UNC 31 Boston College 13

Tar Heel Fan on November 21st, 2009 |

I am a little shocked. Why? Because I have no idea how this team has posted an 8-3 record with essentially very little from the offense. I am also finding it difficult not to bang my head against a concrete wall when I think about UNC losing to UVa. At some point I’ll get over it.

You know, conventional wisdom says you cannot depend on the offense to put up 21 points(for all intents and purposes.) Yet for a 2nd straight week not only did UNC have a defensive back record three picks in the form of Deunta Williams but also got another pick six, a fumble returned for a TD and another interception returned to the BC one where Touchdown Vulture Extraordinaire Ryan Houston punched it in. UNC put 31 on the scoreboard today and basically 21 of it belonged to the defense. I am not sure if they can keep winning games this way then again who really cares. By all rights this team was toast a month ago and now the Gator or Chick-Fila Bowls are being discussed in earnest.

Concerning T.J. Yates.

Sigh.

Here is what I find frustrating about Yates. I think for the most part he does a decent job with doing what John Shoop asks him to do. Granted UNC does not work downfield with their passing and Yates is still horribly off target even when turning to one side and tossing the ball out to a wide open receiver who never left the line of scrimmage. Still, there are some positives with Yates but unfortunately the negatives just overwhelm you. Yates threw three interceptions against BC while going 23-35 for 182 yards. On one hand that is a decent passing day. Not really all that productive considering the passing game only produced 5.4 yards per play. However the nature of what John Shoop is asking Yates to do means there will not be much in terms of big plays. The pass plays are designed to be safer, quick as not to test the offensive line and short passes are easier to throw from an accuracy standpoint. 67% of the time during the course of this game, Yates hit his receiver. The other 30-plus percent of the time passes look like Yates is blindfolded. In and of itself is not necessarily that bad unless Yates does something like throw an INT in the end zone from the Boston College 11 snuffing out what could have been at least three points. Turnovers are part of the game the at present the UNC defense is winning the turnover margin aspect of the game regardless of what Yates or anyone else on the offense is doing. However the turnovers that flat out take potential points away breed incredible levels of frustration. And there is nothing anyone can do about it but hope. Hope that Yates can continue to muddle through because the defense persists on scoring more points than their offensive brothers. After all, Yates is possibly looking at his last two games as the UNC starting QB. Barring Bryn Renner being horrible, Yates is likely out as early as this spring. Unless Bryn Renner is worse than Yates which would mean Butch Davis is completely inept at evaluating QB talent. Somehow I don’t think that is the case so Renner it is. Until then, here is hoping the NCSU defense is in fine form on Saturday.

Casey Barth hit his 14th straight FG against BC continuing his remarkable turnaround following the 4-7 start.

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Andy In Omaha

November 22nd, 2009 at 12:01 am

It was ugly, but I’ll take the win.
8-3 with this offense is a miracle, and I still don’t give the coaching staff a ton of credit. This defense has NFL style talent coming out of every spot on the field, and they’re one of the best in the nation. Of course these Husker fans up here say that they have the best, and I’m itching for a bowl matchup to shut them up.
This passing scheme is built around quicker routes and screens for two main reasons; our offensive line play, while getting better, still isn’t where it needs to be. This helps to keep Yates upright for a better part of the game so he can focus more on trying to hit a target rather than how much it’s going to hurt when the defensive player crashes in on him. Second, we just don’t have very fast receivers. We have big guys who are hard to tackle and might be elusive, but no one with breakaway speed that can get a lot of seperation from DB’s. I think Little and Boyd are bigger guys that can take hits and are more suited for the scheme we have now, Highsmith is a little quicker and elusive but not really all that fast, and our speediest guys might just be Joshua Adams and Dwight Jones who are pretty much nonexistent at this point of the season. If UNC had speedier receivers who can sperate from DB’s vertically instead of just horizontally, it would open up a lot more in terms of options for Yates. Opposing defenses are essentially putting nine guys in the box on 3rd and long situations because they know UNC can’t (and won’t) throw a ball longer than 15 yards. It’s like watching a Dolphins game when Chad Pennington was still playing, but I would love it if Yates had Pennginton’s accuracy…….
Now that I’ve probably over analyzed that, the main point I was trying to make was that if UNC is capable of getting the talent they can get on defense, they have to be capable to get the same type of guys on offense. Speed kills, and while we have a lot of that on defense, we need a heck of a lot more on offense to get where Butch wants to take this team.

Jonathan Starsmore

November 22nd, 2009 at 3:06 am

^Adams was injured in week 4, IIRC, and has not played since then (and won’t play for the rest of the season). Jones has been a huge disappointment, especially when you consider the hype surrounding him and the drama we went through just to get him on campus. The “speed” receiver you’re looking for is Jheranie Boyd; the only reason you don’t see Boyd turning the burners down the field more often is because he lacks experience and doesn’t yet know how to beat coverages AND get in position to receive the pass at the time the QB is ready to throw it. Once he gets that experience, he’ll be that vertical threat you’re looking for.

850inExile aka UNC RAJ

November 22nd, 2009 at 7:49 am

I hope our guys will be watching film of last year’s game against State and I hope our guys will be furious about it. Next week is State’s bowl game. They will be playing for, potentially, the only bright spot in their dismal season. They will come out fired up just like they did in our house last year, but this time it will be in their house. Their offense will put a lot of pressure on our defense to hold them to less then 17 or 20 points (Key = No zone/prevent! Go and get that QB!). And if our offense can’t score at least 17 points against that sorry defense I’ll be very angry (Please tell me Ryan Houston is healthy). If we don’t beat State then we finish the regular season with just as many wins as we had last year (no improvement year to year) and we have to listen to the wuffies yap and yelp for another 12 months. Lets get the job done this year!