University of North Carolina Athletics
Miami Game Guide
October 22, 2010 | Football
Oct. 22, 2010
By Lauren Brownlow
The Basics
Carolina (4-2, 2-1), riding a four-game win streak, will travel to Sun Life Stadium to face No. 25 Miami (4-2, 2-1) on Saturday night. Carolina is coming off of a 44-10 win at Virginia and Miami defeated Duke on the road last week, 28-13. Miami is 1-1 at home and 3-1 on the road so far. Carolina leads series 8-5 and has won four of the last six starting with an upset victory in 2004 followed by two straight Miami wins, and then three straight by Carolina. The Tar Heels are looking to win five in a row for the first time since 2001. Miami will be seeking its first 3-1 start in ACC play under head coach Randy Shannon and its best start in league play since 2005.
Game Time: North Carolina at Miami, 7:30 PM, ESPN2
Carolina's game notes can be here.
Last Time: Carolina beat No. 12 Miami 33-24 in Chapel Hill on November 14th, 2009 in Kenan Stadium. Carolina led 20-7 at halftime and 23-7 with 8:39 to go in the third but Miami scored 10 straight to cut it to 23-17 with 1:18 left in the third. Miami had seven more first downs than Carolina and over 100 more total yards but turned it over four times to none by Carolina. Miami quarterback Jacory Harris completed 28-of-50 passes for 319 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions. Carolina's Kendric Burney had three of those interceptions, which he returned for 170 yards and one touchdown; Melvin Williams had a touchdown after Burney fumbled the ball to him on his third interception. That touchdown made it 30-17 Carolina; Miami scored again to cut it to 30-24 with 7:21 left but Carolina's 11-play, 60-yard field goal drive sealed the win. T.J. Yates completed 17-of-31 for 213 yards and one touchdown. Zack Pianalto was the leading receiver with five catches for 51 yards. Ryan Houston led Carolina in rushing with 76 yards on 24 carries. Melvin Williams led Carolina with eight tackles and two pass breakups. Leonard Hankerson led Miami in receiving with seven catches for 92 yards; Graig Cooper had 63 yards rushing.
Gameday Weather: Check the local weather forecast before heading to the game.
Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 6:30 PM. The radio broadcast is also available on XM Channel 190 at 7:30. Since it's an away game, the Miami's broadcasters will be heard instead of the Tar Heel Sports Network crew.
TV Coverage: The game will be shown on ESPN2.
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 the Huddle with Butch Davis airs Saturday morning at 9 a.m. on FOX Sports South. Inside the Huddle with Butch Davis will air on Sunday at 11 a.m. on WTVD ABC 11 in the Triangle and will review Saturday's game. 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
Special teams: Butch Davis did not mince words when talking about his special teams at Monday's press conference. Another area that we did kind of take some steps backwards in was in special teams," Davis said. "Miami, with the explosiveness of their returners, we have got to do a much better job of kicking the football. It starts there, the actual kicking of the football, both on kickoffs and on punts. It really puts your coverage units behind the eight-ball, so to speak, because of the hang time, the direction of the kick, how long it stays in the air, giving the guys that are going down there the best opportunity." Miami's highest-profile game at Ohio State featured an outstanding special teams performance that featured a punt return and a kickoff return for a touchdown. The Hurricanes certainly have two standout returners in Lamar Miller and Travis Benjamin, and Carolina likely still has nightmares about what LSU's Patrick Peterson did against them. But despite those struggles, the only area it has seemed to impact is an area that Carolina still struggles in - net punting. Carolina is 118th nationally and last in the ACC in punting with just 29.7 net yards per punt. Miami is third in the ACC and 17th nationally in punting with senior Matt Bosher netting 39.8 yards. But Carolina is actually ahead of Miami in punt returns, averaging 9.6 to 8.9 for Miami, and in kickoff returns (22.2 for Carolina, 20.3 for Miami). Make no mistake, though - at any moment, those returners could go off.
"They've got explosive players. Travis Benjamin, it's a thrill a minute every time he sees the football offensively or on special teams. They've got good kick returners," Davis said. "It's an area that we have struggled this year, from the LSU game. At times, you think you've kind of got it a little bit under control and you play a little bit better. But we've not faced anybody the last couple of weeks that's got the ability to return the football. They've got good athletes that are doing it. It's not just the returner a lot of times. In this case, a lot of it is the returners but they've got good athletes blocking for those returners. That makes it even a bigger challenge." Kickoff coverage has been inconsistent as well but Casey Barth has averaged 63 yards or better in three of Carolina's six games. The coverage unit is eighth in the ACC, netting 41.8 yards. Carolina had not given up a return of 30 yards or more in two straight games against ECU and Clemson but gave up three such returns against Virginia. Barth had two kickoffs go out of bounds and had no touchbacks.
"Casey regrets he tried to over-kick in an attempt to try to get more distance and kicked two of them out of bounds," Davis said. "It seemed like after every kickoff, we spotted them field position where they were starting at or about midfield just about every time. So we've definitely got to do a much better job on that part." It may just be an oddity, but Carolina's kickoff coverage unit has struggled a lot more on the road than at home; every road team the Tar Heels have faced have returned at least one kickoff for 50 yards. Opponents have averaged 26.3 yards per kickoff return in Carolina's road games compared to 17.7 at Kenan Stadium. C.J. Feagles has struggled with his distance quite a bit on punts. Grant Schallock had a lot more distance, but his hang time was not as good as Feagles. In fact, just eight of Feagles' 17 punts have been returned and opponents have managed 37 yards on those returns, 33 on one return against Clemson. Schallock's nine punts have been returned six times for 173 yards. While 163 of those came against LSU, it still is a situation where Carolina's already thin coverage units can't afford any disadvantage when it comes to hang time. The good news is that Carolina's return game got a spark with the return of Da'Norris Searcy to the lineup against ECU. In Carolina's first three games without him, it had just one punt return for 17 yards on a Bruce Carter block. But since, Carolina has returned four for 31 yards with a long of 20. Searcy's impact in kickoff returns was felt immediately as well; Carolina averaged 20.2 yards per return in its first three games and 24.9 with Searcy. And Carolina's longest kickoff return was 30 yards before Searcy has had 30 such returns in the last three games.
Miami is dangerous, but they have proven that they can be bottled up and Carolina has proven it can contain dangerous returners like ECU's Dwayne Harris. Miami averaged 31.8 yards per kickoff return in its first two games and has averaged just 15.5 in the last four games. Miami also went from averaging 27.8 per punt return in its first two games to just five total punt return yards on nine returns in the last four games. Travis Benjamin has ten punt returns for 100 yards this season but one went for 79 yards, meaning the other nine were for just 21 yards. Lamar Miller had an 88-yard kickoff return touchdown but has averaged 19.8 yards on his other four. Without his return, Miami has averaged 15.5 as a team. Duke and Ohio State were the only two teams this season to average less than 40 yards of net punting against Miami, and both paid the price. Ohio State won but gave up a punt return touchdown; Duke had just one punt inside the 20, the lowest against Miami this season. Ohio State won the game but Duke just didn't have enough, especially with seven turnovers.
Efficiency: Carolina has the No. 4 red-zone defense nationally, allowing opponents to score on just 13-of-21 red-zone trips. The six red-zone touchdowns allowed by Carolina are the fewest in the ACC. Miami's offense, conversely, has struggled in the red zone, converting just 19-of-26 trips (15 touchdowns), missing a field goal and turning it over three times. Carolina's defense hasn't always been dominant, and Virginia certainly moved the ball well to get into the red zone. But once it got there, the sense of urgency increased and Carolina would not let them score. "Just somebody go in there and make a play, not letting them score no matter how they get down there," linebacker Kevin Reddick said of the defense's mentality. "Obviously, we want to keep them from getting down there but if they ever get down there, don't let them score. It tenses up for us. Now, we have to step up, become man and go ahead and stop them from getting in." On offense, Carolina has been able to be efficient when necessary and dynamic at times. Carolina has converted 22-of-24 red zone chances (one missed field goal; one time expiration. It has committed one turnover in its last three games. Carolina is No. 1 in the league in turnover margin (+1.17), fourth in third-down conversion, fourth in sacks against and first in pass efficiency. Miami is first in pass defense efficiency; the highest team Carolina faced before was Clemson (6th). Carolina's opponents have averaged 75.2 yards per game, 2nd-most in the ACC. But Carolina has slipped to seventh in penalties thanks to averaging 8.3 for 71.0 yards in the last three games.
As well as Carolina played at Virginia, it was something Davis noticed in that game. Carolina had three holding penalties, an offensive personal foul and two false starts. "Offensively, we've got to do a much better job. Against really good football teams, you can't have big plays taken away," Davis said. "We had a touchdown taken off the board with a holding call and some of those kinds of things." Miami's defense is comparable to both LSU's and Clemson's, the latter of which held Carolina to its worst offensive performance (255 total yards). It is third in the ACC in sacks with 20 and has amassed 57 tackles for loss. Eight of those sacks and 14 tackles for loss came against Florida A&M, but in ACC play, they have 23 tackles for loss and six sacks in three games. Last week, it had nine tackles for loss and three sacks against Duke. This defense has also gained 18 turnovers, tied for seventh nationally, including seven at Duke last week (five interceptions and two fumbles). Teams that have been successful against Miami's defense have kept the ball for more than three plays; Clemson, Duke and Pitt combined for 23 such drives of 49 total. Ohio State and Florida State, who beat Miami, had 15 such drives out of 27. Those teams have also kept the ball in their possession, committing just one turnover. Carolina will have to do the same.
At The Game
Tickets: Tickets are available for purchase here.
How to get to the game: For directions to Sun Life Stadium, click here. For parking information, click here.
What to do in Miami Gardens: Miami Gardens is about 20-30 minutes outside of Miami, and for a list of things to do there, click here.
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.
ESPN2 coverage: The game will be shown on ESPN2. Mark Jones and Bob Davie will have the call.
Names To Know
T.J. Yates: The senior quarterback is tied with Boise State's Kellen Moore for the fewest interceptions (one), and even that one bounced off a receiver's hands. Yates has been efficient in all games and explosive in some, and he will need that explosiveness against a tough Hurricanes' defense. He has gotten off to fast starts, averaging 94 yards passing in the first quarter on 45-of-54 completions. He has dropped off significantly in the second and third quarters; in the last two games, he has completed 14-of-29 passes for 229 yards in those two quarters compared to 22-of-28 for 274 in the first and fourth. He had by far his best game against Virginia, completing 17-of-22 for 339 yards and three touchdowns. The loss of his favorite target Zack Pianalto didn't hurt him against Virginia in the final two quarters, but it could going forward. Pianalto was first on the team with 36 targets (30 receptions). But after targeting Pianalto 30 times in the first four games, he was targeted six times in the last two games and Yates still put up big numbers in one of the two. Clemson had taken away Pianalto and other teams were likely to try to do the same. Now, Yates must find guys like Dwight Jones (28 targets) and Erik Highsmith (24) more often. He found tight end Ed Barham twice on three targets for 13 yards last week. In his career against Miami, Yates has passed for 431 yards (215.5 per game), one touchdown and no interceptions. In last year's game, he completed 17-of-31 for 213 and a touchdown. He missed the 2008 contest.
Tre Boston: The native Floridian and true freshmen defensive back, like most freshmen, has had his ups and downs this year. But his performance has been good enough to rank 16th in passes defended in the ACC and fourth in forced fumbles, despite not having forced any since LSU. His performance in that game earned him the starting job, which he lost after the Rutgers game. But the person who started ahead of him, LeCount Fantroy, has gone down with an injury and even if he hadn't, Boston might have earned his job back with his performance. At Virginia, he had nine tackles (four solo) including one for loss and added a pass breakup. Kendric Burney will not be back for this game, and he was sensational against Miami last season. Trimane Goddard was similarly dominant at Miami two years before that, picking off two passes. So there will need to be someone who can emerge from the Tar Heel secondary and make plays against perhaps the most talented group of wide receivers Carolina has faced.
Jacory Harris: The 6-4 junior quarterback has shown the potential to both electrify and infuriate fans; he has all kinds of big-play potential and he has capitalized on many of those, but has struggled with interceptions and accuracy at times as well. He has completed 104-of-200 passes (52%) for 1,344 yards, 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions this season. Six of those interceptions came in games at Pitt and Ohio State (four at Ohio State), and he has had just three in ACC play and one in the last two games. In those first two non-conference road games, Harris had a better completion percentage (60.6%) and more yards (290.0) but threw six picks and was sacked four times. In the first three ACC games, Harris has completed a far lower completion percentage (42.9%) and yards (224.4) but has five touchdowns to three interceptions and has been sacked just twice, rushing for 38 yards and two touchdowns. Against Duke, he completed 17-of-34 for 224 yards and a score; he was not sacked and ran for 19 yards on three carries and a touchdown. He also failed to commit a turnover for the first time in a full game he has played in this season. Against Carolina in his career, he has completed 32-of-58 passes (55.2%) for 358 yards, but has just one touchdown to four interceptions and was sacked three times. He saw just spot duty against Carolina in 2008, completing 4-of-6 for 39 yards. But last year, he completed 28-of-50 for 319 yards and threw four interceptions, three to Kendric Burney, who is not playing. If Harris is finding a rhythm and avoiding taking unnecessary risks, Carolina will have a tough time slowing the talented quarterback and his explosive passing game.
Sean Spence: The junior linebacker is Miami's leading tackler with 56 stops (29 solo) and has ten tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. He is tied for fifth in the ACC in tackles for loss and fourth in tackles. He was injured much of last year as a sophomore after a standout freshman season but has come on strong this year, producing in some of Miami's biggest games. He has 32 tackles in the last three games (18 solo) and 3.5 tackles for loss, adding a forced fumble at Clemson and a fumble recovery at Duke. He has three double-digit tackle games this year, including at Ohio State when he had 11 (six solo), 2.0 tackles for loss and a pass breakup. He had 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss at Pitt. Last week against Duke, he has 12 tackles (eight solo) and a tackle for loss. Carolina's run game has struggled to get going at times and Spence is the kind of force on Miami's front seven that could make it all the more difficult.
Lauren Brownlow is the executive editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
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Players Mentioned
