University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points: Wet, Wet, Wet
October 9, 2016 | Football, Featured Writers, Lee Pace
by Lee Pace
“Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.”
Bob Marley
The Tar Heels got soaked and dunked and drowned Saturday amid rain and wind of near biblical proportions. A football field in Kenan Stadium just over a year old with tight bermuda turf and a state-of-the-art foundation of 10 inches of sand over four of gravel drained remarkably well as Hurricane Matthew roared northward from Florida and left a deluge of some five inches of rainfall by kick-off in Chapel Hill.
The footing was one thing. Handling the ball was another.
“If I'm Larry Fedora, I'm sick looking at this forecast of wind and rain,” former East Carolina head coach and NFL assistant Steve Logan said Friday on one of his regular Triangle-area radio appearances. “What UNC is really good at is throwing the football. Right now UNC has one of the best collections of skill talent, beginning with the quarterback. They've got it all on offense. I'm sick if I'm Larry Fedora with the weather against a really good defensive team. I suspect Virginia Tech is built to run the ball a little better than UNC is built to run the ball.”
Truer words, as they say. Logan's crystal ball was spot-on as Virginia Tech under first-year coach Justin Fuente and two-decade-plus defensive coordinator Bud Foster schooled the Tar Heels in a 34-3 landslide victory for Tech in a key ACC Coastal Division game.
A horrendous omen for the Tar Heels popped up on the second series of the game when Ryan Switzer was open on a short crossing route and Trubisky's throw was wobbly, high and behind his target. That opened the spigot to a crescendo of errant throws and at least a half dozen dropped passes by Tar Heel receivers. Trubisky threw two interceptions, lost one fumble and Khris Francis lost another. Aussie punter Tom Sheldon, in his indoctrination to kicking near his own goal in a driving rain against the Hokies' perennial powder keg punt rush, muffed a center snap and was mauled at the four yard-line, giving Tech another laughable short field.
And if and when the Tar Heels tried to run the ball, they were missing two key ingredients—tailback Elijah Hood, whose power is built for such nasty conditions, and senior left guard Caleb Peterson, the physical and emotional leader of what is an otherwise experienced, competent but rather mild-mannered offensive line. Hood and Peterson missed the game with injuries.
“You cannot use the weather as an excuse,” Fedora said. “They played in it, too. They seemed to have handled the weather. We did a poor job all the way around.
“And you cannot use injuries as an excuse,” he continued. “Any time you lose a starter, you're going to miss him. But that's the game of football. Guys go down. Another guy has to step up and play.”
The Tar Heels took the cue from their head coach in saying good teams find a way to prosper no matter the conditions or misfortune.
“You can't blame the weather,” said linebacker Andre Smith. “You've got to do your job. You've got to hold onto the ball, you've got to make tackles, you've still got to do your assignments. You'd can't blame the weather.”
But Trubisky also admitted, “I couldn't put the ball where I wanted” and “I couldn't throw it as hard, I was trying to take some off so the receivers could catch it.” Tailback T.J. Logan, who had 20 touches between 14 runs and six catches, added, “It was a hard ball to catch. I know, I dropped one.”
The microscopic view and the one from drone level at 400 feet is quite simple: The Tar Heels misfired on every front and absorbed a loss notable on many levels. They were trying to beat a decade-long nemesis in consecutive years for the first time since Tech entered the ACC in 2004. Their 131 yards offense was the lowest since 1999 and the margin of defeat the worst since 2008. It was the lowest point production in Fedora's four-plus years at Carolina and the first time his Tar Heel team was skunked without a touchdown. And Trubisky's two picks were his first after 243 throws without one.
Dial it back to a macroscopic view from 10,000 feet and the game, coming midway during a season as injuries start to mount and the grind of the season takes its toll, shows just how fragile the Carolina roster is. The Tar Heels indeed have a wealth of veteran skill players on offense, and the kicking game is the most solid it's been in Fedora's tenure. But injuries to players like Hood and Peterson on offense and the rash of maladies on the defensive front augment the reality that Fedora and staff have much work to do to recruit their way out of serious depth issues.
Defensive end Tyler Powell was out Saturday. Dajaun Drennon, sidelined since last winter, played for the first time this season but reinjured his foot. Aaron Crawford was carried off the field and seen walking in a boot after the game. Cornerback Des Lawrence had an ankle heavily wrapped and watched all the second half from the sideline. Eight different players have started on the defensive line—a far cry from the type of talent and consistency the Tar Heels had in 2009 with their most recent marquee defensive front. That year E.J. Wilson, Marvin Austin, Cam Thomas and Robert Quinn started nine of 13 games.
It's no wonder the Tar Heel defense is 88th nationally in total defense with 426 yards allowed per game and 91st in scoring defense with 31.5 points. Coordinator Gene Chizik lauded the play of his unit in the fourth quarter against Pitt two weeks ago (holding the Panthers to six points on their last four possessions) and for the first three quarters last week against Florida State (total 14 points allowed). But he's lamented its inability to put four quarters together. The defense actually kept Virginia Tech and its athletic, mobile quarterback Jerod Evans under reasonable wraps. But still, Tech hogged the ball 40 minutes and converted eight of 20 third-downs.
“We've had absolutely no continuity,” Chizik said. “It's been a problem. I'm just giving facts. Facts are facts. The D-line right now has no continuity week to week. We have not strung together starts where you can say, 'These are our four dudes.' Then with the number of plays, you have to go with eight guys or by game eight, you'll not have your first four. Every time you look up, a freshman or redshirt freshman is in there—Allen Cater, Jason Strowbridge, Tomon Fox before he got hurt. In the secondary, we've had four guys going 80 plays, but who do you turn to now? Beyond them are all freshmen or redshirt freshmen. You've got to go to freshmen to give guys a blow.
“Those are realities. We have to get better, get more production. I'm very disappointed with the outcome, but I have a perspective that has some reality to it. We have played some really good offenses. I'm not pleased, but I'm trying to realistic about some of the issues. It's all factual. You can see flashes of what we can be and down the road should be.”
By Sunday morning Hurricane Matthew had departed the state, leaving sunny skies and millions of people across the Atlantic seaboard to clean up the debris from flooding and downed power lines. The challenges within Kenan Football Center are stout as well.
“It's next man up, we've got a lot of guys on scholarship and it's time for them to get their chance,” defensive tackle Nazair Jones said. “We all know the playbook, it's a matter of going out and executing. I don't know of any quitters on this team. My message to everyone on this team is, 'Never quit.' Y'all have seen the last two weeks what we can do about finishing games. You never know with this team.”
With a trip to Miami on the horizon this week, it will be a serious effort for the Tar Heels to dry out—both literally and metaphorically.
Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace has covered Tar Heel football for 26 years through “Extra Points” and a dozen as the Tar Heel Sports Network's sideline reporter. He has just published a book on Kenan Stadium, “Football in a Forest.” Follow him at @LeePaceTweet and contact him at leepace7@gmail.com.
