Sigh.
Take your pick of the boneheaded mistakes in this one. It is fairly amazing that this team has found ways to make the worst mistakes it could possibly make at the most inconvenient time. T.J. Yates interceptions on the opponent’s goal line. Getting the exact same penalty called two straight plays. Passes hitting receivers in the hands and dropped. And the cherry on top: jumping offsides on 4th and 2 with less than two minutes left and Pitt attempting a 47 yard FG. Who knows, maybe Pitt still hits the FG but I would rather take that gamble and nearly two mins of clock to move the football rather than 52 seconds. Speaking of which: Why did Butch Davis allow 40 seconds of game time to slip away on the play that followed the UNC offsides penalty? I understand having a timeout in the pocket but I would have felt better had Yates been operating with forty more seconds.
This was a frustrating end to the season that fittingly concluded with a Yates pass thrown over the receivers head and landing nowhere near anyone in blue. A game like this you at least want to see the FG attempted. If Casey Barth misses a decent FG or even a long one, the blow of the loss is cushioned to some extent by the fact the effort to win the game was made. No such comfort here.
Thus ends the third season of Butch Davis. It was a head scratcher.. At times this team was inept and the coaching suspect. During the four game winning streak that took the Heels to the eight win mark the defense did a lot of things right and the offense was serviceable. However, the offensive line was always an issue and Yates was still Yates. Maybe fewer OL injuries and Shaun Draughan and A.J. Blue being healthy changes some things, especially versus NCSU and Pitt. The record says the program stood still but the wins over Miami and Virginia Tech say something else. Hopefully most of the defense returns and Bryn Renner turns out to be the real deal so next season can be a true push forward.
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I posted this at the start of the 3rd quarter:
“-sweet fancy Moses, our O Line is GARBAGE!
-Greg Little is going to prove me right when his puerile actions cost us a game. Kid’s got the brains of an eggplant. too bad.
-If the Heels lose, I hope the Heels lose by at least 14 points. I’m beyond tired of losing by 3 points. (In the Davis Era, the Heels are 3-10 in games decided by less than a TD…that’s concentration and guts).
-Negative yards on 1st down is almost as predictable as Shoop’s playbook.
-I have no animus against Yates. Joe Montana couldn’t do any better behind that O-Line.
-If the Heels do end up losing by <7 points, it will be the second straight loss due to PENALTIES. Yeah, "swagger" is GREAT."
I'd really like for Davis and this team to prove me really wrong next year and quit confirming our collective pessimism.
“I don’t think we played as smart as we needed to,” Davis said.
reeeeaaaalllly?
“We were definitely trying to draw them offsides,” Wannstedt said. “But we were going to kick it. … But that extra 20 yards sure helped.”
no! again, reaaally?
“Hopefully most of the defense returns and Bryn Renner turns out to be the real deal so next season can be a true push forward.”
I’m hoping that the only realistic departure is Marvin Austin; I think UNC has enough depth on that DL that his absence could be overcome. Losing Sturdivent would be way too much for this LB unit to handle, even with Bruce Carter coming back.
As far as Renner goes, I can’t see Butch Davis going with Renner at the start of next season. With LSU looming in week one of the 2010-2011 season, is Renner really going to be ready? We’ve seen the track record of development of QB’s with this coaching staff (see Mike Paulus and Braden Hanson) so I can’t say for sure if going to Renner right now is the way forward.
Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see a change at the helm, but I’m just worried that throwin Renner to the wolves with the way Paulus and Hanson has played truly means that Yates gives us the best chance to win……
I think it was Ron White who once said “you can’t fix stupid”… for the sake of our football lets hope he was wrong. This is two games in a row we’ve lost because of emotion and lack of situational awareness. I put that squarely on the coaching staff.
I agree with Andy that Yates should start against LSU. He’s used to looking like poo on National TV, so his ego should be able to handle the embarassment that will accompany that game. No need start Renners carreer that way…
Duenta Williams says he’s coming back. Burney and Austin unsure.
from Turner Walston @tarheelblue.com:
Learning experiences can be painful. In the Butch Davis era, Carolina has a record of 20 wins against 18 losses. Thirteen of those losses have come by four points or fewer. If the team makes a play here and there in those games, the story of this team reads a lot differently. But if they don’t make those plays, you throw your hands up and say, `Well, that’s Carolina football.’
actually, no. if the team DOESN’T make a FOOLISH play, often a SINGLE FOOLISH play, here and there in those games, the story of this team reads a lot differently.
from the postgame:
TJ Yates, Quarterback
RE: Last Drive
There were guys that were open, upfront protected me well. There are things I could have done differently. There were guys that were running wide open.
RE: Things you would have done differently
Especially the red zone interception. We needed three extra points in this game. I just have to throw that out of the back of the end zone and take the loss.
um, yeah, thanks for figuring that out after the fact. at the end of your 3rd year.
A big contributer to all those close losses is the stupid defensive philosophy we have. We rush four guys and drop everybody else into a zone coverage that lets the opposing team dink and dunk their way down field. This does two things: 1) puts the other team in a position to score, while 2) chewing up the clock and leaving our offense with less then a couple minutes to respond.
In the 4th quarter, this is the football equivalent of “death by a thousand cuts”. I don’t know why we keep doing this(?). For as much praise as our defense gets, they have cost us countless games by not being able to stop teams in the 4th quarter. And its not the players’ faults… this is the product of a defensive coordinator who stubbornly sticks with a scheme that has failed us time and time again.
or 3rd down D that constantly gives up the most inopportune 1st downs.
how bout the guy getting 5 catches for 83 yards on the exact same route 5 times?
after 10 catches for 129 yards all year.
3rd and 4…first down over the middle to Shanahan for 7 yds.
3rd and 6…first down over the middle to Shanahan for 22 yds.
1st and 10..first down over the middle to Shanahan for 21 yds.
3rd and 14..first down over the middle to Shanahan for 20 yds.
3rd and 7…first down over the middle to Shanahan for 13 yds.
every catch a first down, every catch part of a drive that led to a score but for the first one, which led to the missed FG. any stop of one of those 3rds leads to a Pitt punt.
Pitt converted 6 3rd downs, 4 to Shanahan. the elusive…the ethereal…6’5″ Mike Shanahan. Freshman.
^Now THAT was almost as infuriating to watch as watching TJ Yates was… even the knucklehead announcers at ESPN new that the defense had to stop giving them those plays….
I think all the comments are pretty much spot-on, but I also think the fact that UNC is missing an explosive playmaker really kills them on offense. Greg Little is the closest thing we’ve got, but I don’t really think he’s fast enough where he strikes fear in the hearts of opposing defenses. UNC needs a guy who can change the game. I think Highsmith and Boyd have that potential, but they need a little more seasoning in getting seperation in their routes and a better QB to get them the ball.
Outside of Little, who does UNC have that can accomplish that?
I’d also like to see a playmaker in the return game; Searcy does a decent job on kick returns, but he doesn’t have that explosion to get the offense good field position or even run one back. A lot of elite teams have “that guy” you don’t want to kick or punt the ball to, and I think that can make up for a lot in terms of the offensive woes.
It was a tough loss and we started the game fairly wel, still we could have made it happen even with the offsides. We had a pass dropped that would have put us in close enough to attempt the field goal. After the start of the season and our woes on offense I threw in the towel on the season. Seeing the big wins was nice and we did have a decent season from a winning record perspective. Still I’d like to have a few more presents under the tree and I think we get a few next year, o-line recruits and a few other god positions. There are still a few good players yet to decide what school they will attend and if we get some of the better ones then good for us.
I had higher expectations for this season and that always causes trouble. I still like the direction of the program, the quality of the players and generally the game plan. I didn’t really start paying attention to UNC football until year two of the toothbrush era so my perspective might be a little skewed. We need just enough enough NFL players to go that they go high in the draft to support the recruiting message.
All in all, I’m ready for more football as soon as the season can start.
I think the quote was “can’t coach stupid” from Steve Spurrier blasting his QB after a poor performance.
I’d start Renner at LSU, here’s the big game, let’s go – this is your team from the start – make it happen. Of course I want Henson on the court more as well so what do I know. I’ll also be silly enough to travel to Atlanta for the LSU game.
Disappointing but hardly shocking after what we saw all season. Still, the mental errors and coaching blunders make me crazy. How can you not have a play called on a final drive so you can hustle to the line and run it rather than spike the ball with 25 seconds left? C’mon, throw it at somebody in blue–there’s a pretty good chance it would be incomplete and stop the clock anyhow. And did anyone follow Butch’s comments about not having time to prepare because of “exams and other stuff?” Other stuff–like college, you mean? Did Pittsburgh take exams before Thanksgiving just so they could get ready?
I thought the team looked pretty uninspired, and it was clear most fans have moved on to complaining about the lack of guts of the basketball team. I was shocked at the turnout. Nice long holiday weekend, easy drive from major population centers, lots of ‘Heels fans right there in Charlotte–where the heck WERE you people?
Well, it was a nice outing for the family, spoiled only by the game itself. We took all my kids, my sister and my 76 year old mother; it was easy for her to get in and out of our seats and everyone working at the stadium was friendly and helpful. That stadium is a great place to watch a game, and the people in Charlotte have traffic control down to a science. Later we wound up at a pizza place in Dilworth packed with folks in blue–mostly light blue, except for one table of Pitt fans who were behaving graciously–and I think the consensus was that maybe next time the ‘Heels get invited to that particular bowl, the team should just stay home, too. Seems like this season just whimpered off into a corner somewhere.
Ah, well–I guess I never was much of a football fan anyway; I pull for the Tar Heels! See you next fall in The (not so) New Kenan.
We’ll never get to the next level as long as Yates is the QB. He doesn’t have the talent or judgment to get us there, and at this late date in his career, it’s a pretty sure bet he’s not going to develop them.
I wish it were otherwise.