Penalty problems plague UNC

North Carolina wide receiver Wallace Wright never had seen it before. Running back Barrington Edwards never had seen it before.

Even Coach John Bunting, a man who has been coaching football for 20 years, never had seen it before.

But there it was on the stat sheet after the Tar Heels' bruising loss to Wisconsin on Saturday.

Total penalties for UNC: 12. Total number of yards lost because of those penalties: 115.

"I have never seen so many flags in my life," Wright said. "I've been watching football for 20 years and I've never seen as many flags as there were tonight."

The Tar Heels' miscues couldn't be pinpointed on any one area, as all units struggled with penalties. The offense, defense, special teams and even the coaching staff shared responsibility for all the yellow that spotted the field Saturday.

The problems for UNC began on the first drive of the game as the Tar Heels were called for two consecutive penalties. An illegal block in the back and an unsportsmanlike conduct call on Bunting turned a five-yard punt return into a 13-yard loss and put the UNC offense on their own five-yard line for quarterback Matt Baker's first snap in Kenan Stadium as the starter.

"I've never seen so many flags fly in a game," Bunting said. "So that was certainly different than I've been accustomed to being around - beginning with our team, going to their team.

"Obviously one was thrown on me and I'm pretty ashamed of that. I had one called on me at the very beginning of the ball game on that punt return. We've got to go back and try and get this sorted out quickly because we have a lot of football left."

The plethora of penalties also hurt a UNC offense that still is trying to consistently make plays. A 21-yard pass in the first quarter was nullified by an ineligible receiver downfield call and another 22-yard pass was rendered meaningless in the third quarter after a 10-yard holding penalty.

"We had a lot of penalties," Baker said. "We could never get in a rhythm. There's no one place to point the finger. I'll take the heat for a lot of it. I didn't do a very good job at running the game today."

One of the penalties that hurt UNC's scoring chances the most was a delay of game in the second quarter. Sophomore Connor Barth nailed a 52-yard field goal after the play clock hit zero, but the 5-yard penalty voided the three points and moved the Tar Heels out of field goal range.

"It makes me laugh because I've got two great kids that are out there that are holding and kicking," Bunting said with a chuckle. "I think they went out there and thought they had all day like it was in practice - there's no clock. We had plenty of time to get it away and they just went out there to let the clock run down, and nobody ever saw the clock."

North Carolina wasn't the only team shooting itself in the foot Saturday as the Badgers got flagged for eight penalties for 74 yards.

"We hurt ourselves," said Wisconsin Coach Barry Alvarez. "We took points off the board. There was a foolish penalty with the hold down the field. It took a first down away - (and we had) a third down conversion taken away after the ball. Two clips in the second half. A lot of mistakes. A lot of penalties."

UNC will need to find a solution to its penalty woes this week if it wants to score against the top-ranked N.C. State defense next weekend.

"I mean, all it is is we've just got to stay consistent," Edwards said. "We just got to eliminate penalties and make plays. That's all the game is - is just making plays. And whoever makes plays at the end usually comes out winning."

 

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.