Tar Heel Fan

In three of the four losses UNC has been in position to win the game or a handful of mistakes away from having a shot at walking out with a victory.  Two of those games have been in exceptionally hostile environments and despite the huge problems we saw last week against a South Florida team that could very well be the best team in the Big East you get the feeling that if UNC can just find some consistency by cutting down the mistakes they might be 3-2 or 4-1.  Obviously moral victories do not mean anything but today we saw the defense makes several great plays and essentially thwart the Hokies on offense.  Granted the VT offense is one of the worst in the ACC, especially on the offensive line but UNC still made plays and it is encouraging to see young players stepping up regardless of who is on the other side of the ball.

The Hokie defense was as good as advertised but at the same time UNC did a fairly decent job of moving the football.  Once again turnovers killed drives and snatched potential points off the scoreboard.  Nothing worse than having the ball on the goal line and fumbling it way inches from breaking the plane.  At some point those breaks starting going your way.  I also noticed that the offense was more balanced and does anyone know what the heck got into Anthony Elzy?  The sparsely used RB ran 74 yards on 11 carries which was a nice surprise.  Ryan Houston say the bulk of the carriers and produced was hit or miss for 55 yards on 18 attempts. In short, the running game continues to be as muddled as the local fishing hole following a thunderstorm.  T.J. Yates bounced back from the debacle last week to hit 16 of 25 with only one INT and no TDs.  Given how much pressure the Hokies put on Yates with four sacks, the redshirt freshman recovered nicely from what could have been a season killing game last week in Tampa.

In the end it was another frustrating game where miscues and inopportune penalties tipped the scales in favor the opposition.  There was a lot of positives to pull from this game but the bottom line is at some point the Heels need to reduced the number of drive killing miscues which have just tipped three of their losses the wrong direction.

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One of the problems a coach has in taking over a program is that you have to teach players how to pick up a different system, some of which has to do with practice and preparation.   There is also a fair amount of “undoing” from the previous coaching staff in how players approach games and prepare for them.  So far it would seem the lessons have not quite been learned yet.

Continue reading ‘Tar Heel Players Not Quite Getting It Yet’

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So with the Heels season beginning to stumble into a stretch of games that will likely be tantamount to some form of torture and a running game that is ineffective enough to endanger the passing game it is no wonder that the first guy who shows anything with the ball on the ground is going to get media attention.  Such is the life of true freshman Ryan Houston.  The rookie from Matthews, NC had been sheltered by the coaching staff who were either not sure if a redshirt was coming or not wanting to destroy the young man at the start of his career.  That all ended against USF on Saturday when Houston was inserted into the game when matters were well out of hand.  Houston acquitted himself well with 43 yards on 11 carries and one touchdown.  Granted this probably came against the Bulls’ second defensive unit but honestly you have to begin somewhere.

The media wasted little time profiling Houston here, here and here.  As is standard for the media they are showing Houston a lot of love and dropping some implications that this kid is the solution for the UNC running game.  And that could very well be the case but bearing in mind that this was his first game against the reserves I think we all want to see more before proclaiming the running game cured.  The issue UNC has is the need for running game is beyond desperate.  USF took advantage of the fact the running game was not a threat and dropped back in coverage for most of the game.  And while Johnny White has shown some skill at the position it has not been effective enough to balance the offense out.  Based on what I have seen the offensive line is decent in both pass protection and run blocking.  White just has not been able to find enough running room.  Perhaps a switch to a bruising back is just what the Heels need.

Unfortunately like most of this team, Houston is very young and will have more games that are learning experiences than anything else.   Such is the life of a team learning to crawl before it can walk.

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