University of North Carolina Athletics
Turner's Take: On To The Next One
October 25, 2015 | Football, Featured Writers
By Turner Walston
Carolina and Virginia entered halftime tied at 13 points apiece. The game at that point had been sloppy and penalty-ridden, and neither team had seized the contest's momentum. Though the sloppiness and penalties would continue, one team took command after halftime: the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Virginia won the coin toss and elected to defer their choice until the second half. The Cavaliers had kicked a field goal late in the second quarter, and they'd get the first chance to untie the score in the third. The Tar Heel defense had other ideas. On third down at the Virginia 39, Carolina safety Sam Smiley stepped in front of a Matt Johns pass and returned the interception 41 yards to the Virginia 16.
After a Tar Heel field goal gave the team a three-point lead, Virginia showed promise on their next drive. However, after 1st and 10 at the Virginia 45, the Cavaliers got behind the chains quickly after a Mikey Bart sack of Johns cost them six yards. Virginia brought in a tight end to pass-protect, but Bart rolled off of him and made the play. “I kind of just ripped off of him and got the sack,” he said. “It was a good job by the secondary for holding up long enough for me to get that sack too.”
Two possessions, two big plays for a defense that was much-maligned in 2014. The resulting momentum swing turned the game. Carolina held the Cavaliers scoreless in the second half and walked away with a 26-13 victory, 3-0 in ACC play and 6-1 on the year.
“It was a sloppy game in a lot of different ways, especially with penalties and offensively shooting ourselves in the foot,” Tar Heel head coach Larry Fedora said afterward, “but we did what we need to do to win a Coastal Division game, and that was important for us.”
Slowly but surely, the Tar Heel defense is starting to come together and appear as three equally important, cohesive units working in concert. Last year, there were times when it appeared as if none of the 11 Carolina defenders was on the same page. Saturday, the defensive line got pressure up front, allowing the secondary to blanked the Virginia receivers, allowing the linebackers to fill gaps and make plays in the middle. Three distinct parts of the defense, each impacting the others. It's a symbiotic relationship: pressure from the defensive line on the quarterback results in more passes prone to picking off. Pressure in the defensive backfield on the receivers results in quarterbacks being vulnerable to sacks.
Defensive tackle Robert Dinkins said that each player's understanding of his role gave the defense confidence as a whole. “Just to be able to know that you have that second level of protection and you know that they've got your back, like you hear everybody saying,” Dinkins said. “The second level's got our back, and then you've got the safety and the corners that have got their back, so we've got everybody's back and that's something we're definitely going to try to make better.”
In the early portion of the season, the Tar Heels were not getting the pressure on the quarterback that they would like. The culprit was what's known as 'transition rush.' That is, a defense preparing to stop the run recognizing a pass play and making the transition from one mindset to the other. Now after seven games, the recognition is coming faster, the switch is happening sooner and the quarterbacks are getting pressured. “We were just so focused on stopping the run, because that was a major weakness for us last year,” Dinkins said. “It just took us a minute to be able to switch our mindsets from run to pass and to be able to get off blocks. It was just just the way of learning this new defense. I think it was just a step we had to go through and I feel like we did well.”
Bart talked about earning the right to rush the quarterback. The Tar Heels have to do a good job on first and second down, put the offense behind the chains, to force passing downs and therefore be able to pin their ears back and get after the passer. “It's really on us to play well on the first two downs so we get the opportunity to blitz.”
With that aggression often come penalties. Penalties were a particular bugaboo of this team a year ago. To date in 2015, the issue had not been nearly as great. However the Tar Heels were flagged 13 times for 135 yards on Saturday. There were pass interference calls, offsides calls, ineligible receivers downfield, false starts and holding calls. The Tar Heels (and the Tar Heel faithful) didn't agree with all the calls, but it's an issue that needs to be cleaned up.
“We're just playing hard,” safety Sam Smiley said. “We've just got to be disciplined. Some of the calls like offsides and penalties after the play, we've just got to get our heads out of that play and just get to the next one.”
The Tar Heels were called for defensive pass interference four times. They hauled in four interceptions. The difference between making a play on the ball and committing a penalty can be slight. “It's just my position on the receiver, really,” Malik Simmons said of walking that thin line. “If I feel like I'm in good position, I'll get my head around and play the ball. If not, I just try to play the hands.” Don't turn around, play the hands and open yourself up to a call. Stay with the receiver, turn around and change the game. Simmons did some of both on Saturday. He was called for pass interference twice, but he also had two interceptions. “We always have the mentality in our mind of go to the next play,” he said. “Forget about that last play and go to the next play.”
Virginia's last offensive play was a pass intercepted by Simmons. They too would rather forget about that.
Speaking of going on to the next play, the Tar Heels have a quick turnaround before heading to Pittsburgh to take on the Panthers. Pitt too sits at 6-1 overall and is 4-0 in ACC play after a win over Syracuse on Saturday. The Tar Heels and Panthers face off on Thursday night on ESPN. With Carolina, Pitt and Duke all undefeated in the conference, Thursday's game has huge Coastal Division implications. Saturday's win wasn't pretty for Carolina (or Pitt), but they'll put it to bed and set about the work of getting to 7-1. On to the next play.
Players Mentioned
