The season opener didn’t go the way all of us Tar Heel fans would have wanted it to, but man was it nice to see a packed stadium again. This is what college football is all about. College football is back! (Leave your covid beliefs at the door) Home field advantage is now back and I think we will see more upsets because of it. Let's be honest, sports weren't the same without fans. There is nothing normal about an empty stadium. The players feed off the energy and it just adds to the college experience for the students to be able to attend games again. I personally can not wait to be back in a stadium. Despite the two of us being several hours away from NC, one us in Delaware and the other in West Virginia, we will make the trek home to attend the Miami game. We were at the Miami game 2 years ago and Kenan was absolutely electric and I am sure it will be again. Chapel Thrill will forever be home.
I like to look at things in terms of the bigger picture as I spent some time this past Labor Day weekend watching some games. I think you have to compare the ACC to its competition as well as Carolina, so I would like to start off by looking at some of the big games from over the weekend. Before then addressing the fact that ESPN commentators and the refs left a lot to be desired.
What is there to say about the Alabama vs Miami game except that everyone knew it was going to be a lopsided game. Alabama doesn't rebuild, they reload. It is clear the ACC isn't on the level of the SEC, definitely not Alabama and definitely not this year. Alabama is a machine with an almost flawless system. Everything is methodical and purposeful. Bryce Young has probably launched himself into being the Heisman favorite, while Howell and Uiagalelei took themselves out of contention. It looks like once again, it's everyone vs Alabama.
To piggyback off of that, Clemson looked average against Georgia. Yes it was a close game and it was a defensive battle, but Georgia’s front dominated Clemson’s. Uiagalelei was under pressure all game long. Clemson’s offense looked stagnant. Yes I know it was against Georgia who has a defense that is good enough to get them to the national championship game. Georgia wasn’t great on offense, but they were missing several weapons. Clemson is still the class of the ACC, but they aren’t as far ahead as they were last year. I would expect Georgia and Alabama to play for the national championship.
If you didn’t watch the Notre Dame vs FSU game then you missed a hell of a game. FSU roared back from 18 down to force overtime where they lost on a field goal. McKenzie Milton’s comeback was a sight to see as he led the Noles on the game tying drive. You love to see it. You can’t not cheer for this guy. He probably wins the starting job at some point. But FSU looked physical, fast, and had a sense of urgency. Doak Campbell Stadium was absolutely rocking and that is the way college football is supposed to be. Whether it's Travis or Milton at QB, the FSU game is going to be more challenging than I originally thought. Also I originally thought that Jack Coan wasn’t going to be a huge factor at QB for Notre Dame coming from a Wisconsin system that was focused on him handing the ball off. I was wrong. Coan can absolutely sling it. He went 26-35 for 366 yards and 4 touchdowns.
For all the talk about how bad Sam Howell performed, let’s not forget Spencer Rattler and Oklahoma barely escaped Tulane. Rattler threw for just 1 touchdown and had 2 INTs. His QBR was average at 72.1. He had 8 carries for 7 yards. Now this isn’t trying to excuse Howell’s performance as he already owned up to playing badly, but Rattler underperformed against a much lower opponent. Oklahoma still doesn’t have a defense and if they get into the CFP again then they will again be blown out in their first game.
The ACC had a subpar opening weekend. Teams went a combined 7-7 with the only ACC matchup being UNC @ V-Tech. There were no big wins to speak of and several bad losses. Georgia Tech lost to Northern Illinois, Duke lost to Charlotte, and Louisville got slaughtered by Ole Miss. All the wins came in the equivalent of scrimmage games. The ACC is in danger of missing the CFP this year.
Outside of your more well known broadcasters, Kirk Herbstreit, Marty Smith and the game day crew the announcers are terrible. ESPN has over extended themselves with the various additional networks they have ESPN 3, ESPN U, ACC Network, etc. That along with the politicization of sports, driving some people to other networks, it seems like they will just hire anyone to call a game. Growing up I wanted to be a sports broadcaster and I could do a better job then some of these guys. Some of the stuff they say is just straight up wrong or they ramble on about things that aren't relevant to the game. There is pressure to be talking the whole time, but sometimes silence would be preferable to the random things that spew out of the announcer’s mouths.
The officiating seemed to be as bad as the announcers at times. In the UNC game specifically there were two interceptions that shouldn't have been so. The first one was UNC’s receiver Olson seemingly had the ball ripped away from him. Watching the review it seemed as though he had position going to and hitting the ground. He only had the ball ripped away from him once on the ground, in that case it's UNC football. The lack of a review on that play was frustrating. The second one, which killed a potential late game comeback, could have gone either way but in my opinion it hit the ground. The defender never had possession of the ball going to the ground and seemingly used the ground to gain control, once again not an interception. However, in a close call, in Lane stadium that call was just not going to go our way because the refs don't have the nads to call it in the road’s team favor.
In the Notre Dame vs FSU game, FSU attempted to block a punt and “ran into the kicker”. The defender hit the kicker while he was still in the air with his leg extended. It should have been roughing the kicker and Notre Dame would have retained possession. Instead it was just running into the kicker and FSU got possession. The Notre Dame kicker had to be helped off the field.
There was a blatant missed late hit call in the Clemson vs. Georgia game. Georgia hit a Clemson player when they were several feet out of bounds. The call could have gone several ways. It could have been a horse collar tackle, late hit out of bounds, or even targeting. Instead it was a no call.
If anyone thought we were just going to walk into Lane Stadium and get an easy victory, I would like a sample of whatever you are on. The offensive line was supposed to be a strength, but was more of a liability as Howell was pressured most of the night. The guy was running for his life. The line allowed 6 sacks. Starting center Brian Anderson was out, and the coaching staff said that was definitely a factor. I was disappointed in our lack of effort in establishing the run early. We have a SEC running back that averaged 4.9 yards per carry at Tennessee. Chandler only played 35 snaps, but was more effective than you may think. He had 10 carries for 66 yards. DJ Jones had 6 carries for 43 yards. The average yardage per carry is pretty good, but we didn’t do enough to try to establish the run game. Our offense is a lot more effective when we can run because it opens up the long ball. Josh Downs was about the only bright spot and he will be our go to receiver going forward. Garret Walston couldn't catch a ball if you put glue on his hands. Simmons had a number of drops also. Corrales and Khafre Brown were both out, and we definitely missed their experience. The only ball Olson got thrown to him was ripped away. I don’t think it was an interception, but he can still be stronger with the ball. Even when Howell managed to escape the pressure, our receivers couldn't make a play for him and our offensive linemen found themselves too far down field. There were a number of false start penalties as well. I know the noise of Lane stadium played into that, but these are mistakes that a veteran offensive line can't make. The defense was supposed to be much improved with increased depth on the defensive line. The defensive front couldn’t get pressure or contain a mobile quarterback/stop the run and when he got into the linebackers and secondary there were multiple missed tackles. Our attempts at tackles just looked weak. The middle of the defense was frequently open. We did our best to practice social distancing when it came to the middle of the field as we often vacated that area and it was left wide open. We struggle containing a mobile quarterback and yet we haven't attempted to use a spy to prevent this. Gemmel is a liability in pass coverage, as he just seems chronically out of position and slow. A problem he had last year and hasn't been corrected. Everyone seemed to have trouble getting off blocks. The first game of the season you expect some rough spots, but Virginia Tech was much more prepared. Bateman was out coached in the first half but made some solid second half adjustments and only allowed 3 points. Longo’s play calls are confusing at times and our lack of ability to establish any sort of run game hurt us. We clearly have not turned the corner into elite status, as we are still having problems we had last year on defense and are struggling to replace our top 4 offensive players, not named Howell. Basically we have the same defense with a worse offense. Last year we could out score teams. I am afraid this year won't be the same.
I do have to give props to Mack Brown for his blunt post game comments. He said we were overrated and he’s right. I’m also not here for the whole “Mack Brown got outcoached” thing. Mack can’t catch passes or make tackles. We can only hope it lights a fire under an overrated team. The bright spot is we played horribly and still somehow had a chance at the end.
I still think it’s too early to hit the panic button for this season. Again, we were overrated going into the season, and I have never been a fan of the preseason rankings. We had to replace our top wide receivers and running backs. Why were we ranked so highly? The hype train got up to full steam and then abruptly ran off the tracks. We didn’t have a tune up game like some teams, so this game really revealed what we need to work on. It was a gut check that the team can embrace and attack or ignore. We could easily run the table after this loss or the season can be derailed entirely. Either way, this team has a lot to work on as they look to get back on track in our home opener against Georgia State.
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