A Bright Future

If the past 5 games, all Tarheel victories, have proven anything it is that the Tarheels have a bright future. The majority of the big plays on Offense, Defense with the exception of Defensive End Kareem Martin), and Special Teams in this five game winning streak are Freshmen and Sophomores. Marquise Williams took over at QB, T.J. Logan and Khris Francis have gotten the majority of the carries at Running Back, Wide Receiver Quinshad Davis is only a Sophomore even though it seems like he has been there forever, and Mr. Excitement, Ryan Switzer, has been passing, receiving, and returning his way into the national spotlight. On Defense, Brian Walker and Dominique Green have been batting away or intercepting most everything thrown their way, and if it moves with a ball in its hands, Jeff Schoettmer tackles it.

Eric Ebron

North Carolina Junior Tight End Eric Ebron announced he was turning pro after this season and I was pretty sure when the season started that this would be his last year in Tarheel Blue. He has broken just about every Tarheel Tight End receiving record in the books and is one of the top ranked Tight Ends in college football and is a probable top 20 pick in next year's draft. I really hate to see him go because he was a true gamebreaker. His 199 receiving yards against Miami earlier in the season was the highlight. A Tight End with size and Wide Receiver's speed that was a perfect fit for Larry Fedora's offense and I would love to see him end up with the Carolina Panthers or the Seattle Seahawks. Hopefully he has got at least two games left in his college career.

Bowl Eligible

North Carolina won their sixth game of the season against Old Dominion by a final score of 80-20 and became bowl eligible in the process. It was also their fifth win in a row. Old Dominion was not a bad team. They were 8-3 coming into the game, they played the same up tempo style that the Tarheels do, and their Quarterback had thrown for almost 4,000 yards. There were too many stars and outstanding plays in this game to mention all of them. QB Marquise Williams passed for over 400 yards and 5 TD's, Freshman RB T.J. Logan ran for 137 yards on only 14 carries and scored 3 TD's as well as returning a kickoff 99 yards for a TD. Freshman Wide Receiver Ryan Switzer had a career day receiving with 5 receptions for 118 yards and 2 TD's and he returned another punt for a TD giving him 4 in three games tying an ACC record, Wide Receiver Quinshad Davis had over 100 yards receiving and a TD, and Freshman Running Back Khris Francis scored his first rushing TD on the season. On defense, Senior Defensive End Kareem Martin continued his stellar play adding two more sacks giving him 11 on the season. The Old Dominion Head Coach asked Coach Larry Fedora to cut the 4th Quarter to 10 minutes and Fedora readily agreed. It was a class move by both coaches and nothing was going to be gained by playing 5 more minutes. The Tarheels were driving for another score towards the end of the game when Larry Fedora called off the dogs and had Caleb Pressley take a knee on 4th down at the 10 yard line after taking a delay of game from the three on the play before. As a UNC fan, it would have been nice to see the 'Heels set the ACC record for points in a game (the record is 82 by Clemson in 1981 against Wake Forest) although the 'Heels did set a school record for points in a game but I applaud the sportmanship shown by both coaches. That is rare to see at any level of football any more.

And The Sophomore Shall Lead Them

The North Carolina Tarheel Basketball team has always placed an emphasis on Senior leadership since the early days of Dean Smith and if the team was lacking in Seniors, then the upper classmen took over. This year, especially after the tough Belmont loss, Sophomore combo guard Marcus Paige has emerged as the clear cut leader of the 2013-14 Tarheel basketball team. Paige led the 'Heels with a then career high 26 points in an 82-72 win over the University of Richmond on Saturday with some help from fellow Sophomore Brice Johnson in the form of 24 points off the bench. The #24 'Heels took on #3 Louisville and their 21 game winning streak yesterday and rode Marcus Paige's career high 32 points on 6 for 9 three point shooting and 10 for 11 from the free throw line. Brice Johnson chipped in with 13 more points off the bench and 5 Blocked Shots and Freshman Kennedy Meeks had a career high 13 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists. Meeks repeatedly burned Louisville with long outlet passes to wide open Tarheel players who had gotten behind Louisville's defense. It was a "statement" win for North Carolina and by far their best game of the season. It was tied at 44 at halftime and the 'Heels eventually stretched the lead to 16 before settling on the final score of 93-84. The 'Heels improved to 4-1 on the season and this was the first of many games the Tarheels have against Top Ten teams.

Switzer Saves The Day

The North Carolina Tarheels evened their record at 5-5 with a hard fought 34-27 win over the Pittsburgh Panthers yesterday at Heinz Field. The Tarheels raced out to a 24-3 halftime lead on the strength of 2 Marquise Williams rushing TD's and a Ryan Switzer 65 yard punt return for a TD. The 'Heels tacked on a Field Goal to start the scoring in the Third Quarter and make it 27-3 then had to hang on. Pittsburgh tied it up at 27 and then Ryan Switzer returned a second punt for a TD in the game, this one a weaving, field crossing, 61 yarder. The 'Heels still had to make a couple of defensive stands, the last one a fourth and one on their own 26 yard line with 1:12 to go in the game. It wasn't pretty but they won their fourth game in a row and now only need to win one of their last two to become bowl eligible. The Tarheel defense, in particular Kareem Martin, played a solid game and had 7 sacks in the game, with Kareem Martin getting 3 1/2 of those. Cornerback Terry Shankle led the team with 8 tackles and had 2 sacks.

The Sophomores Step Up

Friday nights game against Holy Cross was a much tighter game than it really should have been. The score was tied at 25 at halftime after Holy Cross went on a 13-2 run to close out the first half. A lackluster performance by the 'Heels in the first 4 minutes of the second half saw them fall behind 30-27. That was when Sophomores Marcus Paige (22 points) and Brice Johnson (12 points) brought some highly needed energy and enthusiasm to the court and allowed the 'Heels to pull out a hard fought 62-54 win. The 'Heels had a poor shooting game, were outrebounded by the smaller Holy Cross team 39-38, and the 'Heels did not take care of the ball. One of the announcer desribed the Tarheels as a very mediocre team without P.J. Hairston and by the end of the game, they were in the process of proving him right. James Michael McAdoo only had 11 points and had a hard time fitting into the flow of the game. The 'Heels had no inside game to speak of and the crisp passing among the interior players from the first game was missing in this game. The 'Heels will be a work in progress until they start getting some of their major players back. James Michael McAdoo and Marcus paige are the only two players on this team that logged major minutes last season.

A Tribute To Renner

Marquise Williams changed his jersey number from his customary #12 in yesterday's 45-14 win over Virginia to Bryn Renner's #2 as a tribute to Renner. Yesterday's game also served as Marquise Williams taking over the reigns as the starter and he proved himself quite capable. Marquise Williams threw 2 TD passes, ran for another, and he also caught a 29 yard TD pass from Wide Receiver Quinshad Davis. According to the statisticians that might be the first time in Tarheel history that type of trifecta has ever been pulled off. He was 15 for 28 for 185 yards with 2 TD's and an Int and he ran for another 46 yards on 16 carries and caught a 29 yard TD pass. He totalled 260 yards of total offense. He also helped lead the Tarheels to their first 200 + yards rushing performance of the season. Romar Morris led the 'Heels with 48 yards rushing. Tight End Eric Ebron was relatively quiet with only 2 catches for 21 yards but Virginia was focused on not letting him run free across the middle and that allowed the Wide Receivers to run loose along the sidelines. Quinshad Davis had 5 catches for 65 yards and a TD. A total of 8 Tarheels caught passes. The screen game was more in play against Virginia asd Khris Francis caught a 15 yard screen that resulted in a TD and T.J. Logan ran one for 30 yards.

The Announcers

I grew up watching college football and listening to the announcing of Keith Jackson, and after listening to the ACC Networks announcing duo of Steve Martin and Tim Brant call the Virginia-North Carolina game today, all I can say is "Damn, do I miss Keith Jackson!" The ACC has worked hard to do it but the ACC has finally found football's version of Dan Bonner. Steve Martin (and he is definitely not The Man With Two Brains, and Tim Brant's play-by-play and analysis of the game was astounding but not in a good way. Here are some excerpts from their expertise: On Virginia QB David Watford "He makes a great throw" right before Tre Boston of UNC was intercepting the ball; he stated that UNC instigated the sideline incident after #49 of Virginia got a personal foul penalty called on him for dumping Boston on his head well after the whistle had blown and they were both out of bounds, and one of the announcing crew then berated UNC for leaving most of their starters in the game when the score was 45-14. I know the UNC roster pretty well and I didn't even recognize most of the players that were in the game. About a minute later he announced that UNC had just about played everyone on the roster. There were several others but those were some of the more noticeable one's.

Previewing Virginia

The University of Virginia Cavaliers is game #1 in the 'Heels quest to make a bowl game. It is homecoming for North Carolina, Marquise Williams gets his second start of the season and all of the snaps will belong to him unless another injury occurs, North Carolina's defense is playing better football, and UNC's running game is showing signs of life and Williams provides an additional threat running the ball from the QB position. Virginia is a little bit of a "wild card" for North Carolina. They are 2-7 and 0-5 in the ACC. They have nothing to lose and you don't know what you are going to get. Are you going to get a Virginia team that tries to exploit North Carolina's weakness against the run or are you going to get the Virginia that passed the ball 61 times a game or two ago? The bigger worry is that they completed 43 of those 61 passes. North Carolina should win and I expect them to win. Renner being out will hurt the passing game as he is a more precision passer than Williams. The running game should be better as Williams provides an additional threat. Defensive End Kareem Martin has been playing the kind of football everyone expected from him at the beginning of the season. He leads the team with 5 1/2 sacks and has putting intense pressure on the opposing QB's in the past three games. The defense has been opportunistic and has been intercepting the ball with more regularity thereby giving UNC more posessions. Its basic football 101- limit the turnovers and penalties and play opportunistic football and that should equal a UNC win.

Getting It

After watching UNC's 84-61 win over Oakland University last night, I came away thinking "This team gets it." They get making the extra pass to someone with a better shot, they get playing better perimeter defense and getting a hand in the shooter's face, and they get crashing the boards. At some point and time in the very near future and until the situation between the NCAA and P.J. Hairston and Leslie McDonald comes to a resolution, they will miss the outside shooting of those two players. Last night that void was filled admirably by J.P. Tokoto and Marcus Paige. Tokoto had 13 points (all in the first half) and Paige had 14, including 4 of 7 three pointers, and Tokoto tied for the team lead with 5 Assists and led the team with 4 steals. It took James Michael McAdoo all of 7 seconds into the game to score on a driving layup and hit the "and one" for a three point play. He led the team with 21 points and 9 rebounds and 5 Tarheels scored in double figures. Oakland University was a dangerous team. They play fast and can hit the three point shot. The 'Heels neutralized that by playing good perimeter defense (Oakland was 8 for 25 from the three point line) and getting into the passing lanes. There were no easy shots. It was a good first win for the Tarheels and I came away impressed, especially with the first half.

Men's Basketball Preview Versus Oakland

The Oakland University Golden Grizzlies come to Chapel Hill tonight for only their second ever meeting. Oakland presents matchup problems for the 'Heels the biggest of which is three-point bomber Travis Bader. He averaged over 22 points a game last year and is only 101 three-pointers short of Duke alum J.J. Redick's career record of 457 three-pointers. It could be a problem if the 'Heels have to match him three pointer for three pointer. He also has a size advantage over Marcus Paige and will be able to shoot over the top of him. The 'Heels have had a problem guarding the outside shooters for several seasons. Fellow Oakland Guard Duke Mondy led the NCAA in steals last year at 3.02 per game and with the 'Heels problem with turnovers in their exhibition game and Freshman Nate Britt opening at the Point, UNC will need to take care of the basketball and not give Oakland any more posessions. Oakland also has two transfers, Tommie McCune from West Virginia who led Oakland with 7.5 rebounds per game in two exhbition games, and former Dayton Flyer Ralph Hill. Oakland can almost match Carolina's size and experience in the middle definitely favors the Golden Grizzlies. Depth in the middle should favor UNC and any of the three- Desmond Hubert, Joel James, or Kennedy Meeks- could start for Carolina and they do have 15 fouls to give. James Michael McAdoo needs to have a big game for the 'Heels. Sophomore Brice Johnson and Freshman Isaiah Hicks are the "X Factors" for the Tarheels. They do not have a proven outside threat and need to dominate down low and one the those players needs to step up and become a scoring option. Oakland Coach Greg Kampe favors a fast paced game and the 'Heels should thrive in that type of environment and the 'Heels big men can run. If the Tarheels can limit their turnovers, dominate the inside, and if any of the "X Factors" can step up, the 'Heels should be able to pull away at the end. The 'Heels cannot lament over who is not playing and as the old saying goes, "you have to race what you brought to the track."

Men's Basketball Home Opener Versus Oakland

The opening of the Men's Basketball season used to be such a rush for me. The 'Heels were usually a Top Ten team (usually top five) and the only thing a Tarheel fan had to worry about was who was going to go pro at the end of the season. Until then, and it was usually after a deep run into the NCAA's, you got to watch a veteran team with a few McDonald's All-American Freshmen sprinkled in to the lineup. This season has a different feel to it. The 'Heels are opening up their season without all of their starting pieces. P.J. Hairston and Leslie McDonald are going to miss at least the home opener against Oakland due to problems with the NCAA. Hairston's saga has gone on for at least four months and should have a definitive resolution to it by now. The NCAA was able to resolve the Johnny Manziel situation at Texas A & M in about two weeks. That suspension was for half a game. He has acted like a jerk ever since then. The NCAA couldn't have the reigning Heisman Trophy winner being suspended for any length of time. Leslie McDonald's problems have been going on for a lot less time but the effects are just the same. Hairston and McDonald's situation greatly alters the 'Heels starting lineup. Marcus Paige moves into the starting Shooting Guard position (he is a natural Point Guard) and Freshman Nate Britt moves into the starting Point Guard position. The only other two "guaranteed" starting positions are J.P. Tokoto and James Michael McAdoo. It looks like the 'Heels will open with a three-headed monster at Center with Desmond Hubert, Joel James, and Kennedy Meeks all getting playing time until one separates themselves. That is also 15 fouls to give from the Center position. Desmond Hubert is the best defensive player of the bunch, Joel James has a lot of upside, and Kennedy Meeks has the most polished offensive game to this poing. All three have the size that the Tarheels lacked last year so hopefully, Coach Roy Williams three guard experiment is over except for maybe small stretches during games.

Bryn Renner's Career Comes To An Unfortunate End

Bryn Renner's Tarheel career came to an unfortunate end on a scramble in the Third Quarter. He slid feet first and took a shot from an NC State player to his left shoulder that broke a bone and tore the labrum. I am biased but I thought it was a cheap shot. With all of the player ejections I have seen over the past three weeks for "targeting", I guess it is okay to target a players shoulder while he is laying on the ground as long as you don't target his head. I thought a sliding player was supposed to be protected anyway. The 15 extra yards wouldn't have mattered anyway. Renner came back into the game for one more play and completed a third down pass for a first down. If he would have played his final four games at UNC, Renner more than likely would have held every major passing record at North Carolina. His Senior season didn't quite go as planned as far as victories go but he faced adversity throughout his career and he faced the news that his CVarolina career was over with his usual class and looking forward mentality. No one knows if a pro career is in his future but I am sure he will be invited to a training camp if he is not drafted in the later rounds. He should also garner an invite to the pro combine before the draft as well.

A Rivalry Game

The North Carolina State-North Carolina football game has turned into a bitter rivalry. The Tarheels caught a lot of flack after yesterday's 27-19 win over NC State because some of the Tarheels players stomped up and down on the Wolpack's new logo at the 50 yard line. If memory serves me correctly, Wolfpack players did the same thing after a Wolfpack victory in 2000. The new logo shows a Wolfpack emblem plastered over an outline of the state of North Carolina. The Wolfpack supporters saw nothing wrong with that and did not see that as inflammatory at all. The battle has raged for several years about who's state this is. As Larry Fedora said after the game "As far as I know, it has always been the Tarheel state." To paraphrase Al Davis of Oakland Raiders fame, "Just win baby" and you can celebrate however you want to.

Exhibition Play

UNC beat UNC-Pembroke the other night in an exhibition game 82-63 and it is hard to read too much into that. I remember a few years ago Kentucky lost an exhbition game to a Division III school and went on to do pretty well that season. The 'Heels went into the game minus three players (Hairston, Tokoto, and McDonald) that are expected to log major minutes for the 'Heels. All three will miss regular season games this year and the NCAA has to decide how many. I won't get started on the blatant unfairness of the NCAA and their regulatory body. Starting Point Guard Marcus Paige took over at Shooting Guard, Freshman Nate Britt took the Point, and McAdoo, James, and Johnson rounded out the starting five. The 'Heels had a serious height advantage over Pembroke but turnovers, all 23 of them, killed them. Turnovers were a big reason why Pembroke pulled to within 7 points in the second half. James Michael McAdoo (19) and Freshman Kennedy Meeks (11) were the only two in double figures, McAdoo and Brice johnson had 10 rebounds a piece, and Britt led the team with 6 assists. The Tarheels were only 3 for 15 from the three point line but did hit 23 of 27 free throws. It was an exhibition game. Coach Williams and the 'Heels have their work cut out for them. They should be much better by the end of the season than they are at the beginning.