University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Rapid Reactions
October 18, 2015 | Football
By Adam Lucas
1. Give Larry Fedora credit for sticking with Marquise Williams after a seemingly ominous beginning to the game that featured Williams tossing a pair of interceptions that gave Wake Forest some early momentum. One of the picks, a tipped ball, wasn't Williams' fault. But the other—his first of the day—was a bad throw that was tossed into a trio of Demon Deacons.
Fedora and Williams had a sideline conversation after the second interception. "He was frustrated and I told him not to worry about it," Fedora told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network. "The ball got batted down. You knew what the coverage was and were going to the right place, and there's nothing you can do about it."
It would've been very easy at that point to pull Williams and go with Mitch Trubisky. But Fedora stayed with his senior, who rewarded him by hanging in the pocket, absorbing a huge hit, and delivering a long scoring pass to Mack Hollins. Later in the half, Williams made a great decision on fourth and inches when the called pass wasn't available and he chose to pull it down and run. On the very next play, he ran it in himself from 15 yards out and the Carolina surge was well underway.
2. Remember that Wake Forest's defense was supposed to be its signature unit. The Tar Heels put 50 on that crew, outscoring Wake 50-7 after falling behind 7-0 early. The UNC offense was already in the top 20 nationally (and first in the ACC) in scoring, and that rank will improve after Saturday's explosion. The Tar Heels averaged more than ten yards per play for most of the game until getting out of rhythm late in the game.
They did it with big plays that happened quickly. Wake Forest had the ball for 37 minutes, but it didn't matter; the seven Carolina touchdown drives took a combined 8:24. Four of the scoring drives took less than a minute. “When you score 50 points on that few plays, that's pretty good,” Fedora said. “The guys were pretty explosive tonight.”
3. The Tar Heels haven't had any trouble developing young offensive talent, but defensive stars have been tougher to find. The next one, true freshman Jalen Dalton, saw his first collegiate action on Saturday night and showed the potential that makes you believe he might be next in line. On a night when the UNC defense was without five players on the two-deep not playing due to injury or suspension, it was nice to see some younger talent make some plays.
4. Junior Gnonkonde is slowly starting to become a regular defensive contributor. Gnonkonde had a pair of sacks on one drive against Wake, and seems to be around the ball much more this season than he did previously. Paired with Shakeel Rashad, Gnonkonde gives the Tar Heel defense a pair of big, athletic defenders who can make plays from sideline to sideline.
5. Defending the Carolina offense must be a massive pain. Account for Williams and Ryan Switzer, and Bug Howard might make a big catch. Pay attention to Howard, and it could be Mack Hollins who steps up and catches three touchdown passes, as he did against Wake. “Mack can be very explosive at any time," Fedora said. "Quise has hit him in every one of those situations in the last couple of games. He can go deep on anybody.”
6. The Kenan crowd was more incensed in the second half than they've been the entire 2015 season after Ryan Switzer was whistled for delay of game for calling for a fair catch and then advancing the ball on a punt return that he took to the Wake goal line. The only problem: Switzer never actually called for the fair catch. The partisan Tar Heel crowd booed loudly and often for the next couple of series.
7. It was nice to hear Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson talk about the importance of the Wake-Carolina series in his postgame comments. "We'd love to play them every year, and that's out of respect for the rivalry," Clawson said. The two teams will not meet again until 2019, which is a scheduled nonconference game rather than an ACC contest.
8. The Oct. 29 road trip to Pittsburgh, a Thursday night ESPN tilt, is shaping up to be a huge one. The Coastal rival Panthers improved to 3-0 on Saturday with a win over Georgia Tech. Pitt has to defeat Syracuse and Carolina has to beat Virginia, and if that happens, a pair of undefeated ACC teams will meet on national television.
