Lucas: Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Not many ways to put it other than a disappointing start to the 2018 season for North Carolina. For about three quarters, it was difficult to find bright spots in what turned into a 24-17 loss at California.

2. One of these days, Carolina will get a favorable call on an onside kick. But it hasn't happened yet, and Saturday's most important call brought back memories of the ACC championship game against Clemson. Officials ruling that Kayne Roberts made contact before the ball had traveled ten yards with 1:10 left cost the Tar Heels a chance at an improbable potential game-tying drive.

3. The unit that deserves the most praise from Saturday's loss is the defense. Despite being on the field for a significant portion of the afternoon (Cal held an eleven-minute edge in time of possession), the Tar Heel defense basically kept the team in the game. There were several individuals who played well defensively, including Malik Carney, who spent much of his day in the backfield, and junior linebacker Dominique Ross, who was consistently around the football. The final offensive push was also made possible by the defense essentially thwarting the Bears in the second half. Amazingly, the Heels had more total yards than Cal, 301-279.

4. The one negative about the defense: they weren't able to come up with any turnovers. On a day when the offense sputtered, it felt like putting them on a short field might have changed the momentum of the game. Cal never really came close to coughing up the football.

5. And then there's the offense. In one of the most frustrating offensive days of the Larry Fedora era, the Tar Heels struggled to put anything consistent together. Carolina did not convert a third down until 12 minutes were left in the game (missing on the first 11 attempts of the game) and couldn't sustain anything either on the ground or through the air until late in the fourth quarter.

6. You also have to give the Golden Bears credit for appearing to be extremely well prepared for Carolina's offense. You could count the number of times the Tar Heels appeared to take them by surprise on one hand--most notably a reverse to Anthony Ratliff-Williams on fourth down in the third quarter.

7. Carolina's downfield passing game was virtually non-existent. Fifteen Nathan Elliott completions went for just 144 yards, and the 35 pass attempts generated a per-pass average of a meager 4.1 yards. Elliott also tossed four interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.

8. Penalties were once again a problem. The Tar Heels rolled up a whopping 143 yards in flags, including a costly personal foul call against Carney, an assortment of pre-snap infractions, and the costly illegal block call. Check the record books, but it's hard to imagine committing four turnovers combined with nearly 150 penalty yards and beating a Power Five opponent.

9. A positive story: it was nice to see Toe Groves haul in a fourth-quarter pass for a first down after battling through a pair of knee injuries in 2017.

10. Once Cal backed off a little defensively, the Carolina offense got into a rhythm. They chipped their way down the field on the way to a terrific Elliott-to-Ratliff-Williams touchdown pass with 1:13 remaining that brought the Heels back to within 24-17. Ratliff-Williams then proceeded to recover the onside kick that gave Carolina a completely unexpected chance to tie the game...until officials ruled after a review that a block had occurred before the ball traveled ten yards.

11. The defeat continues one of the most perplexing trends in Carolina athletics, as the Tar Heels continue to have a wide variety of trouble in season openers. The last true road win for the program on week one was in 1992. The last out of state true road win for the program on week one was in 1985. The last season opening win anywhere against an FBS team came in 2000 against Tulsa at Kenan Stadium.

12. The Tar Heels now face a very important road trip to East Carolina next weekend. "You hope the old saying is true that you make most improvement between first and second game," Larry Fedora told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network after the game. "Our guys will be very coachable and they'll understand what we need to do to get better. We'll start the road to recovery as soon as we get out of here."

Players Mentioned

Malik Carney

Nathan Elliott

Anthony Ratliff-Williams

Kayne Roberts

Dominique Ross

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