Game Day Preview: Georgia Tech

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CB Jabari Price has returned to full practice this week. Withers hopes to hold Price out against GT and have him ready for ECU on 10/1.

Three Facts.  Three Fictions.

UVA Reaction

Tar Heel Football is 3-0 overall for the first time since 1997 and
1-0 in conference for the first time since 2000.

3-0, 1-0 is reason to smile!

The Highlights:
http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/allaccess/?media=264529

Three Facts

Zach Brown

One:  Zach Brown should be known as the Eraser.  Brown is one of the fast linebackers I have ever seen.  Several times last Saturday, Zack Brown made an opposite field tackle to prevent a solid run from becoming a homerun play.

Two:  We all know that Gio can do special things with the football in his hands.  What is overlooked is his ability to pick up the blitz and protection in the passing game.  Gio does a great job of identifying where the pressure is coming from and preventing the pressure from getting to Renner.

A.J. Bluuuuuuuuuuuuuue

Three: A.J. Blue needs to get more carries.  Blue had 9 carries for 40 yards for 4.4 yards per carries.  Good numbers.  What was more impressive was watching him run.  Blue is a BEAST and just wouldn't go down.  (See highlights at 6:40 mark)  If you are in Kenan and Blue breaks off a good run, don't forget to "Bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuue."

Honorable Mention:  Tre Boston's body slam . . . uh . . . I mean tackle of Kevin Parks (See highlights at 4:22 mark); Turnover margin; and Penalties against UNC.

Three Fictions

One:  The defensive line was dominate. 

UVA rushed for 170 yards and 5.0 yards per carry with only 3 sacks/tackles for loss on the UVA QB or RBs.  UVA is a run first team and they were able to sustain long drives.  Luckily, they were unable to finish their drives.  Take notice.  We cannot be successful with that kind of effort or production from the defensive line. 

Two:  The defense did a great job of forcing 3 and outs. 

In each half, the defense only forced one three and out.  Eliminating any UVA possession that came with less than 30 seconds to go in the half, the UVA offense averaged 7.8 plays per drive for 31 yards and 3 points on two field goal attempts in the 5 first half drives.  On 6 drives in the second half, the UVA offense averaged 5.5 plays per drive for 42 yards and 14 points on 2 TDs.  In the second half, UNC gave up too many big plays.  With a defensive front seven that is as stout as ours, it is not unreasonable to expect more 3 and outs against a traditional run first offense.  

Three:  The UVA punt returners where able to give the Wahoos great field position.

Kidding.  We won.  There are a lot of positives.  Thomas Hibbard is the impact freshman of the season so far.  He averaged 42.0 yards per punt with a long of 57 yards for 0 (ZERO!) return yards.  He also does a great job of field some questionable snaps and getting the ball off.  Not to take a turn back to negative town, but Hibbard will eventually have a punt blocked if the long snapper can't clean that up. 

A Few Minutes for Basketball

First of all, congratulations to big man Joel James for receiving a scholarship offer.  If you follow the blog, you know that I am a big fan of James.  He is a raw prospect, but has worked hard to improve (including cutting weight in order to be able to get up and down the court like Coach Roy Williams wants) and has great size (7'4" wingspan).  If he selects UNC, James will have time to develop offensively, but will contribute immediately on the glass and defensively.  More importantly, James is a 5.  We need a 5 in a bad way both on the court and in recruiting.  If we can lock down a true 5, it will help with the guys on our board that want to play exclusively at the 4 and 3/4.  

I love good point guard play.  Pass first point guard play is like crack cocaine for me and knowing Kendal Marshall will be running the point this year has me all kinds of excited.  However, my favorite UNC point guard of all time is Ed Cota.  Here is a reminder of why:

Game Day Preview:

Georgia Tech

Paul Johnson is to ACC football what MikeKrzyzewski is to ACC basketball.  Coaches that teach their teams to play dirty and have success doing so.  Georgia Tech runs a triple-option offense.  A key attribute of the triple-option offense is the cut block.  The following link is to a NFL video that explains the issues that cut blocks pose for defensive linemen.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/auto/09000d5d81821ec8/Cut-block-demo

GT Head Coach Paul Johnson

The cut block is a dangerous technique for defense linemen because the offensive line basically just dive at the defensive linemen's knees.  As a result of this hazardous action, it is illegal to cut block a defender that is already engaged with another offense player.  It is known as a chop block.  That is all well and good, but it is bullshit against Georgia Tech.  The Rambling Wreck could literally be flagged for a chop block on 95% of their offensive plays, but they know that the officials would never throw that many flags.  As a result, you will see between two and four chop block penalties in the game.  This is collateral damage for Paul Johnson.  As soon as that first flag is thrown, Paul Johnson will throw a hissy fit disputing the call.  It is all an act.  It is gamesmenship in an effort to keep the flags off the field and in refs pockets.  The Paul Johnson's "blocking" scheme is to ACC football what Mike Krzyzewski's aggressive on-the-ball hand-checking, charge-taking flop defense is to ACC basketball.  I hold both in low regards.  One word: DIRTY.

Nerdiest Shirt in the World

While it may be dirty, it is effective.  When you combine this blocking scheme with the triple-option and the limited amount of preparation time that teams have to prepare for this unique offense, it makes it difficult to stop as reflected in GT leading the nation in scoring offense (59.3 ppg), total offense (675.3 ypg) and rushing offense (427.7 ypg).  Those are video game numbers.  Tech has got to be brimming with confidence as it comes into the game after a record breaking performance against Kansas last week.  They even made a shirt.  Rushing prowess has been a staple at GT since Paul Johnson took up residence in Atlanta.  The added dimension this year is the passing game.  In the preseason, I thought that Tevin Washington would be a liability for the Yellow Jackets, but he has proved to be quite capable of running Johnson's triple offense and taking advantage of the secondary sucking up into the box to stop the run.  Washington has 7 TDs and 637 yards of passing through three games on 17-28 passing.  Last game, GT had 5 pass plays longer than 50 yards.  

So what does all this mean?  It means the UNC defense is going to have to play discipline football.  It is a triple-option offense.  Our defenders must recognize their assignment, stay true to their assignment, and execute one-on-one tackles.  The defense's mantra for this game:  FIT YOUR GAP.  The good news is that this is not our first rodeo.  Listening to the player interviews, they understand what they have to do, what to expect (as far as dirty shenanigans) from the Georgia Tech rushing attack, and how important is it to stay disciplined to your assignment and have faith your teammates to uphold their assignments.

There two keys to the game is (1) the schedule and (2) turnovers.

We have to stay on schedule offensively by scoring touchdowns and keep Paul Johnson off schedule with a bend, don't break approach to defense.  Defensively, the Yellow Jackets are not impressive.  Against bad opponents, Tech is allowing 335 yards per game with 9 TDs.  Remember, Tech has only played Western Carolina, Middle Tennessee, and Kansas.  UNC will be the most potent offense they have faced on the season.  It is important that Renner and company sustain drives and finish in the end zone.

UNC will represent the biggest test defensively as well.  For UNC to win the game, the defense is going to have to limit the big plays and long drives for touch downs.  Georgia Tech will get their yards.  If we can limit GT's scoring to field goals and capitalize with stops on 3rd and long when available, UNC will win the game.

UNC needs to win the turnover battle.  It is true for every game, but especially true against the Yellow Jackets.  In this game, time of possession will be a critical stat.  The UNC offense must hold the ball and sustain drives to protect the defense.  GT matriculates down the field 4 yards at a time, eating up time of possession.  It can get very frustrating for defenses.  As such, we don't need to help Paul Johnson with extra possessions.

This is the biggest game of the season and a win could define our season.