UNC Preview Thread -- Who is UNC?

[bke1984]

Miami and FSU are both at the bottom of the ACC in defense. Not exactly what was envisioned for either of them when they joined the conference,. Not like bullying Big East teams is it? Tech's defense is more than acceptable it has been good enough to win in this conference but those stats might take a beating after Saturday.

Lol. Love how you there Florida State in with Miami in the “when they joined the conference” qualification. All FSU did when they joined the conference was win it 12 of the first 15 years they were a member.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Lol. Love how you there Florida State in with Miami in the “when they joined the conference” qualification. All FSU did when they joined the conference was win it 12 of the first 15 years they were a member.

Because they were cheap-shot artists and cheated. That's my opinion and Lil' Joe and I are sticking to it.

 

[Root4GT]

I think our guys are good enough to get it done.

Hope so, I don’t share your optimism. Scoring TDS has been a real challenge for us. Nothing would be better than me being wrong on this one as two of my closest friends are UNC Alumnus.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Lol. Love how you there Florida State in with Miami in the “when they joined the conference” qualification. All FSU did when they joined the conference was win it 12 of the first 15 years they were a member.

True but those days are long gone. Now they are arguably in worse shape than Miami, LOL with your sentence construction.

 

[slugboy]

Downs has UNCs most impressive offensive stats outside of Howell, maybe even overall, but the defense can’t just take away Downs.

Chandler is averaging 7.2 per carry, has three touchdowns, and ran roughshod over UVA. Six receivers other than Downs have touchdowns (though Downs is the only receiver with multiple). Downs has almost half their receptions, but Howell spreads the ball around to the rest, and at least six receivers have what I would call long touchdowns.

Keeping the play in front of us is key. Getting some takeaways would be huge.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Downs has UNCs most impressive offensive stats outside of Howell, maybe even overall, but the defense can’t just take away Downs.

Chandler is averaging 7.2 per carry, has three touchdowns, and ran roughshod over UVA. Six receivers other than Downs have touchdowns (though Downs is the only receiver with multiple). Downs has almost half their receptions, but Howell spreads the ball around to the rest, and at least six receivers have what I would call long touchdowns.

Keeping the play in front of us is key. Getting some takeaways would be huge.

Kinda hard to believe given how good Howell is, but UNC runs a truly balanced O that actually leans slightly more to the run side. IMO, in order to have a chance, we should focus on stopping the run game. Since Howell himself is a huge part of the run game, we will need a spy on him the whole game. Keep Downs in front of the safeties and trust the other CBs to make plays on their man. The first half without Carpenter scares me. This is not the game you want your best S sitting out for a half.

 

[slugboy]

Rushing, Chandler is the main threat, but Howell will sneak in some QB yards. Here are two tables of their season numbers

			Rush	Rush	Rush	Rush	Scrimmage	Scrimmage	Scrimmage	Scrimmage
Rk	Player	G	Att	YdsV	Avg	TD	Plays	Yds	Avg	TD
1	Ty Chandler	3	45	322	7.2	3	47	346	7.4	3
2	Sam Howell	3	39	251	6.4	2	39	251	6.4	2
3	Caleb Hood	3	14	82	5.9	1	14	82	5.9	1
4	D.J. Jones	1	6	43	7.2	0	8	47	5.9	0
5	Josh Henderson	2	5	21	4.2	0	5	21	4.2	0
6	British Brooks	1	4	10	2.5	1	4	10	2.5	1
7	Elijah Green	1	3	9	3.0	0	3	9	3.0	0
8	Jacolby Criswell	1	1	1	1.0	0	1	1	1.0	0

Receiving is here. Downs is definitely the straw that stirs the drink, but I think of them like the Falcons with Julio--if you took away Julio, then you got burned by Calvin or Hooper.

			Receptions	Receptions	Receptions	Receptions	Scrimmage	Scrimmage	Scrimmage	Scrimmage
Rk	Player	G	Rec	YdsV	Avg	TD	Plays	Yds	Avg	TD
1	Josh Downs	3	24	399	16.6	4	24	399	16.6	4
2	Antoine Green	3	6	148	24.7	1	6	148	24.7	1
3	Emery Simmons	2	6	119	19.8	1	6	119	19.8	1
4	Khafre Brown	1	1	75	75.0	1	1	75	75.0	1
5	Bryson Nesbit	1	1	47	47.0	1	1	47	47.0	1
6	Kamari Morales	2	5	45	9.0	1	5	45	9.0	1
7	Garrett Walston	3	5	43	8.6	1	5	43	8.6	1
8	Ty Chandler	3	2	24	12.0	0	47	346	7.4	3
9	Landon Stevens	1	1	10	10.0	0	1	10	10.0	0
10	John Copenhaver	1	1	7	7.0	0	1	7	7.0	0
11	D.J. Jones	1	2	4	2.0	0	8	47	5.9	0

Provided by CFB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 9/24/2021.

The UVA game was a just abuse from UNC's offense. You can see the load spread around. I suppose if you magically took away downs without opening something else up, you'd win, but if you shift resources you have the problem of someone else beating you.

	Rush	Rush	Rush	Rush	Receptions	Receptions	Receptions	Receptions	Scrimmage	Scrimmage	Scrimmage	Scrimmage
Player	Att	Yds	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Avg	TD	Plays	Yds	Avg	TD
Ty Chandler	20	198	9.9	2					20	198	9.9	2
Sam Howell	15	112	7.5	0					15	112	7.5	0
Caleb Hood	9	66	7.3	1					9	66	7.3	1
Josh Henderson	3	16	5.3	0					3	16	5.3	0
Josh Downs					8	203	25.4	2	8	203	25.4	2
Garrett Walston					3	15	5.0	1	3	15	5.0	1
Khafre Brown					1	75	75.0	1	1	75	75.0	1
Antoine Green					1	11	11.0	0	1	11	11.0	0
Kamari Morales					1	3	3.0	1	1	3	3.0	1

Provided by CFB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 9/24/2021.

 

[BayAreaHeels]

The math checks out.

Liberal arts guy here. Agree, certainly, s very good chance to win. However … if you kick off first, and the opponent also scores a touchdown on every possession, and the opponent has one additional possession (which would have to conclude with a score as the clock expires, as would the final first-half possession) you lose. Still, I like the strategy. Good luck Saturday and beyond.

PS: Can't say that I miss Scowlin' PJ and all his cut blocks.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Liberal arts guy here. Agree, certainly, s very good chance to win. However … if you kick off first, and the opponent also scores a touchdown on every possession, and the opponent has one additional possession (which would have to conclude with a score as the clock expires, as would the final first-half possession) you lose. Still, I like the strategy. Good luck Saturday and beyond.

PS: Can't say that I miss Scowlin' PJ and all his cut blocks.

The irony is that EVERY other football team in the history of football cut blocked. This was just a sad narrative by mealy-mouthed coaches trying to make GT and CPJ look bad. Watch any football game, HS, college, or Pro's and you see RB's, OL, etc. all cut blocking. So sad that people understand so little about the game they watch.

 

[4shotB]

FWIW, I didn't read anything into BayArea's post. And, if I were a coach, I would think it was a compliment...I would want opposing fans to be glad I retired as opposed to wishing I had stayed.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Liberal arts guy here. Agree, certainly, s very good chance to win. However … if you kick off first, and the opponent also scores a touchdown on every possession, and the opponent has one additional possession (which would have to conclude with a score as the clock expires, as would the final first-half possession) you lose. Still, I like the strategy. Good luck Saturday and beyond.

PS: Can't say that I miss Scowlin' PJ and all his cut blocks.

The irony is that EVERY other football team in the history of football cut blocked. This was just a sad narrative by mealy-mouthed coaches trying to make GT and CPJ look bad. Watch any football game, HS, college, or Pro's and you see RB's, OL, etc. all cut blocking. So sad that people understand so little about the game they watch.

Just thought I'd add this. In this video it shows the UNC TE making a very poor attempt to cut block a defender. Maybe UNC can get Sewak to consult on this...