University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points: Defense Out-Hits, Out-Wits Irish
October 12, 2008 | Football, Featured Writers, Lee Pace
Oct. 12, 2008
by Lee Pace, Extra Points
It was, Mark Paschal said, like "seven-on-seven," the practice drill where the offensive backs and receivers work against the defensive linebackers and secondary. The quarterback always has the edge as there is no pass rush and no forest of humanity blocking and charging in front of him. It's a great exercise for timing and recognition on both sides of the ball, but when a linebacker during a live-meat game draws that comparison, the defense is toast.
Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis made the decision three weeks ago during a loss at Michigan State to eschew a hard-driving, ground-game mentality on offense and instead focus more on the arm of quarterback Jimmy Clausen and a bevy of talented receivers like Golden Tate, Jimmy Grimes and Michael Floyd. Saturday in Kenan Stadium, Weis had Clausen running an impeccable imitation of Tom Brady and the vaunted New England no-huddle attacks Weis had engineered before joining the Fighting Irish as head coach in 2005.
Tar Heel defensive coordinator Everett Withers had, of course, studied Notre Dame's tapes for its 4-1 start to the season but also reached into his archives to review games from his days with the Tennessee Titans when they twice met Weis and the Patriots--on a Monday night in 2002 and a playoff game in 2003.
"This offense is a Charlie Weis-Tom Brady offense," Withers said last week. "It's exactly what they did in New England four and five years ago."
The Irish opened the game by using a personnel package that featured four receivers, one tight end in the slot and no running back. Clausen called the plays at the line scrimmage after viewing the Tar Heel formation, and the no-huddle concept prevented the Tar Heels from substituting different personnel groups for various down-and-distance situations.
Clausen over the middle for 10. On an out-pattern for 13. The middle again for a dozen. Down the left boundary for 19 yards and a touchdown. The Irish rolled 82 yards on 11 plays on their first possession to take a quick 7-0 lead with less than five minutes elapsed.
"They had us reeling," Tar Heel coach Butch Davis admitted afterward.
"Clausen was deadly when he had time," Paschal noted. "He was unbelievable."
Yet there was one asterisk to the proceedings: On that first drive, Tar Heel linebacker Quan Sturdivant had a shot at an interception, and on the next snap safety Trimane Goddard had a sure pick bounce off his normally reliable hands. The Irish scored seconds later.
"We had two chances on that first drive to negate that touchdown," Davis said. "If we had gotten one of those, we might not have seen that again. They might have said, `This is a bad idea,' and gone on to something else."
There was more to come. Notre Dame tacked on a field goal and then in the second quarter sprinted 80 yards in eight plays to take a 17-6 lead. Tate won a jump ball with Carolina cornerback Kendric Burney for 47 of those yards. Then Clausen and Floyd connected on a thing of beauty from the seven yard-line--Floyd took Tar Heel Jordan Hemby to the inside, let Clausen launch the ball toward Floyd's outside shoulder, then turned and made an easy catch in the right corner of the end zone.
By intermission, Notre Dame had a 17-9 lead and Clausen had thrown for 199 of Notre Dame's 260 yards.
"It took a little bit of time to calm down and relax," Paschal said. "Once we understood what they were trying to do offensively, we made some adjustments and made a couple of big plays."
"The whole game, we never really panicked," Withers said. "I told our guys there are going to be games we have to make major adjustments on sideline. But if everyone will stay with it, we'll get through it. At halftime I told them, `Hey, this is a fun ball game. Let's go out and play and we'll be in this game all the way to the end.'"
The Carolina offense and special teams would do their part in this 18th meeting between Carolina and Notre Dame. With Brandon Tate sidelined with a sprained knee in the first quarter and Brooks Foster ham-handed with two of QB Cam Sexton's throws, Hakeem Nicks notched up his game and led the Tar Heels in receptions with nine catches for 141 yards; he also had 76 yards after initial contact. The offensive line played what Davis termed "one of our better games" protecting Sexton from a myriad of blitz attacks.
Shaun Draughn continued to evolve at tailback with 91 yards rushing, and the jets he turned on during an apparent third quarter TD run (called back by a holding penalty) were something to behold. Tailback Ryan Houston and fullback Bobby Rome were outstanding together in a power backfield package--so effective, in fact, that Notre Dame's attention to their danger up the gut opened up a relative easy touchdown roll-out for Sexton after a fake to Houston and then helped Foster get open downfield late in the game for a key reception had the catch not been overruled by the replay official.
Casey Barth, who had missed two field goals from inside the 40 in recent weeks, was perfect in the first half on three kicks, and a fourth from 53 yards was on-line but a half dozen yards short. Jay Wooten placed his kick-offs with good depth, aim and hang-time, and the coverage units performed well for the most part, led by the efforts of linebacker Kennedy Tinsley.
But make no mistake: This pulsating 29-24 victory by the Tar Heels on Saturday was won on defense. It was won with a group of outstanding athletes who are getting better by the week and by good leadership from the coaching staff as the game evolved.
After the initial Irish onslaught, Davis, Withers and the defensive staff began tweaking their original game plan with at least one personnel package they had not anticipated using in bulk--a "dime" package that included adding Charles Brown and Da'Norris Searcy and removing Paschal, the middle linebacker.
"We scratched it in the dirt," Davis said. "They were picking on some guys and we said, `This is what we need to do.' When kids can handle something like that, it's a pretty good validation someone is paying attention."
Carolina also played some "Okie" front with three down linemen and dropping eight in coverage. At times the Heels rushed Clausen with five players and brought good heat in doing so. The cornerbacks showed press coverage on some pre-snaps and stayed in press on the hike of the ball; at others they showed press and bailed just before the snap. All the while they were paying enough attention to the run while recognizing that Notre Dame's interest was to throw the ball as much as possible.
"One of their main goals was to try to get a mismatch with a tight end or wide receiver on our mike linebacker," Withers said. "We did a pretty good job of adjusting to that. As the game wore on, we were able to get some pressure on the quarterback. We gave them enough different stuff to keep them off-balance. We got the quarterback moving around a little bit and got him off-rhythm."
On the first snap of the third quarter, Sturdivant read Clausen's eyes and jumped an out-route, snaring the ball at the 32 and racing untouched into the end zone for a score. That pulled Carolina within 17-16 and juiced the Tar Heel sideline--not to mention the raucous west end zone "Tar Pit."
"The Xs and Os aside, we needed to block a punt, return a kick, have someone get a fumble or interception," Davis said. "Quan's score kind of electrified the whole football team, it got our mojo going again. It got us excited, got us back in the fight."
And what a fight it would be over the next two quarters.
Carolina added another interception and two fumble recoveries to its takeaway margin. The Heels had a 5-0 advantage Saturday, improving their season totals to 18 gained, seven lost. That plus 1.83-game margin leads the nation; the Heels' 14 interceptions also lead the nation.
Davis noted the endurance factor of rotating more than two full units of defensive linemen throughout the game as one element of the defensive performance. The freshmen end triumvirate of Robert Quinn, Quinton Coples and Michael McAdoo improves each week, and tackle Aleric Mullins executed a highlight reel play with a strip of Clausen and recovery of the ball.
"There is nothing is harder in football from a physical standpoint than being a 300-pound defensive lineman, and you've got to chase that quarterback around seven, eight, nine, 10 seconds on a scramble," Davis said. "Then you have the ball thrown, you turn and chase the ball downfield. Count the number of times a guy like Marvin Austin turned and made the tackle.
"The biggest key was we played much better coverage. They were not getting the immediate quick throws. The quarterback had to hold the ball, he had to scramble and throw it out of bounds. A lot of it had to do with our secondary and underneath coverage guys."
It came down to three fourth-quarter defensive stands. The Tar Heels held Notre Dame on downs at the Carolina 27 early in the quarter. Then Deunta Williams snared a Clausen pass at the Carolina 15 a few minutes later. And Goddard fell on a loose ball when Floyd caught a pass over the middle as the clock was winding down, tried to lateral the ball and hope a teammate would scoop it up.
"I thought our coaches and players did a phenomenal job of persevering through some tough times early in the ballgame," Davis said. "We got it put to us early, especially in the first quarter."
That's five victories now for the Tar Heels, each with a slightly different character and texture: The humongous game for Brandon Tate against McNeese State with nearly 400 all-purpose yards; the dual interceptions by Sturdivant and Bruce Carter and big-hit defensive mentality at Rutgers; the Cam Sexton debut at Miami; and the Bruce Carter punt-block party versus Connecticut.
And now the well-rounded triumph over Notre Dame, pegged by the defense's ability to out-hit the players in gold and out-wit the coach with the vaunted reputation. The win boosts the 5-1 Tar Heels to 18th in the AP Top 25 and introduces them to the USA Today coaches' poll at No. 21.
"It's obviously a nice thing for our program," Davis said. "But we're just halfway through the season. Our goal was not to win five games. We're just `on track.' We won this one, now we have to get ready for another. It's a nice validation to our players that people realize they are playing hard and competing."
Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace is in his 19th year of chronicling Carolina football through "Extra Points." He'll answer questions about the Tar Heels weekly throughout the season through his "Extra Points Mailbag" and on the pregame show for the Tar Heel Sports Network. Email him at leepace@nc.rr.com and include your name and hometown. No recruiting questions, please.
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