Extra Points: Edge

September 17, 2017 | Football, Featured Writers, Lee Pace

By: Lee Pace

By Lee Pace

Carolina's players and coaches on defense had lived for a week with the Lamar Jackson-inflicted flop of the previous Saturday. Star defensive back M.J. Stewart said Carolina had been "embarrassed" by the Louisville Cardinals' 705-yard offensive explosion and that the Tar Heels should quit trying to be superheroes. "We don't need to be Superman or Batman out there," he said. "Just everyone do their job."

Coordinator John Papuchis was forthright, candid and open talking about the implosion. He admitted that in trying to devise a plan to stop the multi-talented Jackson, the Tar Heels got away from who they were and what they do. He observed that early errors led to his players' pressing and getting frustrated—ergo a recipe for more pressing and frustration.

He explained that all the "miscommunication" talk from the Tar Heels afterward was the result of one particular personnel group the Cardinals were running (an "empty set," no backs and five receivers) that obviously the Tar Heels did not adjust to well. He pointed the finger at himself, citing one second-quarter blitz that could have nailed Jackson dead to rights. But the shifty quarterback sidestepped a Tar Heel cornerback and struck a receiver for a 75-yard-score, and that drew Papuchis himself into a bit a shell with his play-calling.

As kickoff for the next game drew nigh toward the end of the week, Papuchis summed up the task in front of his unit Saturday at Old Dominion:

"Play with an edge," he said. "It's one thing to sit around and say we're going to get this fixed. We have to put some action behind those words. If we say we're going to get it fixed, let's go get it fixed. We all have to put our words into action—all of us, coaches and players."

Consider that box checked in black and boldface Saturday on the steamy artificial surface at S.B. Ballard Stadium in Norfolk. Carolina jumped on the Monarchs with five touchdowns and one field goal on its first seven possessions, spurted to a 25-0 lead and was never challenged in a 53-23 win. ODU's first three possessions and six-of-nine in the first half were three-and-outs. The Tar Heels snipped the Monarchs to 3-of-16 third-down conversions, and they blocked a field goal, that coming from end Tyler Powell on his first action of the season after missing the Cal and Louisville games. They had two sacks, eight tackles-for-loss, two forced fumbles and eight quarterback hurries.

"That's much more what I envisioned, it's a start," Papuchis said. "We were much better on third down. We did some really good things, but we've still got things to clean up. Now on to the next one. We just have to stack them up, one at a time."

"We improved," Larry Fedora added of the defensive effort. "Have we arrived? I'm not going to say that. But we improved, and any time you have success like that guys gain confidence and play better."

No one is going to imply that handily beating the Monarchs, in their fourth year at the Football Bowl Subdivision level and a member of Conference USA, was on par with marching into Tallahassee and escaping with a win on the last play of the game. The ODU offense was ranked No. 107 among 129 teams in the FBS in yardage output with 325 a game. The Monarchs have such issues at quarterback that by the end of the first half, ODU Coach Bobby Wilder pulled the redshirt off a freshman quarterback who has not yet turned 18.

Still, though, it was only the second time ODU had hosted a team from a Power 5 conference, and Wilder had the idea of his program atoning for that 80-20 debacle in Chapel Hill in 2013 as added motivation. It added up to a massive "trap" if the Tar Heels didn't pay attention.

"We didn't want to just coast into this game," Fedora said. "We wanted to jump on them fast. We did that and kept the pedal down. Our guys actually played the way they prepared and practiced this week. It was good for them just to turn it loose and play football and realize that the world doesn't end if you make a mistake. You just keep playing hard and good things will happen."

The Tar Heels' first-half performance had but two real blemishes. First they allowed ODU a 100-yard kickoff return when Isaiah Harper did a crafty job of baiting the Tar Heels into thinking he was going to take a knee in the end zone, and second yielding a 50-yard gain on another of those short crossing routes that were so problematic against Louisville.

But otherwise the Tar Heels were all business. Each of Carolina's five first-half touchdown drives lasted less than two minutes. Quarterback Chazz Surratt hit tight end Carl Tucker three times for big gains over the middle, and the Tar Heels tried to use the Monarchs' size, talent and pursuit on the defensive front against them. One important play early was when Carolina faced third-and-17 on its first drive. Knowing ODU had the advantage with senior end Bunmi Rotimi against first-year starter Charlie Heck, the Tar Heels allowed Rotimi to bull rush to the outside, then squirted tailback Jordon Brown through the lane Rotimi had vacated for a 21-yard gain. Brown, a sophomore from Durham, had a huge day with 123 yards rushing.

"We thought we could hit the tight end with some play-action down the seams, and we also saw with the way their defense was aligned, we needed to run one-back power and have some success," offensive line coach and coordinator Chris Kapilovic said. "The kids up front did a really good job, and the backs did a good job. We saw a lot of positives today."

The primary negative, though, is the mounting attrition along the O-line. Center Cam Dillard was not dressed out Saturday. Tackle Bentley Spain was limited to "emergency" duty, which he was in fact called upon for extra points. Tackle William Sweet left the game in the second quarter and was in street clothes for the second half. Tackle Mason Veal and guard Jonathan Trull played for the first time. True freshmen Marcus McKethan and Brian Anderson made the travel squad, but Kapilovic hopes to not have to play them.

"No matter what happens, guys rolling in and out, they play hard, they're focused, they know what they're supposed to do and they're giving it all they've got," Kapilovic said. "I felt like we had a huge challenge ahead of us with their D-line and the youth we had. They did a nice job."

The stakes were clear for the Tar Heels on the Louisville-to-ODU transition. Mission accomplished. Now an undefeated Duke team enters the Tar Heels' crosshairs, and you can count on the Blue Devils' offense offering infinite more challenges than the Tar Heels encountered Saturday in Virginia.

Lee Pace is in his 28th year covering Tar Heel football through "Extra Points" and 14th as the sideline reporter for the Tar Heel Sports Network. His book, "Football in a Forest," is available in bookstores across North Carolina and online at www.johnnytshirt.com. Email him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @LeePaceTweet.