University of North Carolina Athletics
GoHeels Exclusive: Monday Notebook
September 16, 2019 | Football, Featured Writers
By Pat James, GoHeels.com
Two days removed from North Carolina's 24-18 defeat against Wake Forest, Mack Brown asked his players why they lost when they gathered Sunday evening.
Their answer matched his from after the game.
"I asked the older guys and in every case, they said, 'Coach, we didn't have the same passion to start the game that we did against South Carolina and Miami,'" Brown told reporters on Monday. "And I thought that was true. So, I was glad they realized that. That's our job as coaches and their jobs as players to create an edge every week and make sure they're passionate about it and ready to go."
Brown said he'll know for sure how much his team learned from the loss when it faces Appalachian State at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Kenan Stadium.
"I think the biggest thing is as coaches and as players, we all have to grow together and understand that we're not good enough to beat anybody unless we play with passion," he said. "That's what we've got to do. We had a chance to come back. But at this stage in our program, we can't roll it out there against anybody."
Here are five more notes from Monday's press conference, which also featured Jay Bateman and Phil Longo:
Third-down difficulties
The Tar Heels were 2-for-16 on third downs against the Demon Deacons and didn't convert their first until late in the third quarter, when Sam Howell completed a 32-yard pass to Dazz Newsome on third-and-20. Overall, UNC's average distance needed for a first down was 9.0 yards.
"When we are in a third-and-long situation, which, in football, is the worst place to be in offensively," Longo said, "we still have to make sure we're directing the ball toward the strengths that we have offensively, schematically, and we're still trying to get our better players the football. There's kind of an emphasis this week on higher percentage plays on third down to try and help our guys.
"But, I still say, the best way of handling third-and-long is to stay out of it and that goes back to our first- and second-down production. As we can minimize those negative type situations like third-and-long, we'll do better overall offensively."
Through three games, Carolina ranks 126th among 130 FBS teams in third-down conversion percentage (21.43).
"We're just not doing well on first downs," Brown said. "Even a couple of times, we were second-and-5 and then we'd get a sack. We're having way too many sacks. We had six sacks Friday night, and I've told our coaches, 'That's on coaching. If your guy is not good enough to block their guy, then you've got to get him some help or you've got do something different for your quarterback.'Â
"We can't just sit there and be sacked and say, 'Oh, that's too bad.' We've got to fix those things. But that's what's happening."
Howell's late-game success
After completing 10-of-18 passes for 62 yards through three quarters, Howell came alive again in the fourth on Friday, going 7 for 10 for 120 yards and two touchdowns.Â
In three fourth quarters, the true freshman has completed 17-of-23 passes for 289 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. His quarterback rating of 251.20 in the fourth quarter is the fifth best among the 100 FBS quarterbacks who have attempted at least seven passes in the fourth quarter.
Brown was asked if Howell's fourth-quarter performance against Wake Forest might be a sign of things to come once he starts putting an entire game together.
"We've got to do a better job of helping him not have the pressure he's had on him because he's taken too many hits, number one," Brown said. "Secondly, I've been amazed at his maturity and his confidence because very few could have pulled out of what that first half was like and not be frustrated at his age and his lack of experience and play as well as he did in the second half."
Longo expressed a similar sentiment.
"It's business with Sam, and that's what I like about him; it's not an emotional roller-coaster up and down," Longo said. "When things weren't going well, he was pretty stoic and very professional."
Ruder's reps
Making his first appearance of the season on Friday, Jace Ruder completed 1-of-2 passes for seven yards. He also carried the ball three times for 21 yards, highlighted by a 22-yard scramble when the Tar Heels were backed up to their own 3-yard line.
"He did great when he got in there," Brown said. "And we need to get Jace more snaps. We've tried; our games have all come down to the last play, so it's been hard to substitute in many areas. … I'd like to play him every game. That's important for us to make sure we establish two quarterbacks. I think everybody in the country now, you're seeing guys go down every week. It can happen. You've just got to be prepared."
"He's always in the plan and if the game situation presents itself, then you'll see Jace out there," Longo added. "There's really no game where we're going into it without the intention of using Jace, but what happens in the game will dictate whether we do it or not."
Strowbridge sidelined
Perhaps UNC's best defensive player, Jason Strowbridge (lower-body injury) was ruled out for Friday's game shortly before kickoff. Brown and some of the defensive players said after the game that the defensive lineman's presence was missed. But Bateman said it didn't have a major impact on the outcome.
"You always prepare for the worst-case scenario, which was that he wasn't going to play," Bateman said. "For a while there, we thought he might play some, so we kind of went in thinking, if he played at all, we'd try to get him in on third down some. But I don't think it affected us a lot.
"Obviously, Jason is a really good player, but I thought Xach (Gill) and Ray (Vohasek) battled pretty good in there honestly when they were in there. Wake Forest did a good job of not allowing a lot of one-on-one pass-rush opportunities, so I don't know how much it would have made a big difference, really."
Strowbridge is listed as probable for Saturday.
Scouting Appalachian State
Appalachian State enters Saturday's contest at 2-0, with wins over East Tennessee State and Charlotte. The Mountaineers, who are in their first season under former NC State offensive coordinator Eliah Drinkwitz, are coming off a bye week.
"They were able to beat Charlotte and East Tennessee easily," Brown said. "They've got (top receiver) Corey Sutton coming back. They've got two weeks to prepare, just like Miami did. Wake had an extra day after their Rice game to prepare. So, I think we'll see all kinds of things. They're going to pull out all the tricks."
Defensively, Longo said Appalachian State is "a little blend of a number of the opponents we've seen."
"They're going to use a good mix of man and zone coverage, they'll cloud the corner sometime and try to get two over Dyami (Brown), I'm sure," Longo said. "They're going to stack the box and they're going to try to stop the run and force you to beat them with the throw, at least that's what they've shown in the first two games.Â
"They do a really good job stacking the box and gapping off the run game. For us to establish the run game that we want and we intend to get established, we're going to have to do a good job physically and technically early on."
Bateman was asked how Drinkwitz's offense differs from the one that the Mountaineers ran under Scott Satterfield, now the head coach at Louisville.
"Eli is running his offense, which is really good," Bateman said. "It's what he did at NC State; you can watch it and pretty much put it together. It's a little bit hard to tell, because I don't think they've been super-challenged the first two games. I thought Charlotte did a good job battling at the end, but in the first game, they could just kind of hand the ball off and have a lot of success.Â
"We've told our kids already that we've got to be prepared for a lot more offense than is on film, and I think that's going to be the challenge. We're watching a lot of NC State film and applying it to their personnel, seeing where we think the two things mesh."
Two days removed from North Carolina's 24-18 defeat against Wake Forest, Mack Brown asked his players why they lost when they gathered Sunday evening.
Their answer matched his from after the game.
"I asked the older guys and in every case, they said, 'Coach, we didn't have the same passion to start the game that we did against South Carolina and Miami,'" Brown told reporters on Monday. "And I thought that was true. So, I was glad they realized that. That's our job as coaches and their jobs as players to create an edge every week and make sure they're passionate about it and ready to go."
Brown said he'll know for sure how much his team learned from the loss when it faces Appalachian State at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Kenan Stadium.
"I think the biggest thing is as coaches and as players, we all have to grow together and understand that we're not good enough to beat anybody unless we play with passion," he said. "That's what we've got to do. We had a chance to come back. But at this stage in our program, we can't roll it out there against anybody."
Here are five more notes from Monday's press conference, which also featured Jay Bateman and Phil Longo:
Third-down difficulties
The Tar Heels were 2-for-16 on third downs against the Demon Deacons and didn't convert their first until late in the third quarter, when Sam Howell completed a 32-yard pass to Dazz Newsome on third-and-20. Overall, UNC's average distance needed for a first down was 9.0 yards.
"When we are in a third-and-long situation, which, in football, is the worst place to be in offensively," Longo said, "we still have to make sure we're directing the ball toward the strengths that we have offensively, schematically, and we're still trying to get our better players the football. There's kind of an emphasis this week on higher percentage plays on third down to try and help our guys.
"But, I still say, the best way of handling third-and-long is to stay out of it and that goes back to our first- and second-down production. As we can minimize those negative type situations like third-and-long, we'll do better overall offensively."
Through three games, Carolina ranks 126th among 130 FBS teams in third-down conversion percentage (21.43).
"We're just not doing well on first downs," Brown said. "Even a couple of times, we were second-and-5 and then we'd get a sack. We're having way too many sacks. We had six sacks Friday night, and I've told our coaches, 'That's on coaching. If your guy is not good enough to block their guy, then you've got to get him some help or you've got do something different for your quarterback.'Â
"We can't just sit there and be sacked and say, 'Oh, that's too bad.' We've got to fix those things. But that's what's happening."
Howell's late-game success
After completing 10-of-18 passes for 62 yards through three quarters, Howell came alive again in the fourth on Friday, going 7 for 10 for 120 yards and two touchdowns.Â
In three fourth quarters, the true freshman has completed 17-of-23 passes for 289 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. His quarterback rating of 251.20 in the fourth quarter is the fifth best among the 100 FBS quarterbacks who have attempted at least seven passes in the fourth quarter.
Brown was asked if Howell's fourth-quarter performance against Wake Forest might be a sign of things to come once he starts putting an entire game together.
"We've got to do a better job of helping him not have the pressure he's had on him because he's taken too many hits, number one," Brown said. "Secondly, I've been amazed at his maturity and his confidence because very few could have pulled out of what that first half was like and not be frustrated at his age and his lack of experience and play as well as he did in the second half."
Longo expressed a similar sentiment.
"It's business with Sam, and that's what I like about him; it's not an emotional roller-coaster up and down," Longo said. "When things weren't going well, he was pretty stoic and very professional."
Ruder's reps
Making his first appearance of the season on Friday, Jace Ruder completed 1-of-2 passes for seven yards. He also carried the ball three times for 21 yards, highlighted by a 22-yard scramble when the Tar Heels were backed up to their own 3-yard line.
"He did great when he got in there," Brown said. "And we need to get Jace more snaps. We've tried; our games have all come down to the last play, so it's been hard to substitute in many areas. … I'd like to play him every game. That's important for us to make sure we establish two quarterbacks. I think everybody in the country now, you're seeing guys go down every week. It can happen. You've just got to be prepared."
"He's always in the plan and if the game situation presents itself, then you'll see Jace out there," Longo added. "There's really no game where we're going into it without the intention of using Jace, but what happens in the game will dictate whether we do it or not."
Strowbridge sidelined
Perhaps UNC's best defensive player, Jason Strowbridge (lower-body injury) was ruled out for Friday's game shortly before kickoff. Brown and some of the defensive players said after the game that the defensive lineman's presence was missed. But Bateman said it didn't have a major impact on the outcome.
"You always prepare for the worst-case scenario, which was that he wasn't going to play," Bateman said. "For a while there, we thought he might play some, so we kind of went in thinking, if he played at all, we'd try to get him in on third down some. But I don't think it affected us a lot.
"Obviously, Jason is a really good player, but I thought Xach (Gill) and Ray (Vohasek) battled pretty good in there honestly when they were in there. Wake Forest did a good job of not allowing a lot of one-on-one pass-rush opportunities, so I don't know how much it would have made a big difference, really."
Strowbridge is listed as probable for Saturday.
Scouting Appalachian State
Appalachian State enters Saturday's contest at 2-0, with wins over East Tennessee State and Charlotte. The Mountaineers, who are in their first season under former NC State offensive coordinator Eliah Drinkwitz, are coming off a bye week.
"They were able to beat Charlotte and East Tennessee easily," Brown said. "They've got (top receiver) Corey Sutton coming back. They've got two weeks to prepare, just like Miami did. Wake had an extra day after their Rice game to prepare. So, I think we'll see all kinds of things. They're going to pull out all the tricks."
Defensively, Longo said Appalachian State is "a little blend of a number of the opponents we've seen."
"They're going to use a good mix of man and zone coverage, they'll cloud the corner sometime and try to get two over Dyami (Brown), I'm sure," Longo said. "They're going to stack the box and they're going to try to stop the run and force you to beat them with the throw, at least that's what they've shown in the first two games.Â
"They do a really good job stacking the box and gapping off the run game. For us to establish the run game that we want and we intend to get established, we're going to have to do a good job physically and technically early on."
Bateman was asked how Drinkwitz's offense differs from the one that the Mountaineers ran under Scott Satterfield, now the head coach at Louisville.
"Eli is running his offense, which is really good," Bateman said. "It's what he did at NC State; you can watch it and pretty much put it together. It's a little bit hard to tell, because I don't think they've been super-challenged the first two games. I thought Charlotte did a good job battling at the end, but in the first game, they could just kind of hand the ball off and have a lot of success.Â
"We've told our kids already that we've got to be prepared for a lot more offense than is on film, and I think that's going to be the challenge. We're watching a lot of NC State film and applying it to their personnel, seeing where we think the two things mesh."
Players Mentioned
Wide Receiver
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Quarterback
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Defensive Line
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