University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Rapid Reactions
October 19, 2014 | Football
1. Now that looked more like the explosive Carolina offense everyone expected coming into this season. Ryan Switzer caught a pair of touchdowns, T.J. Logan averaged nearly six yards per rush, and Marquise Williams was once again the best player on the field, as he hit a school-record 38 of 47 passes for 390 yards and four touchdowns and also rushed for 73 yards and a score. Williams was 23-for-26 in the decisive second half.
"All night (Marquise) did a really nice job of taking the ball where it was supposed to go," Larry Fedora told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network after the game. "He didn't force it, and he checked down when we needed to. That's why we moved the chains the way we did."
Williams has now piled up 696 passing yards and 205 rushing yards in the last two games (in which Carolina has essentially abandoned the two-quarterback rotation) to go with nine touchdowns in those eight quarters, and did it against opponents that were a combined 10-1.
Since a -3 yard rushing effort against Clemson, Williams is averaging an even 100 yards per game on the ground over the last three games--and he's a quarterback.
2. Georgia Tech had reeled off 14 of 16 wins in the series dating back to 1998 in a streak that didn't get as much publicity as Carolina's 20-year struggles in Charlottesville, but might have been even more frustrating because it covered games in both Chapel Hill and Atlanta. Tech hasn't been an especially dominant program during that stretch, but has seemingly always found a way to beat Carolina. It felt good to finally figure out a way to outscore the Yellow Jackets.
And how about this: even at 1-2 in the ACC, Carolina controls its own destiny in the Coastal.
3. The Tar Heels have surely had some defensive issues this season, especially tackling in space, but what a solid hit by Des Lawrence on Georgia Tech quarterback Justin Thomas on an attempted two-point play in the fourth quarter.
"The defense did what they needed to do to win a football game," Fedora said. "That's all we had to do, because we won't face this offense again this season."
4. Lee Pace made a great comparison during the second half of Saturday's game when he said Mack Hollins could be "the David Thornton of this year's Carolina football team." Thornton went from walk-on to Tar Heel standout and parlayed that success into an eight year NFL career for the Colts and Titans.
It's still too early to predict that kind of success for Hollins, but he's regularly making spectacular plays and is on his way to getting a shot at the next level. He continues to lead Carolina in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, and his 36-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter was SportsCenter material.
Hollins also very nearly could have caught the game-winning touchdown pass with 14 seconds left, but was essentially wrapped up and drew a pass interference penalty just to avoid the winning score...which came on the very next play when Logan dashed into the end zone.
5. Obviously circumstances and the environment were different, but it was hard not to notice that last week Carolina punted on fourth down from the Notre Dame 33. This week, they went for it on fourth and six from the Georgia Tech 36, and the play turned into that 36-yard strike to Hollins.
6. Night games at Kenan continue to be a completely different experience from 12:30 kickoffs. The Kenan crowd, even with students on fall break, drew unprompted praise from Fedora after the game, who said they played a noticeable role on the final drives.
"You could feel the energy in the stadium," the head coach said. "It was awesome."
Players Mentioned
