Lucas: Rapid Reactions

Photo by: MICHAEL J. OKONIEWSKI

October 20, 2018 | Football

Quick takeaways from Carolina's visit to the Carrier Dome.

By: Adam Lucas

By Adam Lucas

1. What a crazy, improbable, ridiculous, wild day of football. It all ended with a second straight disappointing ACC loss in the closing seconds, this time a 40-37 setback at Syracuse. "It's not a lack of want-to or a lack of effort," Larry Fedora told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network. "Our guys are playing extremely hard. I have to do a better job of putting them in position to win."

2. Welcome to the big stage, Dazz Newsome. The sophomore receiver has appeared to be on the verge of a breakout, and it happened Saturday. Newsome had a 75-yard punt return for the go-ahead touchdown--Carolina's first punt return for a TD since Ryan Switzer against Miami in 2015--and also caught a career-high seven passes for 90 yards and another touchdown. The Orange did do a good job of limiting Newsome's impact in the fourth quarter and overtime.

3. In addition to Newsome, Carolina's other young receivers had a solid day. Dyami Brown (two catches for 32 yards), Beau Corrales (three catches for 31 yards and a score) and Antoine Green (two catches for 32 yards) all contributed important catches during the course of the afternoon. That made it even more unfortunate to watch Green have to be carted off with an apparent leg or ankle injury in the third quarter, apparently continuing Carolina's horrendous injury luck over the past two seasons.

4. The misfortune continued a quarter later when Allen Cater was also shaken up, further depleting Carolina's depth on the defensive line.

5. Even Larry Fedora would probably concede that the trick play midway through the third quarter down 20-14 was ill-conceived and certainly poorly executed. Corrales threw a pass intended for Carl Tucker that was easily intercepted to thwart a good scoring chance. Another bit of misdirection also failed with 2:13 left, as on a key third down play Anthony Ratliff-Williams lined up at quarterback. With everyone in the Carrier Dome assuming a quarterback run was coming, Ratliff-Williams threw low to Carl Tucker and saw the ball trickle off his fingertips, stopping the clock when Syracuse had no timeouts.

6. When lined up at receiver, Ratliff-Williams had another very good day. He caught nine passes for 79 yards.

7. Carolina's final offensive possession of the fourth quarter was not a good one. Given an opportunity to win the game by Patrice Rene's interception at the Syracuse 40 (if Rene had stayed upright, he might have returned the ball for a touchdown) and needing a first down or two to give Freeman Jones a solid chance at a game-winning field goal, the Tar Heels threw two incompletions. Then they ran a designed quarterback run that got nothing, and then--with zero timeouts--appeared to have some confusion about whether they were going for it or attempting a potential game-winning 56-yard field goal. They eventually just snapped the ball and allowed Elliott to throw the ball downfield, where it fell incomplete. "We were trying to decide what we wanted to do," Fedora said. "I opted to go for it."

8. Partially because the Orange defense wasn't particularly concerned about the downfield passing game, the Tar Heels struggled to get anything going in the running game in the first half, gaining just 22 yards on 19 carries. That changed dramatically in the second half, as the ground game generated 157 yards on 22 attempts in the final 30+ minutes.

9. Give the Tar Heels credit for recovering from what looked like it might be a game-deciding sequence near the end of the first half. First, an offensive pass interference penalty backed the Orange up deep in their own territory. But the defense couldn't coax a turnover, and then Syracuse punter Sterling Hofrichter uncorked a 58-yard punt. The Tar Heels committed a penalty on the punt, completely flipping the field--it had looked like the Tar Heels were going to have great field position, and suddenly were pinned deep. Hunter Lent saw his punt go just ten yards, and Syracuse turned the short punt into a quick touchdown run, giving them a 10-7 lead.

10. In fact, overcoming adversity briefly looked like it would be the theme of a would-be tough win. With the Tar Heels clinging to a 24-20 lead, Michael Carter had a fourth quarter fumble for the second week in a row, which dropped Carolina to -10 for the season in turnovers. But even put on the short field by the turnover, the defense put together a solid stand and forced a Syracuse fumble on the doorstep of the goal line.

11. Very uneven day for the Tar Heels in special teams. Freeman Jones hit three field goals (and probably would have loved to get a shot at a fourth late in regulation), and Dazz Newsome had the punt return for a touchdown. But the Tar Heels also missed two field goals and had the short punt by Lent that led to a score. Carolina isn't good enough at this point in the season to win games while clearly giving away points on special teams.

12. The schedule doesn't get any easier from here. The Tar Heels now have to travel to a suddenly formidable Virginia team next weekend. The challenge is that 1-5 Carolina has to avoid becoming a team that expects the worst and then sees it happen. The nature of the last two defeats is going to place a premium on leadership from both the coaches and the players. For two straight weeks now, Carolina has played almost well enough to win--but not sixty (or more)