University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Grant Halverson
Lucas: Rapid Reactions
November 25, 2017 | Football
Quick takeaways from the loss to NC State.
By Adam Lucas
1. It's impressive how the 2017 Tar Heels stayed focused and competed throughout the entire season. But ultimately, it's still frustrating to end the year with a second straight loss to NC State and a third loss in four games in the series.
2. The running game basically decided the 33-21 game. State was completely committed to the run and rolled up 292 yards on the ground on 45 tries against a UNC team that was missing linebackers Cayson Collins and Cole Holcomb and traveled just three players at the linebacker position. The Pack also ran it nine times in the game-sealing drive that churned over six minutes off the clock. Carolina, meanwhile, ran 24 times for 83 yards. Michael Carter was limited to 29 yards on eight carries and Jordon Brown had just 15 yards on eight carries.
3. Penalties played a big role in turning around the momentum of the game. Carolina committed two personal fouls on one play in the third quarter (which negated a potential turnover and big return), gifting the Wolfpack with 30 yards. Then, the Tar Heels picked up another personal foul on a subsequent offensive drive, giving them three personal fouls in a matter of minutes. Around that same time, the Pack was blowing the game open with a couple of big runs. The Tar Heels picked up another personal foul facemask penalty in the fourth quarter on what the UNC sideline believed could have been offsetting penalties. As Larry Fedora put it with Jones Angell after the game, "I would say the officials were pretty involved."
4. Those penalties were the culmination of what had been a very, very chippy game. To their credit, after playing over the edge a little too much in the first half, State seemed to get its emotions under control in the second half, and the Tar Heels were too often nabbed as the perpetrators during the final 30 minutes. This is clearly the right regular season finale for both teams in terms of how the players, coaches and fans feel about the opponent. But if it's going to be in that plum position, the teams are going to have to figure out how to channel that emotion. Carolina ended the game with 12 penalties for 127 yards.
5. For the most part, 2017 will be remembered as a season of injuries. Carolina capped a year with 17 players out for the season with an additional three more players out for Saturday's game, including starting linebackers Collins and Holcomb, who would have been a big help in limiting the NCSU ground attack. But even with those absences, the Tar Heels were much more competitive in the second half of the season than they were in the first. A month ago, it felt like the season couldn't end soon enough. At the end of Saturday's game, though, it genuinely felt like the Tar Heels had more good football left. "This was a pretty resilient group," Larry Fedora said to Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network after the game. "We ended up with 22 guys who went down and didn't play. I don't know how many teams can handle that adversity. I was proud of the way they kept fighting. We just came up short." No one wants to hear about injuries. But 22 is an incredible, almost unheard-of number for one season.
6. The injury to punter Tom Sheldon had an impact on Saturday's game. When healthy, Sheldon was a weapon in special teams and field position, and the Tar Heels missed him on a couple of different occasions.
7. Missed tackles were a theme of the season defensively and again played a role on Saturday. The Tar Heels came up empty on one of the big scoring runs, and then allowed what was essentially the game-clinching third down conversion on a pass behind the line of scrimmage that instead turned into a nine-yard gain. Carolina's defense showed progress from game one to game 12, but tackling was a season-long issue.
8. Incredible effort by Austin Proehl on what was essentially the last play of the game. The senior, on the final play of his college career, chased down Germaine Pratt on what was basically a meaningless play--but still ran almost the length of the field to create traffic for Pratt. After coming back from what was thought to be a season-ending collarbone injury, it would have been nice for Proehl to have a more storybook finish, but Proehl's commitment to the team was impressive.
9. The storyline coming into 2017 was about Carolina's quarterback position. After a solid 274-yard, three-touchdown performance, it feels like Nathan Elliott did enough in the final quarter of the season to make the job his going into spring practice. Elliott doesn't have a cannon arm, but he is tough, smart, and managed the offense well over his tenure as a starter. However, Chazz Surratt has enough talent to once again create a quarterback competition going into a 2018 season that should have some capable offensive playmakers around whoever is taking the snaps.
1. It's impressive how the 2017 Tar Heels stayed focused and competed throughout the entire season. But ultimately, it's still frustrating to end the year with a second straight loss to NC State and a third loss in four games in the series.
2. The running game basically decided the 33-21 game. State was completely committed to the run and rolled up 292 yards on the ground on 45 tries against a UNC team that was missing linebackers Cayson Collins and Cole Holcomb and traveled just three players at the linebacker position. The Pack also ran it nine times in the game-sealing drive that churned over six minutes off the clock. Carolina, meanwhile, ran 24 times for 83 yards. Michael Carter was limited to 29 yards on eight carries and Jordon Brown had just 15 yards on eight carries.
3. Penalties played a big role in turning around the momentum of the game. Carolina committed two personal fouls on one play in the third quarter (which negated a potential turnover and big return), gifting the Wolfpack with 30 yards. Then, the Tar Heels picked up another personal foul on a subsequent offensive drive, giving them three personal fouls in a matter of minutes. Around that same time, the Pack was blowing the game open with a couple of big runs. The Tar Heels picked up another personal foul facemask penalty in the fourth quarter on what the UNC sideline believed could have been offsetting penalties. As Larry Fedora put it with Jones Angell after the game, "I would say the officials were pretty involved."
4. Those penalties were the culmination of what had been a very, very chippy game. To their credit, after playing over the edge a little too much in the first half, State seemed to get its emotions under control in the second half, and the Tar Heels were too often nabbed as the perpetrators during the final 30 minutes. This is clearly the right regular season finale for both teams in terms of how the players, coaches and fans feel about the opponent. But if it's going to be in that plum position, the teams are going to have to figure out how to channel that emotion. Carolina ended the game with 12 penalties for 127 yards.
5. For the most part, 2017 will be remembered as a season of injuries. Carolina capped a year with 17 players out for the season with an additional three more players out for Saturday's game, including starting linebackers Collins and Holcomb, who would have been a big help in limiting the NCSU ground attack. But even with those absences, the Tar Heels were much more competitive in the second half of the season than they were in the first. A month ago, it felt like the season couldn't end soon enough. At the end of Saturday's game, though, it genuinely felt like the Tar Heels had more good football left. "This was a pretty resilient group," Larry Fedora said to Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network after the game. "We ended up with 22 guys who went down and didn't play. I don't know how many teams can handle that adversity. I was proud of the way they kept fighting. We just came up short." No one wants to hear about injuries. But 22 is an incredible, almost unheard-of number for one season.
6. The injury to punter Tom Sheldon had an impact on Saturday's game. When healthy, Sheldon was a weapon in special teams and field position, and the Tar Heels missed him on a couple of different occasions.
7. Missed tackles were a theme of the season defensively and again played a role on Saturday. The Tar Heels came up empty on one of the big scoring runs, and then allowed what was essentially the game-clinching third down conversion on a pass behind the line of scrimmage that instead turned into a nine-yard gain. Carolina's defense showed progress from game one to game 12, but tackling was a season-long issue.
8. Incredible effort by Austin Proehl on what was essentially the last play of the game. The senior, on the final play of his college career, chased down Germaine Pratt on what was basically a meaningless play--but still ran almost the length of the field to create traffic for Pratt. After coming back from what was thought to be a season-ending collarbone injury, it would have been nice for Proehl to have a more storybook finish, but Proehl's commitment to the team was impressive.
9. The storyline coming into 2017 was about Carolina's quarterback position. After a solid 274-yard, three-touchdown performance, it feels like Nathan Elliott did enough in the final quarter of the season to make the job his going into spring practice. Elliott doesn't have a cannon arm, but he is tough, smart, and managed the offense well over his tenure as a starter. However, Chazz Surratt has enough talent to once again create a quarterback competition going into a 2018 season that should have some capable offensive playmakers around whoever is taking the snaps.
Players Mentioned
Tailback
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Tailback
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Linebacker
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Quarterback
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Linebacker
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Wide Receiver
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Punter
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Quarterback
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