University of North Carolina Athletics
Turner's Take: Time to Start
September 21, 2012 | Football, Featured Writers, Turner Walston
Carolina football returns home to take on East Carolina after a rough stretch of two games on the road in which the Tar Heels were downright dreadful in the first 30 minutes, but then brilliant in the second stanza. It's puzzling, really.
Carolina looked beaten to a pulp in the first half last weekend at Louisville, trailing 36-7 and outgained by nearly 200 yards before putting up 27 points in the second half for a narrow loss. A week prior to that, they trailed by a touchdown in Winston-Salem before rallying to take the lead and appeared to dictate play before the Demon Deacons scored a touchdown with just more than two minutes to play.
So the Tar Heels are 1-2 with a 62-point win in Kenan Stadium and two road losses by a combined five points. Welcome home, boys.
When they're clicking, as the Tar Heels were in the second half against Louisville, the spread no-huddle offense and the 4-2-5 defense are things of beauty. Smart, fast and physical as Larry Fedora promised. But the engine seems to take a while to rev up. In two first halves against FBS opponents, the Tar Heels have been outgained 631-359 (an average of 136 yards), and opponents have converted 34 first downs while allowing just 17. In second halves? Carolina has outgained those opponents 479 to 257. It's maddening.
So what to do? I asked Sylvester Williams if in his pregame speech Fedora needed to just go ahead and pretend it's a scoreless tie at halftime. "Nah, there's nothing Coach Fedora can do," Williams said. "It's all on us seniors and us players to lead the way. Coach Fedora did his job getting us prepared to get ready to play. Now, we've just got to do our job."
Given that the team is playing in new schemes under a new coaching staff, it's understood that there would be a transition period. But the difference between halves is certainly startling. It could be that the team takes time in full-speed, actual game time to get its sea legs. By then, the other team has put up yards, first downs and points. Williams said the key to getting off to a good start is having a thorough understanding of the game plan. "When we run a play, you've got to get where you're supposed to be. So, if your'e supposed to be in the 'A' gap or the 'B' gap, that's where you've got to get, because when you leave that gap open, the offenses see it and it's creating big plays," he said. "When you say get off to a good start, that's one of the things we need to remain focused on, executing the game plan ahead of us. We feel like if we do that, we can beat just about anybody."
Safety Darien Rankin said being prepared to play at kickoff is a process that takes the entire week. It's more than just saying, 'OK, I'm ready.' "I wouldn't say flipping a switch," he said. "I would say (it's) us actually coming together and being mentally prepared. Just try to get everybody focused and when the game comes just give everybody your all."
Offensively, Bryn Renner said the team is still searching for its identity. Is it the team that has put up so few yards and points in those first halves, or the one that was running on all cylinders in the second half at Lousville? "I wish I could answer that," he said. "Obviously, we showed great signs of doing great things and then other times we look like, you know, it's tough to find an answer for that question. But definitely we're working hard to find that one jump start thing we can have as a team and as a unit offensively, because we're searching for it and when we find it we'll be a good team."
Tomorrow, East Carolina rolls into town under third-year head coach Ruffin McNeill. The Pirates won't wait for Carolina. Kickoff is at 3:30. Let's get started.
Players Mentioned
