University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points: Seeking A Complete Game
November 12, 2006 | Football
Nov. 12, 2006
by Lee Pace, Extra Points
The Tar Heels made two prominent mistakes on defense Saturday in a 7-0 loss to Georgia Tech: Jacoby Watkins bumped a receiver on a ball overthrown by 10 yards and was flagged for pass interference, and Hilee Taylor lined up offside on another third down. Those plays helped Georgia Tech in its lone touchdown drive of the day.
"Erase either one of those plays and we are off the field," coach John Bunting said.
Beyond those miscues, however, Carolina played defense like it was meant to be played. That was the unit the Tar Heels hoped to field back in August: Aggressive, smart, energetic and efficient.
The Tar Heels tackled well. They filled the gaps well. There were no communication/signaling errors of any note. They held Tech to three-and-out on three possessions, and three other drives ended with punts after five or six snaps. Jermaine Strong, Carolina's aggressive young cornerback, forced two turnovers, one on a picture-book tackle of Tech All-America receiver Calvin Johnson and another on a tipped pass that led to an interception by linebacker Chase Rice.
Tech gained only 221 yards with an average of 3.2 per snap, and Johnson was pinched all afternoon by a cornerback and safety Kareen Taylor and could manage only three catches for 13 yards. There was no single position one could point to afterward and lament its shortcomings - like the linebackers against Rutgers, for example, or the free safety against Miami.
"That was our best performance by far," Rice said. "We were flying around and having fun. It was a good day for us."
"We went out and decided as a defense we were going to stop Georgia Tech's offense from scoring a lot of points and making a lot of big plays," said linebacker Larry Edwards, who returned to the lineup after a broken collarbone four weeks ago and had to fight through a sprained ankle suffered during Saturday's game.
It was the best performance of the year for the Tar Heels, both in terms of points and yards allowed (seven points and 221 yards against the Yellow Jackets versus 23 points allowed against Virginia and 224 yards surrendered to Virginia Tech).
"The defense played probably its best game in a long, long time," Bunting said. "They played really well together and fit plays. The linebackers flowed nicely and had good reads. It was the best tackling game we've had."
Defensive coordinator Marvin Sanders says the effort came together during the practice week. The Tar Heels were focused, upbeat and got better each day during preparation for Tech.
"What I saw was a group of young men have a great week of practice," Sanders said. "They had a lot of spirit and a lot of determination. It's a tribute to them how well they've held up. It shows how much they respect the game of football. They are going to go out and play hard whether we're 1-8 or 8-1."
Sanders said he marveled on Thursday at the excitement on a team that has no bowls, no championships and not even a winning record left on the goals board.
"They were competing with each other to see who could get to the ball the fastest," he said. "They were pushing hard to have this kind of performance. It finally came this week."
The pieces to the puzzle have included the elevation of Strong, a red-shirt freshman, to the starting lineup at right cornerback; the improvement of the linebackers, particularly Durell Mapp over the last month and reserves Mark Paschal and Chase Rice against Tech; the return of Edwards to the lineup; and a solid effort from senior cornerback Jacoby Watkins, who has been playing for a month on a partially torn ACL. The Heels also got some good snaps from third-team "Sam" linebacker Garrett White in the absence of Edwards during the middle of the game and the total absence of Martel Thatch, who was sidelined with an ankle sprain.
"Paschal had a very, very fine football game," Bunting said. "He was very aggressive, he tackled well, he had some great reads against the various runs. Chase Rice played well. Durell Mapp has gotten better as the season has progressed. The front four played well. Jermaine Strong played extremely well. He was very aggressive. He's going to be a great player. And I was glad to see Jacoby Watkins make a couple plays on the ball."
Strong was covering Johnson in front of the Tar Heel sideline during the second quarter when Johnson took a quick pass from Reggie Ball. Strong torpedoed Johnson in the chest, his facemask square at Johnson's numbers and his arms wrapping the receiver's body. The ball squirted loose and the Tar Heels recovered at the Tech 24 yard-line.
"That was an unbelievable play," Bunting said. "That was a very aggressive play the way Jermaine launched into him."
There was understandable concern entering the game about the Tar Heels' ability to contain Johnson and his capable teammate at the other wideout position, James Johnson. Add the running ability of QB Reggie Ball on draws and boots with the inside strength and durability from tailback Tashard Choice, and Carolina had a major challenge on its hands. Add an unseasonably warm afternoon of 80 degrees to the mixture and depth might be an issue as well if the Yellow Jackets could control the ball on offense and wear the Tar Heels down. Tech had one drive of incredible length - 20 plays, 83 yards and 10:30 minutes of possession time in the first half. But the Tar Heels stood in there and rotated plenty of players in and out along the front seven. They gained energy and emotion as the game evolved.
"I thought at the time to be honest with you it would wear them down," Tech coach Chan Gailey said of the Yellow Jackets' epic-length TD drive. "I think it took as much out of us as it took out of them."
"Not only was it the heat," Tech defensive tackle Joe Anoai added, "but North Carolina had us out there sweating."
That sweating could have turned to bleeding for the Yellow Jackets had the Tar Heel offense been able to bear its share of the load Saturday. But twice the offense drove deep into Tech territory before QB Joe Dailey launched interceptions in the end zone. It was the second time this year Carolina has been whitewashed (23-0 loss at Virginia being the other).
"If we could TiVo the game and do it over, we would," receiver Jesse Holley said. "We gave a giant effort, but we just couldn't capitalize ... Two interceptions in the red zone, that's 14 points. If we have 14 points and they have seven, who wins?"
"The defense did its job," tailback Ronnie McGill added. "But on offense, we've got too many people talking the talk but not walking the walk. I want to see that change right now."
The Tar Heels did a reasonably efficient job picking up the array of pressures and blitzes from Tech's defense, with Dailey getting sacked only once. But Dailey connected on only 13 of 34 passes, some of them errant throws and at least a couple of them clear drops by receivers.
"It had nothing to do with their defense," said Dailey. "We picked everything up they brought. Their defensive coordinator should be upset with the fact we picked up every single blitz. They did not sack the quarterback until the very end of the game. That was encouraging as obviously our system really works well.
"But it's on the quarterback. He's supposed to be the trigger man and should be very efficient. Obviously, that was not the case today."
From the "ifs-and-buts-were-candy-and-nuts" train of thought, it's a shame the Tar Heels cannot combine some days of defense and some days of offense from the past two and a half months. Take the defense from Virginia Tech, the first half against Virginia and this game and match it with an offense that has shown it can move the ball if it doesn't commit 24 turnovers, and you have a respectable football team. There are two games left to merge the offense, defense and kicking game - this week at home against NC State and the season finale Nov. 25 at Duke.
"A complete game, that's what we're shooting for," Bunting says.
"Two wins for the kids," adds Sanders. "They deserve it."
Send your questions about Tar Heel football to Lee Pace at leepace@nc.rr.com. Please include your first and last names and hometown. Individual replies are not possible because of volume of mail received, and names of recruiting prospects and commitments cannot be published on a school-sponsored site until the national signing day in February . The Q&A column will appear each Friday during the season.
