University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Rapid Reactions
September 26, 2015 | Football
By Adam Lucas
1. Carolina did what it had to do on Saturday, which was beat Delaware, move to 3-1, and get ready for an important Coastal Division matchup at Georgia Tech next Saturday at 3:30. The final score of 41-14 wasn't really indicative of how close the game was throughout, but no one other than the hearty few who were in Kenan Stadium will ever know that.
2. Something unexpected that happened in Saturday's game: the Tar Heels are going to have some quarterback discussion this week. Mitch Trubisky was very solid in the second half, directing the Carolina offense on five scoring drives (four touchdowns) and throwing for 312 yards and four touchdowns on 17-for-20 passing. Although Trubisky isn't as talented a runner as Marquise Williams—very few quarterbacks are—he did show a good grasp of when to pull the ball down and run with it, and finished with 39 yards on the ground. Especially of note was a play in the third quarter when Trubisky went through all his progressions, didn't find a suitably open receiver, and then sprinted for the first down when the field opened up in front of him.
"We needed a spark," Larry Fedora told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network after the game. "We weren't getting anything. Mitch played well, so we kept going with him."
The most glaring number from Trubisky's performance: Carolina averaged 10.8 yards per play in the second half. No matter what Fedora decides this week, a benefit of the two-headed quarterback: it gives the Yellow Jackets something else to think about in preparation.
3. The Tar Heels have an impressive wealth of talent at wide receiver. Saturday was a terrific Mack Hollins performance, as he caught a pair of scores and rolled up 100 receiving yards. Ryan Switzer had a very Switzer-like touchdown score on a late pass-and-run from Trubisky. Bug Howard has also shown the potential to be a front-line receiver this season, giving whoever plays quarterback a variety of quality pass targets.
4. Carolina caught a huge break on Delaware's interception in the red zone in the first quarter. The Blue Hens had spread the field and had Carolina outnumbered on the edges of the field, but chose to throw the ball into the middle…where Jeff Schoettmer was standing waiting for it. A Delaware touchdown there, coming so soon after the long touchdown run 51 seconds into the game, could have changed the afternoon's momentum.
5. Next Saturday's trip to Atlanta became very interesting with Duke's win over the Yellow Jackets in Durham. Tech is on a two-game losing streak and would be in serious jeopardy of being eliminated from Coastal consideration with another defeat. Carolina, meanwhile, doesn't have Florida State or Clemson on the schedule this year, meaning a win over Tech—and those have been very difficult to get in the past decade—could set them up to make a meaningful push for the division. Delaware might have been a fortunate opponent to play the week before Paul Johnson's club, as the Blue Hens ran running plays on 83 percent of their snaps. "Georgia Tech will be a difficult game," Fedora said. "We have a lot of work to do with the triple option."
Carolina has lost eight straight games in Atlanta, with the last UNC victory at Bobby Dodd Stadium coming in 1997.
6. Penalties are a story for Carolina when they pile up too many, so it should also be mentioned that the Tar Heels only picked up two flags against Delaware. It appears the offensive line has cleaned up some of the pre-snap problems they had in the season opener in Charlotte.
7. Make it a point to hear the Tar Heel Sports Network segment with Jeff Saturday before every game. It's obvious that Saturday—who spent the week being inducted into the Indianpolis Colts Ring of Honor while also making ESPN appearances—watches the Tar Heels carefully every week, and this week he was especially complimentary of safety Donnie Miles, who picked up eight tackles against the Blue Hens and has been first or second in tackles in every game this season.
