Extra Points: Two Outta Three

By Lee Pace

There will be an answer. Let it be.

Those wanting answers to the myriad of issues tripping up the Carolina defense through two games are left to do as the great Paul McCartney did and simply loosen the grip and let it play out. There appear to be no easy explanations to why a unit expected to be a strong suit of what is clearly a retooling season has been so disappointing.

"I can't tell you until I see it, I don't know the answer," Tar Heel Coach Larry Fedora said after watching Louisville QB Lamar Jackson shred the Carolina defense for 705 yards of total offense in a 47-35 Cardinal win Saturday.

Good players? Check. Enough older guys? Certainly. Injury issues? Not really. Sufficient physical conditioning? Better believe it if you've seen what Lou Hernandez puts them through in June and July. Cohesive coaching staff running a system that has worked before? Without question.

Much of the misery dealt the Tar Heels Saturday was certainly of Jackson's doing. The incumbent bearer of the Heisman Trophy—the first ever to take the field in Kenan Stadium, though a handful of future Heisman winners have come through since Paul Hornung did with Notre Dame in 1955—used his nimble feet, stout body and powder keg of an arm to run for three touchdowns and throw for three scores. He notched one of his touchdowns Saturday from the three yard-line when he found a mass of Carolina blue humanity to the right, whirled back left, planted, cut inside and dove for the goal line. A 75-yard touchdown strike came after a Tar Heel cornerback had him dead to rights on a blitz.

"At times he made plays out of nothing that shouldn't have been there," Fedora noted. "We had people in place and he was a better player than we were. Give him a lot of credit."

But too much of Jackson's production came with apparent ease. Two of his touchdown passes were to receivers square in the seams of zone coverage, the Cardinal receiver having at least a five-yard cushion on the nearest Tar Heel. Carolina linebacker Andre Smith flailing his arms watching Dez Fitzpatrick reel in a 30-yard dagger over his head on third down in the fourth quarter spoke for the frustration felt by the Tar Heels and their fans.

"We weren't even close to receivers when those guys were catching the ball," Fedora acknowledged. "I don't know that you can say that is because of Lamar Jackson. We've got to do a better job on that back end. Too many times we weren't even close to receivers and we've got to get that corrected."

Veteran defenders like linebacker Cayson Collins and end Malik Carney circled around the theme of "miscommunication," some combination of assimilating the calls from the sideline and audibly executing them pre-snap. And then each player doing his job.

"It was a lack of execution, honestly," Collins said. "That was the only thing ... a lack of execution. We had a good plan, we prepared well, it was just a lack of execution."

He was asked what the disconnection had been in two games—469 yards allowed to California in the opener and now 8.5 yards a snap to Louisville.

"Honestly, it's communication, everybody being on same page," Collins answered.

Carolina trailed 33-28 with just under 10 minutes left in the game when the defense faced third-and-eight at the Tar Heel 30. Jackson hitting Fitzpatrick with cushions to throw and catch encapsulated Carolina's problems.

"There's not much to say on that," Carney said. "We've just got to find a way off the field. At that point, we just have to buckle down and contain the quarterback and make sure everyone does their job. There were some missed communications. That's all I can say on that really, people not communicating, not on the same page."

As the defense works to tighten its screws the rest of September against Old Dominion, Duke and Georgia Tech, Saturday's game showed a handful of positives on offense and in the kicking game. Two out of three phases showing promise isn't bad, even if it's not the pecking order anticipated coming into the year.

Australian punter Tom Sheldon, settling into his second year in the States and in American football, drove Louisville to the one yard-line with a 66-yard kick and is averaging 47.5 yards a punt in two games. The punt unit around him stands sixth in the nation in net punting, with just one return attempted for eight yards.

Sophomore receiver and return specialist Anthony Ratliff-Williams, roundly acknowledged by his peers as the fastest and most potential-laden player that had yet to start a game coming into 2017, returned a kick 94 yards for a score Saturday and is averaging 35 yards a return in two games. Former Tar Heel receiver and special-teams guru Ryan Switzer tweeted from his new home in Dallas, "About time."

"He's absolutely right," said Ratliff-Williams, originally recruited from Charlotte as a quarterback. "We had a talk last week, how many he could get in the league and how many I could get while I'm still here? But he's right, it's about time."

Carolina got solid quarterback play from Chazz Surratt throughout the first half and then, when Surratt was banged up in the second quarter, Brandon Harris stepped in and rebounded from his suspect game against Cal by hitting 17-of-23 throws for 215 yards and one touchdown—and no interceptions.

For three years running the Tar Heels have opened the season with sub-standard quarterback play, Marquise Williams with his three interceptions vs. South Carolina in 2015, Mitch Trubisky with his misfires on deep balls vs. Georgia last year and Harris with two interceptions last week. But quarterbacks never face live competition in practice, they never see 100 percent defensive effort with the freedom to tackle the quarterback. So their existence for nine months is like playing golf all summer and raking away 18-inch putts, then getting to the club championship in August and having to grind over everything. It's just different.

Harris bounced back from the opener just as Williams and Trubisky did—simply being on the field in the first real game against real competition was a necessary evil. It was particularly instructive for Harris, having transferred in from LSU and not participating in spring practice.

"I felt much more comfortable," Harris said. "Obviously, everybody over blew the game from last week. And rightfully so, I can understand that. But I had never played with this group. It gets easier and easier every week."

The offense against Louisville unveiled freshman A-back Dazz Newsome, who hit the Cardinals with a 54-yard gain on a jet sweep to open the game. The Tar Heels made good use of their strength at tight end, with Brandon Fritts, Jake Bargas and Carl Tucker combining for eight catches and two TDs. And the receivers made some competitive catches.

"I am proud of our offense. I am proud of our team," receiver Austin Proehl said.
"We've got to continue to make plays, and we've got to continue to score. I am proud of the way we continued to fight until the end."

And so Larry Fedora and his coaches begin the Week Three process of nursing and nudging, cajoling and tweaking this process of developing a football team. Next stop, Norfolk, Virginia. Answers to be determined.

Lee Pace is in his 28th year covering Tar Heel football through "Extra Points" and 14th as the sideline reporter for the Tar Heel Sports Network. His book, "Football in a Forest," is available in bookstores across North Carolina and online at www.johnnytshirt.com. Email him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @LeePaceTweet.

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jake Bargas

Malik Carney

Cayson Collins

Brandon Fritts

Brandon Harris

Dazz Newsome

Austin Proehl

Anthony Ratliff-Williams

Tom Sheldon

Andre Smith

Chazz Surratt

Ryan Switzer

Mitch Trubisky

Carl Tucker

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