNC wasn’t seen as a big enough draw in football to merit the bigger bowl. That’s one theory, at least, and a potential reason that Mack Brown left.
College football is still segregated, in a sense. Just ask Utah.
Defense looking good!
And now some offense to go with it. Just don’t use it all up the first half guys. Go Heels!
I got way too excited last week and started running my mouth. It bit us back in the end.
I’ll keep my mouth shut through the second half now.
Hahaha
Oh I’m not gonna crow any. At least until there’s no time left on the clock. But I’m loving what I’m seeing so far.
Only thing is….WHO is this Greg Little guy? LOL
1. One reason I come here frequently is the level of discussion is generally detailed and thoughtful. Even when people disagree there’s a lot of thought put into the responses and everyone generally treats the players with respect, even though there may be questions regarding coaching and certain decisions. If you cruise any other blog, most notably SFN, you can see people really ugly and it’s just painful. I have recently been a little over the edge on some other sites but not here. William offers exceptionally good commentary on basketball and I appreciate that he supports the coaches and the team. I think there must be some validity to the statistics of being good at the two major revenue sports at any given time over any length of time. I think that falls to chance more than anything but numbers don’t lie. Too many schools playing in a very fickle one and done basketball playoff is really the deciding factor combined with the lack of movement in the top ten polls after about week seven and the nature of the rankings from the start of the season. So if that’s the basis of the argument, I can see it.
That said I am one of the biggest football supporters on this site and in this town. I’m afraid my expectations get the better of me sometimes and this season is a perfect example. I want us to get better every year but that doesn’t necessarily mean we are going to win more games every year. I think we continue to grow as a program and I’ve really enjoyed the last two seasons, yes even the 4-8 season as you could clearly see the margins get tighter and spirit/focus of the team improve. Now I missed the VA game and from the numbers and the reaction it was ugly. Real ugly, since that time we have played fairly well but unbalanced and that means people get tired and the performance suffers. The VT games not over but if we can just stay on the field with the offense and let the defense get some rest we stand a much better chance of winning this game. If you can get inside of the qb’s head you can win. I think we know that lesson.
Roll on Heels.
You know the whole Greg Little thing tonight is confusion from on the VT defense. Is he receiver or a running back, oh right, we don’t know either. That has to play into the game at some point. Sure here’s the film, good luck, he does a little of everything.
It’s still on the defense to win this game though. They’ve got to keep getting the stops and get off the field.
Wow. Just WOW!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YATES!!!!!!!!!!
2 “tds” that may have crossed the goal line by a combined quarter inch.
i hate having Ron Cherry.
how does the league let the same crew call the same game they did last year? thats just idiotic.
i’m convinced the 2nd TD had absolute evidence that taylor didn’t get in.
Agreed. If they go with his second effort moving it across with his hand his knee was down well before then.
Win or lose, this is the kind of effort I want to see every week.
VT fans are going to complain about this game because of that very ticky-tack pass interference call that kept UNC’s game-tying drive alive, but they’re still coming out ahead on the Ron-Cherry-bad-officiating-meter. Taylor fumbled that ball on their first TD drive and didn’t get into the endzone on their second, but I doubt Cherry even looked at the video (he just pretended to for like 5 seconds in the replay booth) before upholding the (wrong) rulings on the field.
The offense has done much better than anyone expected in this game, but one thing is beginning to frustrate me: our terribly executed wide receiver screens. Other teams run that as a constraint play to punish the defense for cheating on their assignments; we run it as a scripted play, and it gets blown up every time.
Holy cow! We got a fumble in VT territory! Let’s see if Cherry overturns that somehow (*knocks furiously on wood*).
And the defense comes through!!
Cherry doesnt decide on review plays. only talks to the upstairs guy who is doing the replays.
but yes, the effort. the full game with the exception of one drive. and RYAN FREAKIN HOUSTON. imagine that? he can gain 3-4 yds every time. i think i’ve been saying that for almost 2 months.
YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
WAY TO GO HEELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes! About time we got an ugly one like this over VT. They’ve been winning these kinds of games against us for 10 years, it feels like.
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
How ’bout them Heels!
See, maybe there is no reason to be depressed and maybe Butch CAN coach.
Take that VPI–which is especially delicious given that VPI cancelled all their classes this afternoon to get ready for the game–so much for academics.
Fantastic, Jonathan is absolutely right about us getting one on VT, the first game in Lane under Davis it was closer than they wanted and we had it last year. I would have to agree on the Ron Cherry element, just bad, bad calls. I have to say in the all games I’ve attended I’ve not seen replay reviews happen so quickly. Way too quick and that last touchdown by Tyrod was not a td, you could see the goal line and the ball didn’t make it, he might have gotten his body over the line but not the ball.
All in all a great win for the heels. I had to listen to the first quarter via Woody and the highlight of the game was his description of the VT unis – “…maroon trimmed in orange which is much uglier in person that our listeners can imagine…”
Never afraid to get the last word in there are you William. Very nice. I think going for it on 4th down was pretty special, there was no way we would have gotten that back with VT playing safe, make them push it and with a freshman trying a little too hard to move the ball down the field, it pays off. Still that kid is amazing, I don’t want to see him again.
Yeah, that kid was taking it pretty hard, maybe a little too hard. Tech got basically what it deserved. Well, back to the World Series now on a big sports night.
Unfortunately, we’ll be seeing Ryan Williams again next season, and up to two more beyond that, since he’s only a redshirt freshman (I expect to see him two more times, as it’s the rare college football player who enters the NFL after their redshirt sophomore season).
Looks like the reverse mojo post worked.
Holy Sh*t!
Now this is why I love football. How good was that to see Barth’s FG silence Lane Stadium!
Va Tech should be given lots of kudos for being awarded points for getting the ball real close to the goal line!
Looking forward to the great Kenan next Saturday when Dook comes into town……..
William, I was not exactly attacking you personally, that’s why I put “William” into quotes. It’s the attitude. I’m glad you’re a Tar Heel and I enjoy your insight into b-ball.
This is the 7th straight game in this series to be decide by seven points or less, and is our first win during that stretch.
I think the law of averages says that we’re due for a few more, what do you think?
“Looks like the reverse mojo post worked.
”
Whatever works THF!
I don’t know if we caught VT on an off night or what, but the best thing about this game was that it shows our team never gave up on itself. If for nothing else, the coaching staff deserves credit for that.
To beat the 13th ranked team on its home field must be taken as an indication that, contrary to what I thought, we can be competitive in the rest of our schedule. I guess if we win just two more games, we’ll go to a bowl. I don’t really believe in all these minor bowls, having grown up in the era when there were five bowls (Orange, Cotton, Sugar, Rose and Fiesta), and to play in one meant you were a national power.
Thus, I don’t really think we deserve to be in a bowl (just as any average team doesn’t deserve it), but, that said, it does not detract that what we saw tonight. Our team played with heart and skill; it didn’t deflate with that awful interception; and finally it reaped the reward of of keeping its head and its guts in the game.
Way to go guys. Tonight you made us proud.
BEAT DOOK.
I’m still in shock…..did UNC finally get one to go their way against VaTech?
After Yates’ threw the interception which led to Tyrod Taylor’s second non-touchdown, my brother texted me and said “no UNC loss is complete without TJ Yates doing something stupid.” However, he made some pretty key throws later in the game and I think the big difference was him being comfortable in the pocket. I’ve kind of removed him from under the bus, but he’s still in arm’s reach of me where he can get tossed under again should be have another UVa/GT type game.
Finally, I’m sure the ABC’ers out there will try and dub Carolina as “classless” because of their celebration after Barth’s kick went through the uprights. However, I think it said a lot to see Quan Sturdivant as well as what appeared to be a UNC coaching staff member to walk over to the Tech bench and console Ryan Williams after the game was over. Very classy, and that makes the win even more special.
BTW, I agree with you guys about Williams; the kid’s gonna be scary good in the future.
Well said Rath!
And all Heather Dinich can do is poo-poo the win as being bad for the ACC because it devalues VT and in turn devalues GT in the BCS standings.
Thanks Heather. Glad to know you care.
if i missed someone saying this already, i’m sorry.
but this IS the first win at VT in our lifetime, isnt it? first win vs VT since the 97 Gator Bowl?
Yes, but I believe this is only the 3rd time we’ve played at Lane Stadium since that ’97 Gator Bowl de-pantsing of the Hokies — they just haven’t been a regular opponent until joining the league in 2004. We have much longer records for futility at other venues (*cough* Scott Stadium *cough*)(*cough* Boddy Dodd *cough*).
Quan just became my clear favorite football player. What a class act. We’re lucky to have him.
I think we may have caught VT on an off night but I think it has more to do with UNC getting some of our players back. With some more experienced depth in the OL and Pianalto back, we were able to sustain drives more effectively and keep our D as fresh as possible. Possession favored UNC, 36 to 24 minutes, preventing the FSU-game like fallout. Just a great performance all around.
VT had 11 first downs and 95 yds rushing.
i have to admit, i gave us almost no chance. i didnt think there was any way VT would lose a 2nd straight game, with that game being at home.
Re: Dinich — maybe Heather needs to hit the “pause” button on her blind adulation of Paul Johnson long enough to realize that the GT win over VT deserved to be devalued, because VT was never as good as they were being pumped up to be this year. So far, they’ve been creamed by Alabama in Atlanta, stole a win they had no business getting over Nebraska (a team that isn’t very good itself) on their own field, lost convincingly to Georgia Tech in Atlanta, and, now, losing one at home to a team coming in with the 114th-ranked offense in the country. The only thing of note they’ve done is beat at home a Miami team that, due to its youth, is wildly inconsistent, especially on the road. So yeah, VT deserved to be devalued anyway.
Re: Yates — he provided positive value to the team tonight, overall. I won’t go as far as saying he played “well”, as that ill-advised pass that got picked off in the 3rd quarter was one of the worst decisions in the history of quarterbacking, a play that cost the team dearly and severely reduced Yates’s overall value to the team on the night. I think the adjective for Yates’s night is something around “above-average.” Shoop helped minimize Yates’s negatives a lot tonight by directing him to throw a lot more short, safe passes instead of chucking downfield as much as he had been doing, where they would likely have been intercepted. That’s certainly the correct course of action to take with a QB who’s going through obvious confidence issues.
P. S. — Is it just me, or does Yates look like he’s simply afraid of getting hurt again this year? He’s constantly taking sacks as soon as he feels pressure, and he throws a bunch of passes away instead of scrambling for positive yards, even when there’s nothing but daylight in front of him. He did both of those things a few more times tonight.
^that pick was pure panic. you could almost hear the yelp as he saw the rush and threw the ball without looking.
if he goes 18 of 38 for 131, just 131, last thursday- they win that game, too.
Yates made that one mistake. He atoned for it many times over. The pass to Little for the 2nd TD was great. He converted on 3rd-7 and then 4th-7 with spot on passes. He was poised despite the pressure he was getting and while he did make that one error, I am not sure he could have played a better game with the time he was getting in the pocket.
the 2nd TD was a very good pass. he makes more 1-yard passes than anyone ever, but that one was surprisingly good, i’ll give you that.
the pick was Delhommian, and couldve been the turning point as his pick last week was. the D put forth the 60 minute effort tho, and TJ bounced back with a long drive.
and again, BUTCH….ryan houston. more carries today than in the FSU, GT and Va games combined. why was that so hard to see?
I know that the interception was a pure panic play, but a good quarterback has to instinctively realize that no matter what you do, you don’t throw a blind, short-armed, horizontal pass in that situation. The possible rewards are neglible, and the risk is simply enormous (as we found out scant moments later when Taylor “scored” his second touchdown).
THF: Yates actually didn’t get anything beyond token pressure after VT scored to go up by 3. Their defense sorta went into a shell the way our D would when using the dreaded prevent last year. The way that VT tried to get by with a 3-man rush and the softest 8-man zone coverage ever on that 4th-and-7 play was downright comical.
HTTE: Those short dump-off passes to the TEs and RBs and all the WR screens you saw tonight were by design. It was obvious that John Shoop wanted T.J. to complete a lot of those and get his confidence back up. Personally, I liked the short passes in the middle to Pianalto and in the flats to the RBs, but I could’ve lived without those WR screens — we weren’t running them as constraint plays to keep the VT defense honest (which Ponder from FSU does brilliantly — if you run these screens after reading the defensive alignment, you always get positive yards and essentially have no risk of turning the ball over; we were clearly not doing it that way, as ours were scripted plays that were run even when the Hokie D saw it coming), and most of them had no chance from the very start. We were lucky that one of those wasn’t picked off and returned to the house — VT came close to it a couple of times.