Miami Game Guide

November 13, 2009 | Football

By: UNC Athletic Communications

Nov. 13, 2009

By Lauren Brownlow

Every Thursday, check TarHeelBlue.com for the latest edition of the Game Guide, which provides all the information you need to get ready for gameday.

The Basics

Carolina (6-3, 2-3) will host No. 12/15 Miami (7-2, 4-2) in its final home game of the season. The Tar Heels have three games remaining and must win one to gain bowl eligibility. Carolina is coming off of a 19-6 win over Duke; Miami is coming off of a 52-17 win over Virginia. Carolina leads the series with Miami 7-5 and has won all four of the games played in Kenan Stadium. Carolina has also won the last two straight and three of the last five, all since Miami joined the ACC. Carolina has won four straight games against ranked teams dating back to last season and continuing this year with a win at No. 14 Virginia Tech. If Carolina beats No. 12 Miami, it would be the highest-ranked team Carolina has knocked off since beating No. 4 Miami at home in 2004. Butch Davis is 2-0 against his former team while at Carolina.

Game Time: Miami at North Carolina, 3:30 PM, ABC

Carolina's game notes can be here.

Last Time: Carolina beat Miami 28-24 in Miami last season on September 27, 2008. It was Carolina's first game without T.J. Yates and the Tar Heels had to make a late comeback to get the win. Carolina was down 14-0 by the end of the first quarter. Mike Paulus started the game and completed one pass in his first two series before Cam Sexton came in. On his first drive, Carolina scored a touchdown on a Greg Little run to make it 14-7. Miami responded with a 34-yard field goal and it was 17-7 at halftime. Carolina scored a touchdown on its first drive of the 3rd quarter, largely on the strength of a 37-yard pass to Brandon Tate, to cut it to 17-14. Miami scored another touchdown to go up 24-14 with 9:59 to go. Sexton found Nicks for a 74-yard touchdown three plays later to cut it to 24-21. Sexton found Brooks Foster with 46 seconds left for a 14-yard touchdown, giving Carolina a 28-24 lead. Miami reached the Carolina 20-yard line before Trimane Goddard made the Pontiac Game-Changing Play of the week with an interception in the end zone as time expired.

Sexton completed 11-of-19 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns. Hakeem Nicks caught five passes for 133 yards and a touchdown. Brandon Tate added three catches for 62 yards; Brooks Foster had two catches for 27 yards and his game-winning touchdown. Greg Little led Carolina in rushing with 38 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. Trimane Goddard had a team-high eight tackles and added two interceptions. Tydreke Powell had a team-high three tackles for loss. Miami's Robert Mavre completed 18-of-27 passes for 135 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Jacory Harris also played and completed 4-of-6 passes for 39 yards. Graig Cooper rushed for 110 yards on 19 carries. Kayne Farquharson had three catches for 51 yards and a touchdown. Glenn Cook led Miami in tackles with six, including five solo.

Gameday Weather: Check the local weather forecast before heading for the game.

Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 2:30 PM. The radio broadcast is also available on XM Channel 191 at 3:30 PM. Since it's a home game, the Tar Heel Sports Network broadcast can be heard on XM.

TV Coverage: The game will be shown regionally on ABC.

Game week TV/radio coverage: "Butch Davis Live", Coach Davis' weekly radio show, will be broadcast live from the Top of the Hill restaurant on Franklin Street every Wednesday at 7:00. Inside Carolina Football with Butch Davis airs Saturday morning at 9 a.m. on FOX Sports South. Inside Carolina Football with Butch Davis will air on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. on WTVD ABC 11 in the Triangle and will review Saturday's game. The show will also be available On Demand on Time Warner Cable channel 1234 for free. The Tar Heel Football Review show featuring highlights of the previous week's games will air Tuesday's at 7 p.m. and Thursday's at 8 p.m. in the Triangle and Fayetteville on the local Time Warner Cable station.

Storylines

Making things happen: Carolina's offense did an excellent job of grinding away 38 minutes of clock, keeping Carolina's defense off the field and well-rested. But Carolina's drives continually stalled inside Duke's territory. If there was one play made here or there, Carolina might have had 35 points rather than 19. Carolina crossed midfield eight times and managed 19 points out of that, but four field goals and one touchdown. Of the 34 plays Carolina ran in Duke territory, it averaged 3.1 yards per play while outside of Duke territory, it averaged 4.6 yards per play in 45 plays. Inside the Duke 20-yard line, it was even worse - nine plays for ten yards (1.1 per play), two field goals and one touchdown. "There were some times we were controlling the ball, we sustained really good drives and we stuttered a little bit in the red zone. We've got to do a better job of putting more points on the board," T.J. Yates said. "We did a good job of keeping our defense off the field and when they got back on the field, they did a great job with the energy that they had." Carolina's defense has gotten back to forcing turnovers after a bit of a drought.

After forcing seven turnovers in the first three games, Carolina gained just one in the next three games. But in the last four games, the defense has gotten the ball back 11 times. When Carolina's offense gets the ball after those turnovers, it has done a much better job of doing something with them. In the first four games against FCS teams, Carolina's defense gained three turnovers and Carolina's offense scored one touchdown, punted once and missed a field goal. In the last four games, Carolina's defense has forced seven turnovers when the first-string offense was out there to mount a drive with and the Tar Heels have scored 27 points off of those, scoring three touchdowns and two field goals, punting just once and kneeling out the clock another time. Carolina has averaged 4.8 plays and averaged a little under two minutes per drive after a turnover in the last three games, scoring 13 points on five drives. Carolina has also stopped turning it over as much; after losing 16 turnovers in the first six games while the defense gained 13, the offense has lost three in the last three games while the defense has gained five (+2.0). It's not the gaudy turnover margin Carolina had last season, but it is good enough to win games.

Miami's opponents have not been able to capitalize on their turnovers. In the last three games, Miami has turned it over six times and opponents have managed just ten points. In the first six games, Miami turned it over eight times and opponents turned those into 35 points. Miami, on the other hand, has been better able to capitalize on turnovers. In the last three games, the Hurricanes have turned eight turnovers into 21 points while in the first six they gained six turnovers and turned them into 17 points. Part of the reason they were able to come back against Wake Forest is that they committed just one turnover and Wake couldn't score off of it while Miami forced four turnovers and turned them into seven points. Jacory Harris has 12 interceptions and T.J. Yates has ten. Two of Harris' picks were returned for scores, three resulted in touchdown drives and another in a field goal (38 points). But in the last three games, Harris has five interceptions that resulted in ten points (one a pick-six) but of the four actual drives that began after his picks, the Miami defense has held the opposition to 12 plays for -12 yards and just one field goal. So Carolina needs to make sure that it capitalizes the best it can on Miami's turnovers.

Yates has yet to throw a pick-six but Carolina's defense has given up five touchdowns after Yates' ten interceptions. Not counting scenarios were teams knelt out games after two of Yates' interceptions, that's five touchdowns given up in eight interceptions. In Carolina's three losses, 21 of 70 points allowed have come on interceptions and in wins, 14 of 27 points have been off of interceptions. To be fair to the defense, one of those touchdowns was a five-yard score at Virginia Tech after a Yates' pick deep in Carolina territory. But the shortest scoring drive besides that one was 26 yards at Connecticut. Florida State had a 98-yard touchdown and Virginia drove 42 yards in seven plays for a score after the defense had stopped them all day. This game could come down to which team better capitalizes on turnovers rather than simply forcing them and Carolina's defense will need to make sure that doesn't happen.

Containing a balanced Miami offense: Carolina has faced dangerous offenses the last three games and this game will be yet another such contest. But this offense rivals that of Virginia Tech as the most balanced, but with a better quarterback than Tyrod Taylor in Miami's Jacory Harris and a running back that is perhaps not as consistent - but more explosive - than Virginia Tech's Ryan Williams. Miami has gained at least 100 rushing and at least 200 passing yards in five of its eight games and has a 4-1 record in those games, the only loss coming in overtime to Clemson. Despite its potent passing attack, new offensive coordinator Mark Whipple has stayed with the run and the Hurricanes have passed more than they have run in just two of eight games this season. Despite being down big at Virginia Tech, Miami rushed nine more times than it passed.

What makes the offense even more lethal is that there are so many options. Four different Hurricanes have averaged 20 or more rushing yards per game and six different Hurricanes have a rushing touchdown. Four different Miami players have a run of 20 or more yards. Seventeen different Hurricanes have caught at least one pass; seven have caught ten or more balls. Last week against Virginia, Jacory Harris completed 19 passes and 13 were by different Hurricanes. But of the 11 Hurricanes with at least five catches this year, eight average 10.4 yards per catch or more. Leading receiver Leonard Hankerson averages a team-high 19.1 yards per catch. And yet again, Harris is mobile enough to escape from trouble and find one of his speedy receivers downfield if the Tar Heels don't stay disciplined.

"You just try to emphasize with your players during the course of the week, your preparation, you've got to be disciplined. You can't take uncalculated chances," Butch Davis said. "As opportunistic as sometimes it looks like to jump underneath a block or to lose contain and you start peeking and you start looking, all of a sudden, now you've allowed somebody to spill out from a rush lane. Those rush lanes don't necessarily have to be to the outside perimeter. They can be inside, as you saw - Thaddeus Lewis had two 40-yard scrambles back-to-back running right straight up the gut. So you just try to make sure that you emphasize all week long, just be disciplined and be sound in your rush lanes."

Carolina was able to play tight man coverage on Duke's wide receivers, largely because the threat of Duke to run the ball was minimal. That same scenario does not exist this week. "Against a team that relies so exclusively and so heavily on the ability to throw the football, you always want it to stay a one-dimensional game," Davis said. "I thought our defense took the right approach, to make sur e that we didn't allow any kind of running game to get generated to start the ballgame because you don't want to have to start cheating the box and devoting a whole lot of extra people to stopping the run and you're behind the count with the guys in the secondary on the passing game."

Miami has converted 44.9% of its third downs, making it the second team Carolina has faced in the last three games that is in the top five in third-down conversions. Florida State has converted 58-of-117 third downs (49.6%) but converted just 5-of-13 against North Carolina. Carolina allowed a combined 17-of-38 third down conversion (44.7%) in its first two ACC losses and has held its last two opponents to just 8-of-28 (28.6%) in two ACC wins. In Miami's four ACC wins, it has converted 46.3% of third downs and in two ACC losses, that number drops to 36 percent. Carolina will have to get the Hurricanes off the field if it wants to win.

Special Teams: Miami had two blocked punts against Virginia, one that eventually resulted in a Virginia score, but it was a 60-yard punt return for a touchdown by Thearon Collier that showed just how dangerous this Miami team can be on special teams. With the woes Carolina has had in that area recently, that was a scary sight for Tar Heel fans. Carolina has put itself in trouble in the last two weeks. A touchdown kickoff against Virginia Tech was returned 42 yards to the Virginia Tech 42-yard line and the Hokies got a field goal out of it. Two other mistakes were erased by the defense - an illegal shift after a 37-yard punt and eight-yard return gave Carolina just 24 net yards and the Hokies the ball at the Carolina 41. A 34-yard punt was returned 17 yards to the Carolina 37-yard line. Duke had one punt return for six yards but five kickoff returns for 132 yards (26.4 yards per return). Duke also blocked a Carolina punt recovered at the Carolina 31 that set up a Duke field goal. After Carolina kickoffs, Duke started drives at its own 40, 29, 10 (after a Duke penalty), 30, 22 and the Carolina 41 (after a 15-yard personal foul). One Carolina punt went for 33 yards and out of bounds at the Duke 48, resulting in a Duke field goal. A personal foul after Da'Norris Searcy fair-caught a Duke punt resulted in a start at the 39-yard line being pushed back to the 24-yard line. T.J. Yates threw his only interception on that drive.

Carolina is seventh in the league in kickoff coverage, netting 41.6 yards per kickoff. Carolina has just one touchback, one of only three teams to have one or fewer touchbacks this year. The Tar Heels are tied for sixth in punting with 35.8 net yards per punt; Grant Shallock's six touchbacks are third most in the league and his 40.6 yards per punt are also third. Carolina has slipped to third in punt returns but that is by far its best area, averaging 13.5 per return. Carolina is 11th in kickoff returns with just 19.8 yards per return. Miami is ninth in kickoff coverage with 38.7 yards; Matt Bosher is averaging 58.7 yards per kickoff, 11th in the league. Miami is ninth in net punting with 34.6 yards; Bosher's 39.2 yards per punt are tied for eighth and the 2.9 yards per return Miami is allowing are seventh.

Miami is seventh in punt returns with 9.8 per return but are tied for the league lead with two punt return scores. Miami is third in kickoff returns, averaging 23.0 yards per return. "They're very dangerous in special teams," Davis said. "(Travis) Benjamin, he and Graig Cooper on punt returns and kick returns, they're as dynamic of a duo as probably anybody in the country is playing with. At any given moment, they're a real threat to return it to the house and put points on the board. " Carolina had six penalties against Miami last season and two were on special teams. Carolina averaged just 22.5 net yards per punt. The Tar Heels' miscues on special teams seem too numerous to count in last year's meeting but among them were allowing 37-yard punt return, a roughing the punter penalty that prolonged an eventual field goal drive, an illegal procedure penalty, a Miami punt downed inside the Carolina one-yard line, a missed field goal, a botched snap on a punt resulting in a fumble and a kickoff out of bounds. Miami began two possessions in Carolina territory, both due to special teams' errors, and scored on both. Eight of Miami's 11 possessions started at its own 35-yard line or better. Of Carolina's 12 possessions, five started at its own 30 or better and three of those went for touchdowns. Miami made mistakes of its own, also kicking it out of bounds once and kicking 24-yard punt; both mistakes set up Carolina scores.

Special teams have been huge in this rivalry and it seems whichever team can overcome its own mistakes or capitalize on those of its opponent will win. In 2007, Miami missed an extra point and a 32-yard field goal. Carolina turned the blocked punt into a score five plays later. A 56-yard punt to the Miami 21 late in the 4th saw Graig Cooper hand the ball to Darnell Jenkins, who returned it to the Carolina 11. That set up a score and were it not for Carolina recovering the onside kick, Miami might have tied it.

At The Game

Listening to the Tar Heel Sports Network at the game: WCHL 1360 is the local affiliate.

Parking/construction update: For the latest information, click here.

Pregame activities: Tar Heel Town will open at 12:30 PM on Saturday and the Countdown to Kickoff radio show will broadcast live there beginning at 1:30. The Old Well Walk will be at 1:15 and then the Marching Tar Heels will perform on the steps of Wilson Library at 2:30 before heading to the stadium. Then at 2:45, start making your way to Kenan Stadium and make sure you're in your seats early. For more information, see the new <" http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/unc/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2009fanguide"="">2009 Fan Guide on TarHeelBlue.com.

Postgame activities: See the Fan Guide on TarHeelBlue.com for the latest information on postgame parking and activities.

Watching At Home

Turn down the sound: If you're watching at home while listening to the radio or over the computer via Carolina All-Access, there will inevitably be some delay. For the reason - and a possible solution - click here.

A full list of THSN affiliates can be found here.

ABC coverage: The game will be shown regionally on ABC. For a coverage map, click here. Bob Wischusen will handle the play-by-play and Bob Griese will be the analyst.

Names To Know

Ryan Houston: It's the obvious choice, but Houston is going to have a lot on his shoulders - literally and figuratively - if Carolina has any chance of winning this game. Houston has never been an every-down back but he did a great job against Duke, carrying 37 times for 164 yards, 4.4 per carry. It's a scary situation, but looking at Carolina's rushing leaders, three are out for the season with injury (Shaun Draughn, Jamal Womble and A.J. Blue), one is a freshman and three are wide receivers. The only other running back was moved over recently, Anthony Elzy, and he has 12 yards on two carries. He was sore after the game and tired during it, but he - and the rest of the team - was able to fight through it at least in part because he knew he would eventually wear the defense down. "After a couple, two or three first drives, you could tell - our defense was getting off the field quick, we were sustaining pretty long drives and they were getting tired. Those arm tackles were a little bit weaker later on in the game," T.J. Yates said.

The bruising back has had a lot of success running against most teams, but he hasn't gotten much of a chance against the Hurricanes. Miami has a lot more bodies and a lot more athleticism on defense than the Blue Devils did, which will make them harder to wear down. He has just nine carries for 21 yards in his two games against Miami. Still, on his five rushes for 18 yards last year, he converted three of Carolina's six third-down conversions and made Carolina's only fourth-down conversion. He also had one of Carolina's two rushing scores; his came on the fourth-down play at the Miami one-yard line that made it to 17-14 at the beginning of the third quarter. He had four rushes for 13 yards in the 2007 win over Miami, including two rushes for 12 yards on two different first downs.

Charles Brown: On a smaller scale than Trimane Goddard last season, Brown is not necessarily the most talented member of the Carolina secondary but he always seems to be there to make a turnover happen when Carolina needs it. Teams are picking on him to avoid guys like Kendric Burney and Deunta Williams, and Brown has made them pay for that at times. Carolina has gained 18 turnovers this season - eight fumbles and ten interceptions - and Brown himself has accounted for six of those, forcing or recovering three fumbles and picking off three passes. What's been even better about his forced turnovers is that all six have come in Carolina territory, five inside of field goal range (inside the 30). So he has arguably helped save at least 15 points and perhaps more, not to mention shifting the momentum.

He bounced back very well from making that mistake against Florida State and allowing a 98-yard touchdown. Against Virginia Tech, the Hokies gained 45 yards on their first two plays but on the second play, Brown forced a fumble that Burney recovered at the Carolina 27 and even though Carolina went three-and-out after that, it resulted in a rejuvenated defense. He also had a pass breakup later in the quarter on fourth down. Against Duke, he had an interception when Duke had reached the Carolina 32-yard line and returned it 54 yards to the Duke 20, leading to a Carolina field goal to make it 9-6 going into the fourth. Against the Citadel, he had an interception at the Carolina two-yard line. He forced two turnovers in the Connecticut game, both inside the Carolina 40-yard line. Against ECU, he recovered a fumble at the Carolina 27-yard line in the second quarter and the Tar Heels scored a touchdown on the next possession to go up 14-7. He also had two pass breakups (including one on a deep ball) on a drive that ended in a blocked field goal, leaving the score 24-14.

Against Miami in 2007, he was just a freshman, but he was still gaining score-saving turnovers. He had an interception at the Carolina three-yard line that he returned to the 12 that saved at least three points when Carolina was hanging to a precarious 33-20 lead in the third quarter. Brown might get thrown at a lot in this game, but if he can keep up his ball-hawking abilities and make a play without getting overly aggressive and missing a tackle, he will be invaluable in this game.

Jacory Harris: The sophomore phenom was discussed as a possible Heisman candidate early this season, so it is shocking to see that he has an ACC-high 12 interceptions. However, Harris has an ACC-leading 149.7 pass efficiency rating and his 18 passing touchdowns are third behind Riley Skinner and Russell Wilson. He is fourth in passing yards with 259.6 per game. He's completing 61.6% of his passes and despite his high number of picks, in the last two games (both wins) Harris has completed 40-of-74 passes for 562 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. Against Virginia, Harris completed 18-of-31 passes for 232 yards and two scores.

He's also been huge when it matters: in the fourth quarter against Wake Forest, he started out just 2-of-10 for 31 yards. On his final three passes, he completed 3-of-3 for 59 yards and a touchdown. Against Clemson, he completed just 2-of-3 passes but those went for 84 yards and one 69-yard touchdown; he did throw one pick-six on his only incompletion. In the huge third quarter against Georgia Tech, he completed 7-of-7 passes for 107 yards and a score. He can be very dangerous and just because Carolina holds him to a few incompletions, they can't fall asleep on him. Last year against Carolina, he completed 4-of-6 passes for 39 yards and led Miami's field goal drive that gave them a 17-7 lead early on. Three of his completions were for 10 or more yards.

Graig Cooper: The junior running back has always been one of Miami's most potent weapons and with all of the other threats on the team, he has gone unnoticed at times. But he has saved his best for the ACC; two of his 100-yard rushing games have come in Miami's ACC wins and last week against Virginia, he had 152 yards on 18 carries (8.4 per carry) and a score. Cooper has 893 all-purpose yards in six ACC games (148.8 yards per game), including 77.5 rushing yards (6.1 yards per carry), 11.3 receiving yards per game and 25.6 yards per kickoff return. He had just 27 yards against Wake Forest but one of his carries went for 20 and helped set up a Miami touchdown to cut the score to 20-14 before halftime.

Against Clemson, he had 99 yards on 17 carries (5.8 per rush) and one of his attempts was a 19-yard run in overtime to the Clemson six-yard line, but Miami was held to a field goal. He had a 39-yard kickoff return at Virginia Tech to the Hokies' 46-yard line that set up Miami's only touchdown. He had a 36-yard return against Georgia Tech that set up a touchdown to give Miami a 24-3 lead. Against Florida State, he had 177 kickoff return yards on five returns (35.4 per return), ensuring that Miami never started a drive after one of his returns any worse than its own 25-yard line and once in FSU territory after a 63-yard return to the FSU 29.

Cooper has averaged 120 all-purpose yards in two games against Carolina; last season, he had 110 yards on 19 carries (5.8 per carry) and caught three passes for 29 yards and a score. He had six rushes for nine or more yards and four for ten or more; during Miami's first scoring drive, he had a 20-yard rush and a 31-yard rush. He had an 11-yard touchdown catch and a 14-yard rush that set up a Miami score for a late lead. In 2007, it was Cooper who handed the punt return to his teammate for a huge punt return to the Carolina 11 late in the 2007 Tar Heel win. On that drive, Cooper had a 16-yard rush on 2nd and 25 and an eight-yard catch on the ensuing third and 9 that set up a 4th down conversion and a Miami score to make it 33-27 late in the fourth; Carolina held on after recovering the onsides kick.

Cooper is eighth in the league in rushing with 59.8 yards per game but his 5.7 yards per carry ranks third among the top-ten backs in yardage in the league. Two backs Carolina has already faced - Ryan Williams (5.9) and Jonathan Dwyer (6.5) are both ahead of him. The way the defense played each of those backs is drastically different, and if they play Cooper the way they played Williams, they will be in good shape.

Lauren Brownlow is the executive editor of Tar Heel Monthly.