Taking It To The Defense

Wake Forest came into Chapel Hill with the 15th ranked defense in college football and left Kenan Stadium with the Tar Heel and the rest of North Carolina's foot in their ass to the final score of 50-14.

North Carolina got off to a rough start with Quarterback Marquise Williams throwing interceptions in the their first two drives and a three-and-out on their third drive. Wake Forest's defense was playing in your face aggressive defense and I was thinking "This is going to be a long game." The 'Heels got rolling in the second quarter with a long touchdown pass from Williams to Wide Receiver Mack Hollins and the Tarheels went on to score 29 points in the quarter to lead 29-14 at halftime.

There are times that I wonder if Tarheel coaches even know that Running Back Elijah Hood is standing in the backfield. He had eight carries for 101 yards and a long touchdown run but there was really only one series in the game that he was featured. Hood is well on his way to a thousand yard season and he doesn't even get 15 carries a game.

Freshman phenom (can you call a football player that?) and defensive lineman Jalen Dalton got his first action of his Tarheel career and had four tackles. The downside to him playing is that the Tarheels had to remove his red shirt because of injuries to the interior of the defensive line. Dalton was very active and Dalton said after the game "it's just football."

The light has come on for Senior Linebackers Shakeel Rashad and Junior Gnonkonde as Rashad has had an excellent season and Gnonkonde had the best game of his career against Wake Forest with nine tackles and two sacks and was all over the field. He was a disruptive force. I believe Rashad and Gnonkonde are both thriving under defensive coordinator Gene Chizik because of his return to the more traditional 4-3 defense. I don't think anyone thrived in the last couple of seasons playing the 4-2-5.

Records Were Broken

It was a record breaking day for a couple of the Tarheels yesterday against Big 10 opponent Illinois in the Tarheels 48-14 win. Wide Receiver Quinshad Davis caught his 22nd career touchdown pass, breaking a tie with Hakeem Nicks, and Punt Returner Ryan Switzer had 168 punt return yards to break the Tarheel record for one game held by Bud Carson. That record had stood since 1951. Switzer had a 71 yard punt return and he closed out the scoring with an 85 yard return in the fourth quarter.

With the exception of an interception by Quarterback Marquise Williams, the Tarheels played a great game. The most notable improvements are in their defense and their special teams. The defense was flying all over the field and Donnie Miles, Jr., and Shakeel Rashad had some wicked hits on Illinois wide receivers and running backs. I am impressed with Rashad's ability to diagnose plays. He sniffed out a wide receiver screen and crushed the wide receiver for about a five yard loss. Miles was in the backfield on running back sweeps before the running back could start making his move. Gene Chizik has made a big difference with his scheme and you can tell the coaching staff and players have been watching some film.

Marquise Williams and Elijah Hood both had over one hundred yards rushing and Williams had over 200 yards passing and two touchdowns. North Carolina seems more focused on running the ball this year and Hood has had over one hundred yards rushing in two games already. After the first game against South Carolina, the Tarheels game plan has been more balanced.

Nick Weiler hit another 48 yard field goal and is five for five this season with a pair of 48 yarders. Fedora is confident enough in the kicking game to send Weiler out there this year in any kicking situation. You can tell that Weiler put in the work this past off season.

A Win Is A Win

I watched the North Carolina-North Carolina A & T game on ESPN3 on my laptop at my desk. That was an enjoyable experience and a great way to watch a football game. North Carolina needed a bounce back win after the disappointment against South Carolina and North Carolina A & T was a good opponent. A & T had some speed and although they are an FCS team, they were coming off a 9-3 record and picked to win their league again this year. They were overmatched against North Carolina and although North Carolina won 53-14, they still have work to do.

The Tarheel fans and the media had wanted more of Running Back Elijah Hood and that is what Coach Larry Fedora gave them. Hood was coming off a breakout game against South Carolina but he only had 56 yards rushing against A & T. The Tarheels had 224 yards rushing as a team but the three longest runs were made by the Quarterbacks- 19 yards by Marquise Williams, 35 yards by Mitch Trubisky, and 18 yards by Caleb Henderson. The Tarheels also went six deep in their Running Backs so most everyone got a few carries.

Marquise Williams had a "bounce back" game against A & T. He was 15 for 20 for over 200 yards with two touchdowns and ran for another one. He made some nice touch throws, one down the sideline to Tight End Kendrick Singleton that he hit in stride down the right sideline for a touchdown.

The defense showed the kind of improvement I was looking for. They were quick to the ball but the only thing that concerns me is the lack of pressure they are putting on the Quarterback with their front four. Defensive coordinator Gen Chizik has really not unveiled a lot of blitz packages and I am hoping he can dial something up. Linebacker Shakeel Rashad did a great job of reading plays, had one interception and should have had another one. Sam Smiley had a fumble return that he almost took back all of the way and M.J. Stewart also had an interception.

The 'Heels receiving corps had a good game and they unveiled a new red zone weapon in backup Tight End Brandon Fritts. His first two collegiate catches were for touchdowns, one of those from his former high school Quarterback Mitch Trubisky.

2012 Review- Defense

Coach Larry Fedora also brought a new defensive scheme with him, the 4-2-5, that was supposed to contain a "jail break" blitz philosophy. I was picturing a Pittsburgh Steelers type defensive scheme with a lot of sacks and wreaking total havoc on the other teams offense. It did not quite turn out that way. It became a situation where the coaching staff had to try to take the pieces they had and make them fit. Seniors Gene Robinson (Ram) and Dion Guy (Bandit) were put in positions that were new to the defense and had never played in that system before. The Tarheels defense was prone to allowing the big pass play and most of their games were high scoring affairs that never lacked for a dull moment. Depth, especially on the defensive line, was also problematic. They did not really have the depth to run the 4-2-5 system but they plowed ahead but allowed over 25 points a game but if you take out the two shutouts against Elon and Idaho, it rose to over 30 a game. Defensive Back Tre Boston led the team in tackles with 86 and tied for the team lead in interceptions with 4 but anytime you have a defensive back leasd the team in tackles you might have problems. Kevin Reddick was second on the team in tackles with 85 and led the team in sacks with 6 1/2 and had a solid senior season. Defensive Tackle Sylvester Williams was told he was too heavy by the new coaching staff and put in the work to lose 30 pounds before the season started. He had an All-American senior season and was second on the team in sacks with 6 and had 13 1/2 tackles for loss. Several underclassmen emerged with solid seasons. Junior LB Tommy Heffernan, Redshirt Freshmen Safety's Darien Rankin and Sam Smiley, and fellow first year Freshmen Shakeel Rashad, Justin Thomason, and Jessie Rogers all logged quality minutes this season. The off season will be key as Coach Fedora starts recruiting his own style players to fit this system.