UNC defense sticks to script to stifle Georgia Tech 48-20

There was no rah-rah, no spirited sermon. There was no change in the plan, no grand revelation or sense of reckoning.

None of that was necessary Saturday, especially not at halftime. When the No. 15 North Carolina football team funneled off the field and into the confines of its locker room — a 27-17 lead in hand — there was no talk of adjustments, no murmurs of “fixing.”

“All we told them was to go out there and play pissed off,” head coach Larry Fedora said. “Didn’t change one thing. Didn’t adjust anything.”

UNC re-emerged from the depths of Kenan Memorial Stadium with no change in strategy — only in mindset.

Preserve the lead. Grow it. Stymie Georgia Tech’s famed triple-option offense entirely, and throw a goose egg on the scoreboard to prove it.

And they almost did it, almost kept the Yellow Jackets — who ultimately lost 48-20 — from scoring for the entire second half. Three points on the first drive was all the visitors could muster after intermission.

The Yellow Jackets fumbled twice, got stuffed on 4th-and-1 and almost had a field goal try blocked for the second time. Still, their performance was less a calamity of errors and more the product of UNC’s defense — a defense determined to crescendo alongside its seasonal heights.

The game began atypically for the defense, which forced two punts on Georgia Tech’s first two drives.

“During the beginning of the year, we had troubles getting three-and-outs on the first series,” linebacker Andre Smith said. “So that’s something that we’ve really worked on: starting out fast.”

But that quick start wouldn’t last long. It only took Georgia Tech 12 seconds, one play, on its third possession to remind UNC of its own offensive potency.

The Yellow Jackets snapped the ball, but quarterback Justin Thomas — normally the quick-pitching architect of Georgia Tech’s offense — didn’t run. Instead, he stood in the pocket for just long enough and uncorked a bomb down the left sideline.

The ball arced over everyone: defensive linemen, linebackers, even cornerback M.J. Stewart in coverage. It landed deftly in the waiting arms of running back Clinton Lynch — who hustled down the touch line, evaded Stewart’s trailing attempt for a strip and waltzed 83 yards into the end zone for his team’s first touchdown. Suddenly, UNC’s lead was only 10-7.

“On the first catastrophic play, they ran the trap-option like four times, and then they came back and ran the trap-option-pass,” defensive tackle Nazair Jones said. “So, you know, they set it up. They did their jobs.”

And they continued to do so for much of the first half. Not all of it was explosive, like Thomas’ long touchdown pass. It was more methodical, almost like mechanized chaos, the way the Yellow Jackets strung together short plunge after wide sweep.

It was unrelenting.

But at the half, UNC’s defense opted not to burn its playbooks, not to start over from scratch. Instead the Tar Heels would refocus. Stay dedicated and cognizant of their assignments. Do their jobs, as the saying goes.

So they did. They held Georgia Tech’s offense to three measly points and less than 200 yards after halftime. They forced running back Dedrick Mills to fumble twice, allowing UNC’s offense to further expand the margin of victory.

It might not have been a second-half shutout, but it was damn close.

When the contest finally ended, several of UNC’s defenders dispersed themselves through the interview room to answer questions from the media. Separate from all of them, though, was defensive end Dajaun Drennon. He sat with his back to a wide wall of windows overlooking the now-empty stadium. A reporter asked about his playing time, and then another about returning from injury.

But it wasn’t until he was asked about UNC’s defense — his teammates, his brothers on that field behind him — that he smiled. His response was simple.

“Them boys are getting after it.”

@BrendanRMarks  

sports@dailytarheel.com