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(10/12/09 3:43am)
When a potential interception bounced off linebacker Bruce Carter’s hands with no player between him and the goal line, the monkey on the North Carolina defense’s back got a little heavier.Coach Butch Davis had talked about it repeatedly during his press conferences. Players had said the lack of them had crept into their heads. And Carter’s drop was another example of not being able to get one.Despite limiting opponents to just more than 250 yards of total offense this season, good for second in the ACC, North Carolina’s defense simply couldn’t capitalize on turnover chances.Not until Saturday, at least.“That’s the story of the game,” Davis said after UNC’s 42-12 win against Georgia Southern. “You guys have heard me say for two and a half years that the team that gets and makes the most turnovers has the best chance to win, and tonight we got six of them.”The barrage of turnovers nearly doubled the seven turnovers the Tar Heels had gotten in their first five games. UNC hadn’t forced any in its last three games against East Carolina, Georgia Tech and Virginia.The six turnovers were also the most for the team since 1999, when UNC forced six against Duke. “Our mindset going into this game — we talked about it at the hotel — we just need to get turnovers and strip the ball,” Carter said.Robert Quinn forced the first turnover of the game when he dislodged the football from GSU quarterback Lee Chapple on a sack in the first quarter, but it wasn’t until just after Carter’s near-pick that the floodgates opened.On that drive, just four plays later, linebacker Quan Sturdivant ripped the football out of running back Adam Urbano’s hands and scampered 49 yards for a score.Then, just 50 seconds later, another UNC linebacker got into the act. Zach Brown picked off an attempted crossing route to set the Tar Heels’ offense up on the 22-yard line, a position from which UNC easily punched it into the endzone.By then, Carter, the only starting linebacker without a turnover, was starting to feel the pressure.“The first one I missed and (Sturdivant) told me I had an opportunity to score, and I was messing up,” Carter said. “When he got one, I was like, ‘I’ve got to get one.’”On the next drive, Carter proceeded to make up for his earlier drop by again jumping a route — a wide receiver screen that Ga. Southern had been running the entire half, and this time holding onto the football when it came to his hands.From there, Carter knew what to do with it. He took it back 41 yards down the sideline, slowing up only when he knew he wouldn’t be caught. His touchdown pushed the score to 35-7 in favor of UNC.In that span of just more than two minutes during the second quarter, there were three drives, three turnovers — and one game over.Davis credited his big men up front for freeing up UNC’s linebackers to make plays in the passing game. Other than a 45-yard run for a touchdown, Georgia Southern could only muster 50 rushing yards.“One of the things that helped us tonight was the defensive line’s ability to hold the run, which allows you to cheat the box, get more people out of the box to help on throws,” Davis said.North Carolina added two more interceptions late in the game, one by Kendric Burney and another by Gene Robinson.Carter said all the turnovers were a relief to the defense, but added that it’s just only one game. And a game against a Football Championship Subdivision school at that.“We are going to try to continue to do this every week,” Sturdivant said. “Everybody wants a piece of the action.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(10/10/09 10:38pm)
North Carolina (4-2, 0-2) answered questions about its offensive struggles, at least for a week.
(10/09/09 7:24pm)
Coming into the 2009 season, Greg Little’s title of North Carolina’s “veteran” receiver was tenuous at best.Little had all of 24 career catches and 255 career receiving yards coming into his junior year, not exactly close to the more than 1,200 yards Hakeem Nicks gained for the Tar Heels last season.But Little’s lived up to the preseason billing.He’s already doubled that career catch total through only five games, and he’s gained 222 receiving to cement himself as the leader of a receiving corps bursting at the seams with youth.“He leads by example when the ball is in his hands,” receivers coach Charlie Williams said. “That’s the way he leads. He doesn’t have to say a lot or say anything.”And while that production so far doesn’t put him in the same class as Nicks, his consistency has drawn plenty of praise from his coaches, including coach Butch Davis.Davis singled out Little as one of the bright spots in the Tar Heels’ 16-3 loss to Virginia, saying that the junior’s dependability was something from which UNC’s young receivers could learn.Little had eight catches against the Cavaliers to bring his season total to 25, and he has recorded at least two catches in every game this season.And watching him make all those catches has rubbed off on some of his teammates.“When one guy catches the ball, then that makes the other guy want to catch the ball and have his opportunity to run with it,” Williams said.Even though he’s leading UNC in receptions, he’s poised to do even more.In the Virginia game, he was demonstrably frustrated, pumping his arms across his chest several times when T.J. Yates couldn’t find him or one of his teammates on third downs.“He’s definitely pissed off about it, but he’s just stays on it,” Erik Highsmith said. “All the receivers, he tells us to just keep working, keep catching balls.”But Little’s game-day performances isn’t the only way he’s helped out with the development of North Carolina’s new playmakers.Receiver Jheranie Boyd said Little was instrumental in streamlining his transition from high school to the collegiate level.“For the first three weeks of training camp, he would actually walk with me out of the huddle and tell me what we were running just to get used to it,” Boyd said.Of course, Little is still far from a finished product in his first full season as a receiver.Williams said he still needs to work on blocking downfield and battling for position with cornerbacks and safeties for 50-50 balls.Those skills — along with remaining upbeat when he isn’t involved with every play.“The thing we talk about all the time is being patient,” Williams said. “He just needs to be patient and let the game come to him instead of thinking he has to do something special. He just has to run his routes and catch the ball when it comes his way.”
(10/09/09 7:19pm)
To call Zach Brown “quick” would be an understatement.When the sophomore linebacker ran a blazing 4.28 40-yard dash time this summer, the word appropriate for his speed bumped to “breakneck” at the very least.“I just couldn’t believe he ran it. He looked like he was moving, but I just couldn’t believe it,” Bruce Carter said. “Guys were yelling, and some guys didn’t believe him so they made him run two or three more times after that.”And let it be noted that on those successive sprints demanded by teammates, Carter said he consistently turned a time right around that same 4.28.But in order to succeed as a linebacker, he’s learning to go against his instincts on the field and — gasp — slow down, at least for a second or two.Having straight-line speed is different than knowing what to do with it. 2009 marks Brown’s first year as a starter, and he’s been learning through doing.Linebackers coach Art Kaufman said he’s been working with Brown on perfecting the details of the position — where to line up, proper technique and decision-making after the ball is snapped. Of those, the most important concept Brown’s learning is developing patience so he won’t run himself out of the play.“I think that’s the hardest thing for a linebacker to do — to take the time and find out where to fit,” Kaufman said. “He’s going to have to get better at taking on blockers, but that’s something that comes with time.”So far, Kaufman’s been pleased with Brown’s progress in these areas, but he expects the linebacker to make a jump in his play after getting some rest during next weekend’s bye week.And playing linebacker isn’t the only thing Brown does fast.According to Carter, Brown also has a mouth so quick that he sometimes talks too fast for comprehension — often to his teammates’ amusement.“When he gets too excited you can’t really understand what he’s saying — his words kind of connect,” Carter said.“Everybody picks on him about it, saying he needs to slow down. It seems like he’s speaking a different language.”As Brown progresses, Kaufman said going through the defensive reads will become natural for him, and that’s when the speed can become even more advantageous.Instead of finding himself on the edge of the play, Brown will be right at the center.“You’ve got the speed, that is a big asset. His big thing is he has strength to go along with it,” Kaufman said. “If he can get all those other things to go along with the speed, it gives him tremendous potential.”
(10/09/09 7:09pm)
TV/Radio: TV coverage will be provided by ESPN360.com. Radio coverage will be broadcast by WCHL 1360 AM, WRDU 106.1.A visit from another Football Championship Subdivision team should be just what the doctor ordered for a North Carolina offense that’s ailing, both mentally and physically.Injuries early in the season knocked out two starters from an offensive line that already lacked depth. T.J. Yates’ security blanket in the passing game, tight end Zack Pianalto, also remains absent from the offensive huddle with a bum foot.Furthermore, the Tar Heels are dealing with the fallout from a pair of offensive showings they’d rather forget.UNC’s offense failed to gain 200 yards in its last two games against Georgia Tech and Virginia, and it put a total of just 10 points on the scoreboard in those contests. In its game against the Cavaliers, North Carolina failed to move the ball into the red zone even once.That all should change against a Georgia Southern team that should be overmatched from the opening snap.Coach Butch Davis talked of simplifying his team’s offense in order to get it back on track, and it won’t get any more simple for UNC than the worst defense remaining on its schedule.Yates, who has been hounded relentlessly with pressure, should be able to stand in the pocket an extra second or two against the Eagles, giving him time to get in a rhythm with his young receivers and look farther downfield. Running backs Shaun Draughn and Ryan Houston should also benefit from the Tar Heels’ physical advantage. UNC’s ground game has had problems finding running lanes, but they should find some more space and bigger holes. One area North Carolina has had no problems with has been the play of its defense. The veteran unit ranks No. 8 nationally in total defense, allowing just more than 251 yards per game.Georgia Southern Lee Chapple has thrown for 991 yards and six touchdowns on the season, but he’s also tossed six interceptions.Deunta Williams and the secondary should force a few turnovers to put UNC’s offense in good field position. Yates and Co. should be able to convert those opportunities blow off some frustration with a couple touchdowns.
(10/06/09 3:31am)
North Carolina’s offensive playbook is getting thinner — at least for a few weeks.After reviewing film of the Tar Heels’ latest offensive struggles in the 16-3 loss to Virginia, head coach Butch Davis said he and UNC’s offensive coaches have decided to simplify the play-calling to iron out their team’s offensive inconsistencies.“As coaches, we have to ask ourselves, ‘Are we trying to do too much with a young team?’” Davis said in his weekly press conference Monday.“When you’re struggling offensively, and that’s where we’re at right now, we’ve got to look at what’s we’re trying to do and say, ‘OK, how much simplification will help these guys with execution?’”And Davis said that execution should be the key to helping give his inexperienced offensive players confidence.Injuries to UNC’s offensive line have forced two starters off the field. Left tackle Kyle Jolly limped off the field in the fourth quarter of last weekend’s game.UNC scored a total of 10 points in its last two matchups, and the Tar Heels also failed to gain 200 total yards in each of those two games.Quarterback T.J. Yates said he was “frustrated” that the offense is taking a step back in his third season under center, but at this point, he’s willing to do pretty much anything to get his unit to start moving the chains again.“I think as an offense we’re better than what we’ve shown on the field,” Yates said. “If that’s what it’s going to take to get us moving a little bit more, then that’s what we’ve got to do.”“I’ll do anything — whatever it takes to get this offense rolling.”UNC’s depth chart didn’t show any major shake-ups on Monday, but Davis did mention that Ryan Houston should get a larger share of the carries this week.Shaun Draughn has been getting the bulk of the work on ground for the Tar Heels, but Davis said the split between the two running backs should move closer to 50-50 against Georgia Southern.North Carolina gained only 17 and 39 rushing yards in its last two games against Georgia Tech and Virginia, respectively. “We’ve got run the ball more effectively than we did last weekend and against Georgia Tech,” Davis said. “The offensive line’s got to identify the fronts better. They’ve got to get on the right guys. And the running backs, they’ve got to sometimes make their own holes.”Even if the offensive adjustments do create more rhythm on offense and give his team more scoring opportunities, Davis said finishing those chances can be the difference between winning and losing.He cited Saturday’s game against the Cavaliers as an example.“As much as we struggled to move the football, twice we had the football inside the 25-yard line,” Davis said.“Two touchdowns would have gone a long way Saturday instead of kicking a field goal.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(10/05/09 4:16am)
In the aftermath of another stagnant performance — this time a 16-3 loss to ACC bottom-feeder Virginia, North Carolina’s quarterback couldn’t help but admit it.
(10/03/09 8:56pm)
When asked if Saturday's game was the lowest of the low for North Carolina's offense, quarterback T.J. Yates could only lower his head and quietly murmur agreement.
(10/02/09 10:45pm)
When asked what he wanted to do more on the field, quarterback A.J. Blue gave an answer befitting of a freshman quarterback.“I definitely want to throw more,” Blue said. “But Coach Davis doesn’t want to put more on me than I can handle right now, so I guess he’s just taking it slow.”Talk about an understatement. The young signal-caller has appeared in all four of North Carolina’s games as a quarterback, but has thrown only a single pass — a 24-yard completion to Erik Highsmith.But to say all Blue does is hand the ball off would be misleading.He’s taken the reins of UNC’s version of the Wildcat offense, a trendy formation that has been sweeping through football at all levels since Darren McFadden and Felix Jones found success with it at Arkansas.Offensive coordinator John Shoop said he began toying with the idea of adding this package to the offensive playbook when UNC started to recruit Blue a year and a half ago. With a logjam at the quarterback position, Shoop knew he would have to be creative to get the ball in Blue’s hands.“He can throw the ball, run the ball, catch the ball, do all kinds of things. He’s kind of a throwback athlete,” Shoop said. “I think the defensive coaches are fighting for him, too.”Still, UNC’s Wildcat experiment has only produced up-and-down results during its first trial.Blue has completed the aforementioned one pass and gained a modest 17 yards on nine carries, but Shoop said the package was instrumental in providing a spark during North Carolina’s wins against Connecticut and East Carolina.Shoop said he thinks the production from the Wildcat should improve once Blue begins to get more comfortable coming off the bench cold.Blue shared similar sentiments with Shoop. He said that finding a rhythm when he only gets into the game for a couple plays is difficult, especially with the added pressure of reduced playing time if the offense makes a mistake.“I know that they’re looking for big plays out of it — that’s why we’re running it,” Blue said. “But if not, then we’re not going to run it again.”As for throwing the ball, Blue said Shoop and the rest of the offensive coaches are playing it close to the chest.He personally has “no clue” when he’ll be called on to throw the ball again, but added that he throws the ball regularly when the offense practices the Wildcat.Shoop simply unfurled a coy smile and declined to comment on when Blue would throw the ball again.But he did hint at a few tricks UNC has up its sleeves when discussing Blue’s potential.“I think A.J. Blue’s going to have more production throughout the season, whether it’s at quarterback, running back, receiver or different spots,” Shoop said.“He’s a weapon, and we want to use him.”
(10/02/09 10:32pm)
Wearing a white Kansas City Royals flatbill cap backwards, with a shining silver sticker under the brim, Charles Brown paused to think about which word described him best.Safety Deunta Williams had tabbed him as “sharp.” Cornerback Kendric Burney referred to him as “crazy.” Coach Butch Davis settled on deeming him a “playmaker.”After a few seconds, Brown came to a decision. “I guess they all sound good. Crazy is good. Sharp is good. Playmaker is good,” Brown said. “I would describe myself as being explosive. That’s the only word that hasn’t been used.”Maybe four adjectives is enough for Brown, but not for observers of him and UNC’s defense. Plenty of words already have been written on the strength of the unit, a veteran group for which Brown has forced four turnovers.Brown has consistently put himself in the right place at the right time. He’s picked off a team-leading two passes and recovered two fumbles. He’s also recorded 23 tackles, trailing only Quan Sturdivant and Burney in that category.“He worked really, really hard on the fundamentals of playing corner,” Davis said.“Just focusing on the keys and then letting your God-given athletic ability put you in position to make some plays.”Brown has burst back into the lineup after injuries slowed him down in 2008. An ankle injury he sustained prior to UNC’s opener against McNeese State lingered for most of the season, and he missed the Tar Heels’ final two games of the regular season.Williams said Brown expressed frustrations to him about his injuries during the offseason, and he pledged to maximize his talent.“He said, ‘Man, I’m sitting on a gold mine. Don’t let me spoil this thing away,’” Williams said.Brown hasn’t disappointed on that promise so far. In addition to his impressive statistics, he’s been one of UNC’s more passionate players on the field, always saying a little something extra to an opponent.Burney said that he loves Brown’s intensity because it gets him and the rest of the defense fired up when it isn’t playing well.“I love football. I hate losing,” Brown said. “That kind of gets me fired up when our team’s not doing good enough I feel like that’s losing at the time, and I hate losing.”Brown’s also carries the coveted title of “Swag King” on the team, which he got from departed wide receiver Brandon Tate. He said Williams and defensive tackle Marvin Austin have already tried to steal the nickname from him.To maintain a hold on his royal designation, he’s convinced his teammates to call him King Swag No. 1.“When you meet some rappers, you understand that the reason they can freestyle is that their mind is very sharp,” Williams said. “On the spur of the moment he’ll come up with a joke or some kind of crazy freestyle.”Whatever his nickname ends up being by the end of the season, Brown has earned the trust of his teammates with his play so far.Williams said he trusts Brown’s ball skills more, and he gives the cornerback more free reign to intercept balls rather than bat them away.As for Burney, he’s told Brown that he’s like a brother.“When I look to my left, and I see CB, I know I’m pretty much good.”
(09/29/09 2:18am)
Shortly following North Carolina’s 24-7 loss to Georgia Tech, a terse coach Butch Davis didn’t sugarcoat much about his team’s poor showing.“Disastrous” and “terrible” were just two of the adjectives Davis used to condemn the Tar Heels’ third-down efficiency, inconsistency on offense and general lack of execution against the Yellow Jackets.And while he didn’t back off those statements at his weekly press conference Monday, he stressed the importance of keeping that dismal performance in perspective.“I think our players have been here long enough now that they’ve seen us after huge great wins and seen us when we’ve lost games,” Davis said. “We’re pretty much the same coaching staff. We’re always looking at how can we get better. We try to keep things somewhat on an even keel.”Davis said he is not planning on overhauling the depth chart, and that he doesn’t plan on using practice this week to promote several position battles.Instead, North Carolina’s coaches will spend their time this week determining how to better distribute the ball to playmakers on offense and maximize the potential of the talent available.“I think we’re playing the best players we’ve got,” Davis said. “We’ve got to look at what are our capabilities — what they can realistically do, and how can they get better at what we’re trying to do.” But while Davis and the other UNC coaches distanced themselves emotionally from Saturday’s defeat, several players are still stinging from a game in which they said the team lacked the necessary intensity and focus for an ACC game.Quarterback T.J. Yates, who said he was “embarrassed” in the aftermath of the defeat, reiterated those sentiments Monday. He, wide receiver Greg Little and offensive lineman Kyle Jolly expressed frustration during a team meeting about the up-and-down nature of the offense this season. Yates said those veterans demanded consistent execution and effort every game, something that has been missing this year.“A lot of guys on the team kind of have a bad taste in their mouth,” Yates said. “We didn’t expect to see ourselves losing so early. A lot of guys on the team were pretty angry and pretty pissed off, and I think that’s going to help us this week in practice.”Another player aggravated at what transpired in Atlanta was running back Shaun Draughn.UNC’s ground game was stifled for just 17 yards on 18 carries, which put the Tar Heels in position for second- and third-and-longs for most of the game. Draughn said when he finally got home from Atlanta, he couldn’t settle into his standard postgame routine.Draughn usually relaxes by watching the night’s college football action, but he said he was too angry to watch a second of football Saturday night. He said all he wanted to do was watch film on what went wrong.“If the coaches call a play we’ve just got to execute it,” Draughn said. “We’re just not running it effectively. We do things in practice and everything feels good. I think it was just an off game.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(09/28/09 4:13am)
ATLANTA — It was supposed to be a battle of strengths.No. 22 North Carolina arrived in Atlanta with the ACC’s No. 1 rushing defense — largely due to the might of its veteran front seven — while Georgia Tech boasted the conference’s top rushing attack.But 317 rushing yards and more than 42 minutes of time of possession later, the Yellow Jackets were the only ones flexing their muscles.“It can wear you down a lot, especially … when they throw out new stuff,” linebacker Bruce Carter said after UNC’s 24-7 defeat.“Their offense is projected to be a smash-and-dash, old school offense, and it can wear you down, especially when you don’t know where you’re going.”It only took one drive for Ga. Tech (3-1, 2-1) to eclipse the 52.3 rushing yards per game that the Tar Heels (3-1, 0-1) had been allowing before Saturday’s contest.The Yellow Jackets’ triple-option play confounded North Carolina’s defensive front on Ga. Tech’s first possession with nine rushes for 88 yards, and Ga. Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt only had to drop back once to pass.“We couldn’t stay up on our feet. They do a lot of cutting and stuff like that,” defensive tackle Marvin Austin said. “We’re supposed to get 11 guys to the ball carrier every time, and we weren’t tackling well at all.”A-back Roddy Jones finished off the drive with a nifty cutback on a quick pitch from 13 yards out, giving Ga. Tech a 7-0 lead it would not relinquish.That early touchdown, coupled with the UNC offense’s inability to muster any points until the fourth quarter, gave the run-heavy Yellow Jackets a distinct advantage.“All four phases of their offense are in play any time that they’re ahead,” coach Butch Davis said. “They don’t have to throw when they don’t want to throw. They can continue to give the ball to the fullback.“We didn’t have as many negative tackles today that made it second-and-nine as we did a year ago. They did a much better job of moving the ball on first-and-10.”Ga. Tech had 69 total rushing attempts in the game, following a formula of gaining short chunks of yardage and converting short third downs from those three- and four-yard gains. The Yellow Jackets finished an efficient 10 for 19 on third downs, and five of their 11 drives stretched eight plays or more — statistics that Davis called “disastrous” after the game.Reigning ACC player of the year Jonathan Dwyer led the way for Ga. Tech with 158 rushing yards, and Nesbitt rushed for two touchdowns and 97 yards.UNC’s offense didn’t do its defense any favors. The Tar Heels’ longest drive took just a little more than four minutes off the clock, and the rest of their drives lasted fewer than two and a half minutes, leading to the large disparity in time of possession.Even after UNC scored to bring the game to within 10 points, the defense still couldn’t solve the triple-option. Ga. Tech responded to North Carolina’s lone touchdown with a 17-play drive to grind out the clock, and Nesbitt sealed the game with a one-yard touchdown run.“It’s really just being key on your assignments,” defensive end Robert Quinn said. “When one person missed their assignment or didn’t get down in time to make the tackle, they could pick up so many yards.”The Yellow Jackets’ rushing output dropped the ranking of UNC’s rushing defense to fifth in the conference. The Tar Heels’ rushing yardage allowed per game more than doubled to 118.5 after Ga. Tech’s assault.“We knew it was going to be a knock-out, drag-out game,” Austin said. “It doesn’t feel good to lose at all. I don’t care how it’s done. “We didn’t execute as good as we should and as good as we have been in previous weeks.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(09/21/09 4:15am)
Quarterback T.J. Yates had heard all the criticisms of No. 24 North Carolina’s offense.His receivers couldn’t catch. His rushers couldn’t find the creases. His offensive line couldn’t keep him upright. On Saturday, he finally got his rebuttal.“It was big for us. Kind of all week we’d been hearing some rumors of them saying some stuff in the media about this and that,” Yates said, referring to comments from East Carolina defenders.“We kind of took that to heart and proved the point that we can run the ball, we can pass the ball, we can protect, we can catch.”Yates and the rest of the Tar Heels’ offense took out their frustrations against an overmatched Pirate defense, exploding for 433 yards of total offense to lead UNC (3-0) to a 31-17 victory against ECU (1-2).UNC’s junior signal caller was a model of efficiency all game, completing 19 of 24 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns. Yates spread it to seven different receivers, picking apart East Carolina’s secondary with short completions interspersed with a few deep attempts.Freshman Erik Highsmith was Yates’ main target, reeling in six catches for 113 yards and a touchdown.“I thought T.J. Yates was outstanding today — his composure, his poise, his percentage of completions,” coach Butch Davis said. “He’s keeping guys alive. He’s keeping everybody in the routes.”Shaun Draughn and the UNC ground game also responded to questions of its effectiveness, as the unit combined for 148 yards and two touchdowns. Draughn led the way with 84 yards, while Ryan Houston netted both scores.Davis said the experience gained in last week’s fourth quarter against Connecticut helped the Tar Heels figure out how to consistently move the ball and turn the page on the era of wide receivers Hakeem Nicks and Brandon Tate.“I think we kind of carried a little bit of that confidence and a little bit of that mind-set in how we would like to how to play into this ball game,” Davis said. UNC’s scoring spree began when Yates found Highsmith for a 16-yard pass to knot the game at 7-7 in the first quarter, but it was just an appetizer for what was to come from the passing game.Midway through the second quarter, Yates slung a high, looping spiral 50 yards down the middle of the field to freshman Jheranie Boyd, where it bounced off the receiver’s hands and chest before Boyd finally gained control of it for a 59-yard touchdown.“I threw the ball — and he’s so fast I knew he was going to run under it — and all I saw was he tipped the ball and then my heart dropped,” Yates said. “I couldn’t see him, but then everyone went crazy.”Lost in the flurry of offense was another stingy performance from North Carolina’s defense. The Tar Heels’ front seven limited East Carolina to 55 yards rushing, and the Pirates could only muster three points in the second half.But when the game tightened after an ECU field goal brought the score to 24-17, it was UNC’s offense rather than the defense that sealed the win. On the first play of the resulting drive, Yates found Highsmith for a 43-yard gain to set up the final touchdown that put the game out of reach.“I always thought our offense could do it, and we did do it in the fourth quarter of that game last week,” safety Deunta Williams said. “This week they just put it all together — the beginning, middle and the end.”
(09/18/09 4:07am)
For UNC’s Deunta Williams, this one’s personal.It’s not just about the third-year safety’s connections to the eastern part of North Carolina. His memory of 2007 has had him hankering for a second chance for two years.“It’s more than a game,” the Jacksonville native said about Saturday’s contest between No. 24 North Carolina (2-0) and East Carolina (1-1). “This is one of the games that me personally, I’ll remember for the rest of my life. They got us last time, and since then I’ve had that in the back of my mind when people ask me about it.”That day, the Pirates squeaked by the Tar Heels 34-31 on a last-second field goal in front of a raucous crowd in Greenville. ECU quarterback Patrick Pinkney torched UNC’s defense for three touchdowns and more than 400 yards through the air, dealing North Carolina its first loss under Butch Davis and sending the Tar Heels on their way to a 4-8 season.The defeat also impacted a few other UNC defenders who were freshmen in that game. Linebackers Quan Sturdivant and Bruce Carter also saw action against the Pirates, and Williams said both of them still haven’t forgotten the final score.“It was our first loss as a unit, so it was kind of hard to express in words how that felt,” Williams said. “I think if we would’ve won that game, our season would have been a lot different.”While most of ECU’s offensive playmakers from that year have departed, Davis said this year’s Pirates are still built in the typical mold of the program. That means they’ll have plenty of speed at the skill positions — running back, wide receiver and defensive back.There is one constant that bridges the gap from 2007 to 2009 — sixth-year senior Pinkney.But despite his wealth of experience, his final season has gotten off to a rocky start.Pinkney has completed just 42 percent of his passes through two games, and he’s barely eclipsed 300 yards passing for the season.Despite those numbers, Davis said UNC is preparing for him to be at his best.“You’re not going to disguise him, you’re not going to bluff him, you’re not going to trip him,” Davis said. “He’s going to have seen just about everything from an experience standpoint.”Of course, UNC’s defense isn’t the only one with unfinished business on its mind. Quarterback T.J. Yates, who hails from Georgia, said he’s learned just how much the rivalry means in his time with his teammates.Yates said that when Davis asked everyone who knew an ECU player to raise their hands, 75 percent of the room shot their hands up.To redeem itself, UNC’s offense will need a better effort than last week against the Pirates’ veteran front seven. UNC could only muster 35 rushing yards and surrendered six sacks against UConn.“Their defensive line and their linebackers are the strength of their defense,” Yates said. “They’re always moving around.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(09/15/09 3:15am)
Last Saturday, Butch Davis said No. 24 North Carolina’s offense finally broke through a stout Connecticut defensive front because of how long the Husky defense was on Rentschler Field. At his weekly press conference Monday, Davis credited the defensive unit for giving quarterback T.J. Yates and the rest of the Tar Heel offense numerous chances to fatigue the Huskies’ defense.“The defense clearly played very well in that ball game. We were very fortunate. Some things defensively that significantly contributed to our ability to win the game was third downs,” Davis said. “I think Connecticut was 2-for-13 that day, and I think that was instrumental in giving our offense a lot of opportunities.”North Carolina’s defense limited the Husky offense to just 24 snaps in the second half. Also, the Tar Heels (2-0) have gotten off the field at a very efficient rate in their first two games, only allowing four third-down conversions in 29 attempts.That comes out to a 13.8 percent conversion rate — not too shabby for a unit that allowed opponents to convert 43 percent of their third downs last season.Junior Deunta Williams, who has seen the evolution of the defense in his three seasons starting at safety, said it’s a result of his and his teammates’ improved understanding of opposing offenses during the Tar Heels’ growing pains.“Coach Davis talked about it yesterday during the team meeting. He might have said it was the more important stat of the day,” Williams said.“We’d like to affect field position more, but we won third downs, and I think that’s the biggest thing we’ve been doing so far — getting three-and-outs. Keeping our legs a little bit fresher and giving our offense chances time and time again to make a score.”Receiving updateUNC’s receiving corps is still unsettled through two games as the plethora of young wide-outs try to separate themselves from the pack.True freshman Erik Highsmith caught his first passes of his college career against Connecticut (1-1), nabbing four passes for 59 yards, including a 21-yard catch on third-and-17 in the fourth quarter.Fellow freshman Joshua Adams remains above Highsmith on the depth chart for now, and Davis said he will continue to give the players competing for the job plenty of playing time to gain comfort on the field.“We need these guys to continue to grow,” Davis said. “We’ve made this statement since August the first. With this group of young receivers, it’s going to be baptism under fire. They’re going to gain a little bit of confidence, a little bit of experience, a little bit of exposure. The more they play, the more that they’ll start to get a sense of the pace of the game, the speed of the game.”Through two games of the season, Highsmith is the third-leading wide receiver on the team — solely on the strength of his performance against Connecticut. Highsmith is also the leading freshman wideout on the team. Adams has two catches for 26 yards, and neither Todd Harrelson nor Jheranie Boyd have registered a catch so far this season.Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(09/14/09 4:44am)
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Negative two.That number represented North Carolina’s total rushing yardage through three quarters of play against Connecticut.The meager number certainly wasn’t for lack of trying — the Tar Heels tried just about every running play in their playbook to break through the Huskies’ unrelenting front seven.“It was one of those things that early on, we weren’t getting onto the guys exactly where we wanted to,” left tackle Kyle Jolly said.Shaun Draughn tried darting both inside and outside, but repeatedly was stonewalled on rushing attempts, gaining just 17 yards on 13 carries.Greg Little got a few chances to try to get around the defense on reverses, but UConn’s pursuit limited him to just five yards.UNC even brought out its Wildcat formation, but A.J. Blue was stuffed at the line for a two-yard gain on a quarterback draw.Those rushes, coupled with the yardage quarterback T.J. Yates lost when he was sacked six times, brought UNC’s rushing total to below zero.The Tar Heels were missing two starters on the offensive line, but coach Butch Davis refused to point to first-time starters Greg Elleby and Cam Holland as reasons for his team’s struggles on the ground.“It’s Connecticut. UConn, period,” Davis said. “It had not much else to do with anything else other than they are a very fundamentally sound and well-coached football team.”But while Davis and his assistants knew the running game hadn’t paid any dividends through three quarters, they also knew the Huskies’ defensive line was wearing down.Davis said that the commitment to the running game brought on fatigue among the UConn defensive line, and that was what unlocked Yates’ arm in the game’s final quarter.“We made them play two-dimensional. It would have been almost impossible to have a 10-point deficit and go out and sling it every single snap,” Davis said. “If we had only thrown passes, we probably would have left this stadium with a loss today.”As the number of snaps piled up for UNC offensively, Davis inserted Ryan Houston, a power back, to try to take advantage of UConn’s tired defensive front.Houston, who had registered only one carry before the fourth, said he had been studying from the sideline what the Huskies had been doing against Draughn and had a plan for setting up his blocks.“I told them before the play, block them for a good 1.5 seconds and then I’m going to get in there and get some yards all day,” Houston said. “I thanked them after every play and said, ‘Let’s go.’”Houston and his fresh legs rumbled for 32 yards on six carries in the final quarter, putting the Tar Heels’ offense in good situations for second and third downs. Yates took advantage of those opportunities to get the ball downfield to Zack Pianalto and Erik Highsmith, putting UNC in position to tie the score.Yates wasn’t sacked in the final quarter, and the increased amount of time he had to find receivers led to several third-down conversions.Particularly impressive to Yates was the way Holland handled his first start under center.“It was a very loud place in there, we had trouble with the sound and snap count and everything, just adjusting and all that,” Yates said. “The pressure was on him and Greg, making their first career starts. They did an amazing job.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(09/14/09 4:37am)
EAST HARTFORD, CONN. — When he reached his seat in the interview room, coach Butch Davis paused deliberately to wipe some sweat from his brow, and then let out a very audible sigh.“I told the chancellor, ‘That’s why you don’t see any 100-year-old football coaches,” he said a few minutes later, when asked about how his blood pressure was doing in the aftermath of No. 24 North Carolina’s 12-10 victory against Connecticut.No kidding.To cap a fourth quarter that featured more twists and turns than a Six Flags theme park, UNC (2-0) completed a rally from a 10-point deficit with a bizarre ending that Davis said he had never seen in all his years of coaching football.With the score knotted 10-10 and less than two minutes remaining in the game, UConn (1-1) faced third-and-22 on its own 8-yard line.“We had to go out there and basically try to get a sack or a stop,” defensive end Robert Quinn said. “The D-line as a whole wanted to try and get up on the ball and try to get a sack.”The Huskies opted to set up a screen pass to combat the rush, and quarterback Cody Endres dumped it off to running back Jordan Todman for an apparent 15-yard gain, which was well short of the first down.But the real action of the play occurred between Quinn and UConn offensive tackle Dan Ryan.Ryan grabbed and tackled Quinn as the defensive end tried to get around the edge, which prompted an official to throw a flag for a holding penalty.The spot for the penalty was just inside the end zone, which meant that, by rule, two points would be awarded to UNC.When the referee confirmed the call and signaled for a safety, the Tar Heels went crazy on the sidelines, wildly jumping up and down and throwing up the safety sign above their heads.“I didn’t even know what was going on,” tailback Ryan Houston said. “Everybody threw their hands up, and I didn’t know what they were doing. I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ and they were like, ‘Holding in the end zone.’”“And I just went nuts, like, ‘That’s two points, isn’t it? Yeah! We’re up two!’”The game’s deciding play was set up by the revitalization of North Carolina’s offense, which had been stagnant for the game’s first 45 minutes. UNC had just 134 total yards through three quarters, and quarterback T.J. Yates had two passes picked off — one of which led to a Huskies’ touchdown.The Tar Heels doubled their offensive output in the final quarter, stringing together drives of 78 and 76 yards to tie the game with a field goal and a touchdown. Tight end Zack Pianalto culminated the second drive with a 2-yard catch with 2:36 left on the clock.“It was that conditioning in the fourth quarter, getting that push. We know that we still had something left in the tank,” Yates said. “We tried different things and went back to our original game plan, just kind of pounding it down the field those last two drives.”But following the catch, momentum began to shift back and forth between the two teams.Pianalto, who finished with 87 yards and seven catches, injured his foot jumping in excitement after his touchdown and had to be carted off the field. He did not return.Connecticut’s next drive ended with the aforementioned safety, but the Huskies immediately got a jolt after they recovered an onside kick to get another chance on offense.But, as it had done for most of the game, UNC’s defense stood its ground, yielding only one first down before shutting down UConn. Defensive end Quinton Coples sacked Endres on fourth down to clinch the game.“We believed in our defense,” Yates said. “They saved our butt the entire game. They won us this game — all we had to do was put a couple points on the board.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(09/12/09 8:19pm)
There’s a reason why football games are four quarters.
(09/10/09 4:40am)
Connecticut remembered this offseason just what North Carolina linebacker Bruce Carter can do.A season after Carter blocked three punts in the Tar Heels’ 38-12 beatdown of the Huskies, UConn’s special teams completely revamped its punting formation into an elephant scheme to relieve some of the pressure.“It’s different from a traditional punt team where everybody is set in one area. It’s kind of like defending the goal line versus a spread-out shotgun formation,” Carter said. “You kind of spread the field. You’ve got to have guys in areas in case they run a fake or something like that.”Carter wasn’t the only one who got his hands on a punt against the Huskies last season. Connecticut had a total of six punts blocked to prompt the change.And in addition to the new formation, punter Desi Cullen said during UConn’s media day that he worked with his long snapper after last season to expedite the punting process.The value of all those offseason changes will be put to the test Saturday when Carter and UNC’s special teams unit comes calling.Carter said that while the elephant punt formation will force him and the rest of the punt team to think a little bit more, he thought the unit should be prepared.Coach Butch Davis agreed.“We have to adapt, but we’ve been practicing,” Davis said. “What they changed to is something we saw several times last year. So you’ve just got to be flexible and adaptable week in and week out.”Déja vuUNC’s trip to Storrs, Conn., might give a couple players deja vu of the 2008 season.Just like last year, the Tar Heels’ first road game is the second game of the season, and it will again be against a Big East school in the northeast.The similarities to the Rutgers game were not lost on Davis, but he was quick to point out a couple differences.“Last year that game really was a shot of confidence for a football team that really had only won four games the year before,” Davis said. “Rutgers was ranked in the preseason, and it was a Thursday night game and going to New York.”While a shot of confidence may benefit some of UNC’s young receivers on offense, North Carolina’s defense already has plenty of trust in itself.The Tar Heels racked up four interceptions in their first road test last season, and cornerback Kendric Burney set the tone for UNC in the first quarter with a bone-crushing blow that decleated Scarlet Knights receiver Tiquan Underwood.Burney noted that with nine of 11 starters returning, the defense will again be ready to swarm to the ball, and Carter said he knows how his teammates will react on what he calls a “business trip.” “I think we’re just going to go in there with great intensity — everybody’s going to be jacked up,” Carter said.Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(09/09/09 2:58am)
Sometimes a 34-point win isn’t good enough — at least to UNC coach Butch Davis.Davis wants his teams to show improvement, and not just a modest amount.“The most improvement that football teams have a chance to make usually occurs in the first month of the season,” Davis said in a press conference Monday. “It’s going to be very critical for our football team to make strides and improvement from week one to week two. The challenge is dramatically different from a week ago.”UNC’s competition level this week rises from a physically inferior Football Championship Series foe to a more talented Bowl Championship Series opponent, and the Tar Heels won’t be playing in front of a crowd clad in blue.That means Davis is looking for consistency and performance from positions that showed weakness against The Citadel.UNC’s wide receiving corps was one such culprit. While the group nabbed two touchdowns, several players dropped easy catches that induced groans from the crowd and the coaching staff.Davis chalked up some of the mistakes to “first-game jitters,” but said he expects his young pass-catchers to begin to relax on the field.“Some of it comes with experience and stuff. Some of those things you can’t really work out until you get into game situations,” said quarterback T.J. Yates. “I’ve got total confidence in the young guys who are playing out there. We’re just going to try to go this week during practice to work as hard as possible.”A few other areas Davis singled out were the continued development of his special teams and increasing the depth at offensive line. Though 10 offensive lineman played against The Citadel, Davis said right now the coaches would feel comfortable with playing seven or eight against an elite opponent.“It was a mismatch in some respects,” he said. “We’re not going to get many opportunities like that where physically we’re going to outman the other team.”UNC’s third-year coach praised the play of the Tar Heels defensive line, especially the play of Robert Quinn. Davis even used an interesting adjective when describing the defensive end’s production.“There’s a category called beast,” Davis said. “When you start to cross that threshold of being able to take your area of responsibility and cover that, fundamentally sound and with gap integrity, … You’re really starting to get into that threshold of being kind of an elite type of player.”Davis said Quinn, a former wrestler, utilized great balance with his ability to control a blocker with his hands to get after the Bulldogs’ running backs and quarterback.“Everybody knows about Rob,” said linebacker Quan Sturdivant. “He’s a freak out there — size, speed, athleticism — he can flat-out play.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.