Thus far in 2009 the Tar Heel defense has been as advertised. After three games here are the relevant defensive stats(national ranking in parenthesis):
Total defense: 198 ypg(7th)
Passing defense: 146 ypg(15th)
Rushing defense: 52 ypg(7th)
Scoring defense: 11.0 ppg(11th)
Interceptions: 4(t-20th)
Fumbles recovered: 3(38th)
Turnovers gained: 7(t- 29th)
Tackles for loss: 26 total, 8.6 per game(10th)
Sacks: 8 total, 2.6 per game(29th)
3rd down conversion: 22%(6th)
4th down conversion: 50%(51th)
Red zone defense: 83%(59th)
After three contests UNC has a top ten defense nationally. The Heels are 7th overall in total defense holding teams under 200 yards per game and 11th overall holding teams to 11.0 ppg. As I pointed out previously 20 of the 33 points UNC has surrendered came after the offense turned the ball over in the Heels’ end of the field. That is actually indicative of the only real complaint about the Heels offense so far and that is an 83% conversion rate in the red zone by opposing teams. It seems that UNC does a great job of keeping teams from moving the ball but if you can get some field position down deep in the Tar Heel end of the field, you have a great chance of scoring. The easiest solution is for the offense to take care of the football so the defense has more field to work with. In lieu of that the defense needs to buckle down a little more when facing a team that has driven into their end. One of the items to really get excited about is the 3rd down conversion being 22%. That points to clutch plays being made by the defense when it counts. In 2008 the 3rd down conversion rate was 43% which reared its ugly head in late game situations when the Heels used that cursed prevent. That appears to no longer be the case and UNC is more than willing to be aggressive on 3rd down.
Overall the numbers are plenty good enough to build a house on. The one caveat here is that none of the teams UNC has faced are really world beaters on the offensive end. ECU was just as woeful against West Virginia as they were against UNC. That being said I do fine the Connecticut game log interesting in terms of their offensive output:
vs Ohio: 386 yards, 23 points
vs UNC: 196 yards, 10 points
vs Baylor: 382 yards, 30 points
What I mostly take away from these numbers is that the Tar Heel defense is meeting expectations. The defensive scheming has been very good and we have only seen hints of the bend but don’t break mentality of 2008. The front seven have been very aggressive in pressuring the opposing team’s backfield making the job easier for the secondary.
Now if Butch Davis can get 10-15 yards on each punt, the Heels can really keep teams controlled in their end of the field.
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How many years ago was it, when the Heels were 119 out of 119?
I really have no real expectations of winning championships, but wow, watching UNC play football these days is certainly easier to stomach than a few years ago.
^Agree with the above, I’m sure Barth and Shallock are kicking right now……….
LOVE the banner. Butch is smiling from his perch……
I dig the new header.
Totally loving the new header.
nice banner THF! although, i’m surprised to see tate over nicks…
i was actually checking the stats too this am while smack talking with my bumblee bee bro-in-law.
http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2009&div=IA&site=org
i also saw these two interesting stats:
#7 first down allowed (11.33/game)
#63 turnover margin (0.0 net/game)
along with the high 3rd down conversion ranking, the high first down allowed ranking re-emphasizes the effectiveness of our defense.
also, the low turnover ranking highlights UNC’s different defensive strategy this year from the last. last year, we were highly ranked in this category and our just-rush-4 strategy relied on our DBs intercepting the ball. and we all complained about the big yardage we gave up using this strategy. i believe our defense is significantly more fundamentally sound because it is so dominant without relying on winning the turnover margin.
yes, so our opponents haven’t been great so far like an alabama or another acc top team. but uconn beat down a baylor team, which beat wake, so… our schedule isn’t all that bad. at least not nc state bad.
btw, why not give our other punter a chance? the son of the “great” jeff feagles?
also, my bro-in-law insists that if dwyer doesn’t play, GT’s offense won’t be affected much since it’s primarily the (chop)blocking that lets their rushing game go. i disagree but i actually am more worried about the big play ability of nesbitt to d.thomas combo. any thoughts?
Interesting header.
Go Heels!
[...] And now for a trip around the ACC neighboordhod … Think Maryland and Virginia fans can buy each other drinks Oct. 17? (Turtle Waxing) … a league match-up that I haven’t seen mentioned once on our message boards this week is Wake Forest-Boston College but Blogger So Dear and Eagle in Atlanta have Q&A posts up … Tar Heel fan is talking defense. [...]