UNC making progress on the ground

North Carolina's running game finally looked effective Saturday against Miami.

Just don't look at the stat sheet for proof.

UNC's grand total for net rushing yards in the 28-24 win was 35 yards on 33 rushes — an average of 1.1 yard. That's less than ideal for a half of football" much less a full game.

So why was quarterback Cameron Sexton praising the UNC tailbacks Monday?

""Really our rushing statistic was not indicative of how we ran the football" Sexton said.

I thought we were physical up front but I really thought that those three guys running" I really thought they ran like warriors.""

Sexton has a point in saying those stats are slightly skewed. UNC actually gained 81 yards on the ground and lost 46.

Most of that negative yardage came from a turnover on fourth down when UNC muffed a punt snap for negative 19 yards and two sacks of Sexton for negative seven and 11 yards.

Add those totals up for negative 37 yards on just three plays — none of them from the running game.

Take Sexton and punter Terrence Brown out of the total" and UNC is left with 29 rushes for 72 net yards — an average of 2.5 yards per carry.

Granted nobody's going to mistake Greg Little for Reggie Bush with those numbers but even those statistics don't tell the whole story.

Through the early games of 2008" the Tar Heels have struggled with losing yards on rushing plays on first and second down.

That put the Tar Heel offense in a tough situation of facing a second down and 11 or 12 and forced many drives to end in just three plays in UNC's opening three games.

That trend reversed itself Saturday.

UNC running backs rushed for loss only twice in the game and only lost five total yards on those rushes.

That means that UNC spent most of Saturday's game moving forward on the ground — a vital component to keeping drives alive.

""We had so many third and short conversions" Sexton said. And you see the momentum we carried" to keep us out there and keep us driving.""

Of UNC's 12 drives Saturday" six went for six plays or more" and only one was a three-and-out.

""It was a step forward"" coach Butch Davis said. The thing that I thought they did is they ran hard.

""I thought Ryan (Houston) ran hard; I thought Greg ran harder and more physical than in either of the two games at the end of the season last year.""



Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.