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Lucas: Rapid Reactions
October 21, 2017 | Football, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Quick takeaways from the loss at Virginia Tech.
By Adam Lucas
1. This has become a recurring theme: Carolina's defense played decently well, but it's almost impossible to win the game when the offense struggles so mightily and the offense and special teams are frequently giving up points. The Tar Heels were down 14-0 in the first 12:30 of the game without the defense giving up a point, as the Hokies returned a fumble for a score and took back a punt for a touchdown. Carolina finished the first quarter with 31 yards of offense.
2. As you probably guessed, the 59-7 defeat was the biggest losing margin of the Larry Fedora era. It was the biggest UNC defeat since a 52-point home loss to Maryland in 2002, and tied for the fourth-largest margin of defeat in Carolina history. "From the very beginning, we couldn't get anything going," Fedora told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network. "The defense hung in there for a while but eventually got overran."
3. To put Carolina's 172 yards of total offense into perspective, four non-quarterbacks in the Fedora era have surpassed that total by themselves in a single game. Elijah Hood had 220 yards on the ground against NC State in 2015 (of course, the Tar Heels would love to have Hood on this year's team, as had been the plan). Ryan Switzer had 208 receiving yards against Pitt last season, and Eric Ebron had 199 receiving yards against Miami in 2013. Giovani Bernard did it twice, with 262 rushing yards against the Hokies in 2012, and 177 against Miami that same season. The Tar Heels have now scored 38 combined points in the last four games. After scoring 53 points in the win over Old Dominion, Carolina has a combined 55 points in the five games since then.
4. It's been a while since one unit dominated a game against UNC as completely as Virginia Tech's defensive line did on Saturday. The Hokies piled up five sacks and got constant pressure on the Carolina quarterback duo of Chazz Surratt and Brandon Harris. It was Tim Settle's big hit on Surratt--if you wonder why coaches recruit feverishly, Settle once made his college choice between Virginia Tech and Carolina, and was a huge difference-maker on Saturday--that first forced the freshman from the game and brought Harris into the game. "We had a really tough time up front," Fedora said.
In a pretty typical turn of events for the 2017 season, Harris then was in street clothes before the end of the third quarter for unknown as of yet reasons. Neither QB took control of that battle, which likely means the position is open for competition going into the game against Miami on Saturday.
5. Harris eventually would throw an interception that was returned for a touchdown, meaning Virginia Tech returned a fumble, interception and punt all for a score in the same half.
6. There has been and will continue to be plenty of talk about Carolina's lack of quarterback production. Surratt and Harris would likely be the first two people to tell you they need to make more plays. However, they simply aren't getting a lot of help, either from protection along the offensive line, or from other playmakers on the offense. One week after what appeared to be a breakout performance, Michael Carter got just six carries and managed only 15 yards. Jordon Brown rushed for 44 yards on ten carries, beating out Harris's 32 yards on 12 rushes.
7. One of those playmakers is Anthony Ratliff-Williams. The receiver has basically been a one-man show for the receiving corps after all of this year's injuries, and has had a couple of drops he'd like to have again. But he showed an impressive burst on his 43-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter. That's the kind of ability the Tar Heels envisioned being one of multiple weapons on offense in 2017; instead, it's turned out to be one of the only weapons.
8. Carolina fans tend to think of NC State, Duke and possibly Virginia as the program's biggest rivals. Virginia Tech sneakily has quite an edge when it comes to the Tar Heels. The two programs are frequent competitors on the recruiting trail, and the Hokies clearly wanted a shutout badly, even going so far as to put the starting defensive line back in early in the fourth quarter to try and preserve the goose egg. With both in the Coastal Division, keeping up with the Hokies is essential, and Tech has a 93-10 advantage over the last two years.
1. This has become a recurring theme: Carolina's defense played decently well, but it's almost impossible to win the game when the offense struggles so mightily and the offense and special teams are frequently giving up points. The Tar Heels were down 14-0 in the first 12:30 of the game without the defense giving up a point, as the Hokies returned a fumble for a score and took back a punt for a touchdown. Carolina finished the first quarter with 31 yards of offense.
2. As you probably guessed, the 59-7 defeat was the biggest losing margin of the Larry Fedora era. It was the biggest UNC defeat since a 52-point home loss to Maryland in 2002, and tied for the fourth-largest margin of defeat in Carolina history. "From the very beginning, we couldn't get anything going," Fedora told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network. "The defense hung in there for a while but eventually got overran."
3. To put Carolina's 172 yards of total offense into perspective, four non-quarterbacks in the Fedora era have surpassed that total by themselves in a single game. Elijah Hood had 220 yards on the ground against NC State in 2015 (of course, the Tar Heels would love to have Hood on this year's team, as had been the plan). Ryan Switzer had 208 receiving yards against Pitt last season, and Eric Ebron had 199 receiving yards against Miami in 2013. Giovani Bernard did it twice, with 262 rushing yards against the Hokies in 2012, and 177 against Miami that same season. The Tar Heels have now scored 38 combined points in the last four games. After scoring 53 points in the win over Old Dominion, Carolina has a combined 55 points in the five games since then.
4. It's been a while since one unit dominated a game against UNC as completely as Virginia Tech's defensive line did on Saturday. The Hokies piled up five sacks and got constant pressure on the Carolina quarterback duo of Chazz Surratt and Brandon Harris. It was Tim Settle's big hit on Surratt--if you wonder why coaches recruit feverishly, Settle once made his college choice between Virginia Tech and Carolina, and was a huge difference-maker on Saturday--that first forced the freshman from the game and brought Harris into the game. "We had a really tough time up front," Fedora said.
In a pretty typical turn of events for the 2017 season, Harris then was in street clothes before the end of the third quarter for unknown as of yet reasons. Neither QB took control of that battle, which likely means the position is open for competition going into the game against Miami on Saturday.
5. Harris eventually would throw an interception that was returned for a touchdown, meaning Virginia Tech returned a fumble, interception and punt all for a score in the same half.
6. There has been and will continue to be plenty of talk about Carolina's lack of quarterback production. Surratt and Harris would likely be the first two people to tell you they need to make more plays. However, they simply aren't getting a lot of help, either from protection along the offensive line, or from other playmakers on the offense. One week after what appeared to be a breakout performance, Michael Carter got just six carries and managed only 15 yards. Jordon Brown rushed for 44 yards on ten carries, beating out Harris's 32 yards on 12 rushes.
7. One of those playmakers is Anthony Ratliff-Williams. The receiver has basically been a one-man show for the receiving corps after all of this year's injuries, and has had a couple of drops he'd like to have again. But he showed an impressive burst on his 43-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter. That's the kind of ability the Tar Heels envisioned being one of multiple weapons on offense in 2017; instead, it's turned out to be one of the only weapons.
8. Carolina fans tend to think of NC State, Duke and possibly Virginia as the program's biggest rivals. Virginia Tech sneakily has quite an edge when it comes to the Tar Heels. The two programs are frequent competitors on the recruiting trail, and the Hokies clearly wanted a shutout badly, even going so far as to put the starting defensive line back in early in the fourth quarter to try and preserve the goose egg. With both in the Coastal Division, keeping up with the Hokies is essential, and Tech has a 93-10 advantage over the last two years.
Players Mentioned
Tailback
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Tailback
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Quarterback
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Tailback
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Wide Receiver
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Quarterback
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Wide Receiver
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