Lucas: Rapid Reactions

Photo by: Grant Halverson

October 10, 2020 | Football, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas

Quick takeaways from Carolina's matchup with Virginia Tech.

By: Adam Lucas

By Adam Lucas

1. Wow. Carolina defeated Virginia Tech, 56-45, in a shootout that had a little bit of everything. Carolina's offense was terrific, the defense was just good enough, and the Tar Heels are 3-0.

2. The Tar Heels stopped all kinds of trends with the victory. Carolina had been 3-13 against Virginia Tech since the Hokies joined the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Heels had lost four in a row in the series, including the six-overtime heartbreaker last year. The Tar Heels also move to 3-0 for the first time since 2011, marking just the third time they've reached that mark since Mack Brown left following the 1997 season. "That was fun," Mack Brown told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network after the game. "None of the players on our team had beaten Virginia Tech before, so that was huge."

3. And the win over the 19th ranked Hokies was a big one. It was just the sixth time this century Carolina has played in a ranked-vs-ranked matchup. The Tar Heels had been 1-4 in the previous ranked games this season. And how big a difference does Brown make? Under his direction, the Tar Heels played in 14 such games over the final six seasons of his first tenure in Chapel Hill. Saturday marked the first ranked game in Brown 2.0--it looks like there might be more to come.

4. How did they do this one? An incredible ground performance. Michael Carter and Javonte Williams combined for 453 yards of total offense. Carter rushed for a career-high 214 yards and Williams added 169 on the ground, the first time in Tar Heel history that two backs went over 150 rushing yards in the same game. Throw in an 18-for-23 performance from Sam Howell, and Carolina rolled up 656 yards of total offense. "It was a combination of the guys up front, the tight end and the receivers all blocking," Brown said about Carolina's ground performance. "Everyone was blocking for each other. For us to line up against a really good defense and be so physical is really exciting for us moving forward." You have to give Carter and Williams significant credit, because either one could easily be selfish and want to double their touches. But they've found a way to be the perfect combination--imagine being the opposing defense in the third quarter, when Carter pounded for three yards and then four yards, then the Tar Heels subbed in Javonte Williams for runs of 8, 14 and 29 yards, and then Carter finished it off with a dynamic 16-yard scoring run. The defense simply never gets a break, and Carter and Williams are complementing each other perfectly.

5. In addition to the running backs, you could say something positive about virtually every Carolina receiver. Dazz Newsome returned to the offense in a big way with seven catches for 69 yards and a touchdown, with the scoring reception coming with a razor-thin margin for Howell to fire the ball through near the sideline. Newsome--who was targeted just twice last week--caught all seven of his targets and also had one rushing attempt.

6. Dyami Brown struggled early, dropping a couple of passes, but recovered for a big touchdown catch (making a remarkably athletic play to stay on his feet after getting tangled with his defender) before halftime. He finished with three catches for 86 yards. And don't forget about Beau Corrales. Even though he caught just two passes, he was a very good run blocker, springing UNC running backs for extra yards on several plays.

7. Game-turning decision for Justin Fuente near halftime. The Virginia Tech coach elected to go for it on fourth and three near midfield with 1:11 left in the half. The Hokies had coaxed Carolina into jumping off side earlier in the drive, but this time Carolina stayed home and broke up a slant pass. That gave the Carolina offense the ball on its on 42, and Howell found Brown less than a minute later to give the Heels a 35-14 lead at the break. If Tech punts in that situation and Carolina doesn't score, the second half might have played out much differently.

8. The 35 points scored by Carolina in the first half were the most allowed by Virginia Tech in the first half since the Hokies joined the league.

9. Jonathan Kim has been a weapon on kickoffs for the Tar Heels. Every kickoff except two this year have gone into the end zone. Both of those happened Saturday. The second one came late in the game when Kim probably needed to ice his leg from frequent usage. On the first, after Carolina had earned a 15-yard penalty that backed the kick up to the 20-yard line, it was Kim who raced down field and made a solid tackle against star Tech running back/kick returner Elijah Herbert to prevent a possible big return.

10. That was one of the special teams bright spots for Carolina, but there were some other issues. Virginia Tech surprised Carolina by recovering an onside kick and a personnel confusion caused Carolina to burn a timeout on a punt return in the first half. There is still room for improvement with special teams.

11. There were some defensive struggles in the second half, as Tech scored 31 points in the second half. "Having three starters out really hurt us," Brown said. "There's a lot of inexperience out there. Patrice Rene and Cam'Ron Kelly hadn't played since they hurt their knees last year. We have a lot of inexperience in the back end and we have to shore that up before we go to Florida State." In addition, Carolina missed a couple hits that could have limited the Hokies' offensive output. "We missed way too many tackles," Brown said. "That ended up being the difference for us in the third quarter." The Tar Heels also weren't able to get to the quarterback with much frequency, as they managed just one sack.

12. With the constant revolving door of personnel, Carolina had some trouble getting the right players on the field defensively throughout the game and especially in the second half. Substitutions are protected when the other team makes a sub, but the Tar Heels tried to sub even when Virginia Tech kept the same personnel on the field on multiple occasions, with varying degrees of success. That process eventually culminated with the Tar Heels having 12 defenders on the field for a crucial two-point play, giving Tech another opportunity, which they converted to cut the deficit to 56-45.

13. Appropriate way for the game to end, as Dax Hollifield--who had a notable recruiting process in which he very publicly picked Virginia Tech over Carolina, and who exchanged some words with the Kenan crowd two years ago--earned a personal foul for needlessly shoving Sam Howell with one second left. Hollifield, from Shelby, is one of the last North Carolina natives to leave the state before Mack Brown slammed the door to the North Carolina borders.

14. The Tar Heels had been frustrated against Tech the last two seasons. It felt especially good to snap those struggles against a ranked team from Blacksburg--Carolina had been 1-8 against ranked Virginia Tech teams.

15. Carolina's lack of depth in the secondary--the Tar Heels played without Ja'Qurious Conley and Storm Duck, two starters in the defensive backfield--took another hit when Don Chapman left in the second half with an injury and did not return. UNC did get a little good news, as Patrice Rene and Josh Ezeudu played for the first time this year. Ezeudu gave Carolina some much-needed flexibility along the offensive line, and Rene was indispensable for the injury-ravaged secondary. Chapman tied with Kelly for the team lead in tackles with nine.

16. Offensive coordinator Phil Longo called a sensational game for Carolina. The Tar Heels were also very wise with their clock usage in the fourth quarter in the four minute offense, milking every second from the play clock even early to midway through the fourth quarter. In a game when it was critical to keep the opposing offense off the field, those precious seconds saved by Sam Howell as he managed the clock were very important.