Hey, where have I seen that score before? Oh, that’s right! It was the last game UNC played.
This won’t take long.
The defense sucked. In fact the tattered remains of the Confederate Army did a better job slowing Sherman down than UNC did against the triple option. I mean, Sherman’s path of destruction was only 60 miles wide. It felt like Paul Johnson’s triple option was twice that. Now, let’s go ahead and get this part out of the way. UNC was missing seven defensive starters. That is reality and it does matter. Not having the entire starting secondary matters when Georgia Tech’s Josh Nesbitt beats you with his arm on a few key plays. Not having Marvin Austin and Robert Quinn matters given how crucial the defensive line is in stopping the triple option attack. UNC got pushed around all day by the Yellow Jacket offensive line. I would think the talent and experience of Quinn and Austin would have made a difference. The question is how much? Watching how easily Georgia Tech controlled the football and ran where they pleased it seemed like the defensive coaching staff did a poor job prepping the Tar Heels during the past two weeks. Either that or A.J. Blue is just not as good a imitator of Nesbitt as one would hope. Largely we can chalk up the poor defensive performance to the attrition related to the various prongs of investigation which are out there but I am not sure the coaching staff is totally off the hook either. Still you play with the team you have, blah, blah, yada, yada yada.
Offensively speaking, I have few complaints. We are very close to answering the question as to whether T.J. Yates is the real deal or not. Given how little UNC had the ball, 24 points is pretty efficient work. Yates will get grief for the fumble on the first play following UNC stopping Georgia Tech on downs while protecting a 24-17 lead. That turned out to be the biggest “what could have been” moment of the game. Had UNC scored and taken a 10 or 14 point lead instead of permitting Georgia Tech to tie the game, who knows how it would have turned out. Still, the offense was supposed to be the weak point and thus far it has been a strength. Yates, while still a little attached to Zach Pianalto, is accurate in his passing while making good decisions for the most part. Just imagine what UNC would look like if they were sporting a nationally ranked top ten defense with an offense that is capable of moving the ball? Yeah, more “what could have been” stuff. At any rate, Johnny White was freaking awesome and would have continued on that path except John Shoop’s maddening tendency to pull back from stuff that works for stuff that apparently doesn’t has yet to be explained. Overall UNC put up 351 yards of total offense in 25 minutes on the field(only eight minutes in the 2nd half) White had 115 yards on 17 carries. Yates threw for 205 yards on 18-24 passing.
Now what? First of all the season is not over. The Coastal Division is still in play assuming we can de-prong the football team in the next couple of weeks. Secondly, it would be nice to get some players on defense eligible before the plane leaves for New Jersey later in the week.
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I guess it depends on what someone’s threshold of “success” is.
Is it still possible to make it to a “major” bowl, like Wake Forest did a few years back? Mathematically, yes.
on a sunny note, the UNC Men’s #4 ranked soccer team downs #11 Duke…controversy-free no less.
Disappointed to see all the missed tackles by Bruce Carter in the 2nd half. If he is the top-rated linebacker at his position, then I hate to see the tackling by #2.
I think we’ll be skimpy on the comments side simply because we’re playing with 3/4 of a team and getting the results you’d expect. There’s not going to be a lot that’s pleasant or edifying to talk about until that changes.
I feel your position Rath! I was really impressed with our showing yesterday. I mean that. I thought we really did a good job of putting some pressure on Nesbit in the 3rd q. We did slow him down at that point. The passes (handoffs) behind and at the line of scrimmage started to look a little rushed, and a few mistates were made. We did capitalize on one, before our potential game-breaking mistake ourselves.
That triple option offense is a difficult one for sure. Not many teams you face run their game like that. I mean, anything and everything is fair game behind the scrimmage line. You can’t possibly know who’s throwing the ball, running it, handing off.
I still, in spite of how good we did here, blame the offense a little. When you have a recipe for success, you don’t mix in unknown ingredients. Simple as that. Gotta stick with what works, and only throw in variations enough to keep things honest. THAT’s what GT did, and that’s why they won. Nesbitt only threw enough to be relevent with that, but GT stuck with what got them there, even when there were times it wasn’t successful. What we did was ignore alltogether what put points on the board for us.
THF- nice recap. I was impressed with the toughness of the UNC backs. Man, they do not want to go down. Ever. Especially White. And, I agree with your view about Yates.
In defense of the UNC coaches, I think GT made some adjustments in coverage plans and put a little more pressure on Yates in the second half. Also, they kept Yates on bench for a very long time beginning the 2nd quarter and into the 3rd. Then again later for two long drives.
I do not think GT played especially well, but they played tough in the second half. UNC played with a lot of guts given what has happened this summer. I admire your team very much. You should be proud.
When does basketball season start?
The defense sucked;the offense made untimely and unforced errors; the coaching was less than brilliant. We are now 0-2 with little more prospects than for a third-tier bowl. A promising season is now in the toilet thanks to the aggregate selfish stupidity on the part of a few who have brought shame to this program and more importantly to the reputation of the University of North Carolina. I hope they feel worse than I do!
I will refrain from saying where I wish for these few individuals to go!
Deems May noted in his post-game comments that the way the NCAA investigation is going the Heels will probably have 11 on the sidelines next week and that they’d be at full strength by the spring game or first game of next season.
I’m not willing to give the defense (specifically the coaches) a pass because of the suspensions. Last year the defense gave up 317 rushing yards, and 24 points to GA Tech, without any players sitting out due to suspensions.
I really think our coaches are overrated. All we heard last year and this year was how much NFL talent we had on defense, but what did our coaches do with that talent last year? See above for GA Tech, plus we gave up (I think) 20 points to FSU in the second half alone last year, plus NC State carved that defense up like it was swiss cheese (for the 3rd year in a row…) and in our bowl game we saw what Pitt’s tight end did against that defense. So, if it is true that our defense is filled with NFL talent why did it still cost us so many games last year? The answer must be coaching.
As far as the offense is concerned, those coaches have had four years to recruit the players they wanted. So, why is the offense still so inconsistent?
This is Davis’s fourth year. He has already collected over $6M in compensation from the University. No more excuses. He needs to deliver results this year. I’m not going to accept a sub-par year from Davis because of suspensions. Those are his recruits – those are his cheaters and his rule breakers.
There are three things I am taking away from this game.
One: I want to marry Johnny White. Did you see that guy go!? It was like WOAH!!!
Two: T.J. Yates is back and better than ever! He is super improved and I am so proud of him.
Three: We are going to be ok. I think we put up a good fight and once we get more comfortable playing without a whole bunch of guys and once guys get back we are going to be great!
^^spot on 850.
52bgj & 850 –
I second the motion. BD has had enough time to deliver, so let’s see the delivery. NOW.
AND rath, Dickie was looking yesterday across the field at what many would have deemed the perfect hire for UNC’s needs. I would love to see the resumes of the other candidates who were overlooked for Baddour’s position, and who & what type of pressure if any, led to his selection as AD.
UNC has endured a hellish few months and played two pretty good teams on even terms. What’s the beef?