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.