UNC to face triple-option offense

There’s no simple answer for Georgia Tech’s triple-option offense, which the North Carolina football team will face Saturday at Kenan Stadium. But coach Larry Fedora offered his best solution Monday at his weekly press conference.

“It’s assignment discipline,” he said. “You’ve got to know your job, you’ve got do your job, and you don’t worry about doing someone else’s job.”

UNC (6-3, 3-2 ACC), which ranks 19th in rushing defense among FBS schools, will hope to use defensive restraint Saturday to stay undefeated at home this season and build off a thrilling win against N.C. State.

But slowing down the Yellow Jackets’ unique attack is no easy task, no matter how simple Fedora makes it seem.

The triple-option — in which the quarterback has the option to throw the ball, hand it off or pitch it — caused headaches for UNC’s defense last year in Atlanta, when the Tar Heels fell to Georgia Tech 35-28 and surrendered 335 yards on the ground.

Senior defensive tackle Sylvester Williams, who saw the Yellow Jackets last season, knows he and his fellow linemen must concentrate on their defensive task — and their defensive task only.

“I’ve got to take my assignment every time, (and) everyone has to take their assignment every time and wait for the plays to come to them,” Williams said. “At some point in the game a play is going to come to you, and you’ve just got to make it.”

Fedora hopes his offense will lend the defense a hand. He said UNC must keep the Georgia Tech offense off the field as long as possible. That way, he hopes, the Yellow Jackets (4-5, 3-3) won’t have as many chances to run their intricate attack against his defense.

“We’ve got to do a great job of moving the chains,” Fedora said. “It’s going to be very important that we don’t have short possessions. We’ve got to take care of the football so we don’t give them extra possessions.

“We have to finish when we have the ball. It will be tough on the defense — we’ve got to keep them off the field as much as possible.”

Senior offensive guard Jonathan Cooper said he feels a similar burden.

“One of the things they do is try to sustain on drives and really eat up the clock,” Cooper said. “If we can keep the ball out of their hands it’ll really help us on both sides of the ball.”

But even if the defense stays disciplined and the offense limits Georgia Tech’s possessions, there is still the chance that the Yellow Jackets can hit UNC with its less-vaunted passing attack.

Last season against UNC, Georgia Tech quarterback Tevin Washington threw for 184 yards and a touchdown — and ran for two — and receiver Stephen Hill caught six passes for 151 yards and a touchdown.

“I actually was surprised, because that was something we did not prepare for — we had prepared for them to run the option,” Williams said of Georgia Tech’s passing game. “I suspect them to do some of the same things this year.”

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.