By Doc Kennedy
Well, I have to say, that was somewhat unexpected.
North Carolina debuted year two of the Bill Belichick era in Dublin with General Manager Mike Lombardi suspended and Defensive Coordinator Steve Belichick on medical leave and the biggest lack of enthusiasm for the start of a football season since Kathy Bates expressed to Henry Winkler and Adam Sandler that she didn’t care for “fools ball.”
And when Carolina received the opening kick and rolled right down the field, fans felt like they had seen that movie before. The sense of deja vu felt eerily similar to last year, as TCU then scored on its next two possessions while the Tar Heels seemed inept, missing tackles and getting blown up on both the offensive and defensive lines.
Then something amazing happened. UNC went on a 7-play, 70-yard touchdown drive to tie the game at 10. The defense became as stout as a draught of Guinness and allowed zero points and only 149 total yards for the game’s final 49 minutes. And while the offense found points scarce, Carolina controlled the field as the Tar Heels recorded a season-opening 15-10 victory over the Horned Frogs.
To be fair, TCU certainly helped out UNC over the course of the afternoon. The Frogs were as sloppy as the rainy Irish Saturday, with a turnover and eleven penalties for 89 yards. A number of the TCU flags either wiped out gains or kept the sticks moving for the Heels. But Carolina took advantage, including inducing a game-ending offsides penalty on 4th down.
With that in mind, here is the Erin Go Bragh edition of the Good, Bad, and Ugly Report:
Good
The Petrino effect
The launch of Bobby Petrino’s revamped offense was global in Dublin, but it was effective. Watching last season’s Carolina offense was like enduring a root canal; this version was actually competent. The play-calling allowed Billy Edwards, Jr. to manage the game, receivers actually got space to make catches, and the run-pass mix helped the offensive line settle in after a shaky start. The offense was good enough to generate 323 yards but, more importantly, didn’t feel like a liability, despite only tallying 13 points.
Defense
Yes, TCU was starting an FCS quarterback in his first FBS action and was missing its top receiver, but again, after a shaky start, the defense allowed no points on the Frogs’ final eight possessions, stopping them on downs four times and recording six tackles for loss and three sacks, thanks to Xavier Lewis, who had 4½ of the TFLs and two of the sacks. Much credit should be given to Bill Belichick and the defensive staff for making adjustments and shutting TCU down.
Bad
Special teams
You don’t want to come down too hard on Aeron Burrell, who wasn’t expecting to be kicking until Rece Verhoff was ruled ineligible this week. Poor coverage on a short Burrell punt gave TCU a short field for their first touchdown, and Burrell missed a 42-yard field goal (in admittedly wet conditions) that would have really put the pressure on TCU. But Burrell did put all of his kickoffs into the end zone and did make two short FGs, so there’s that. The punt return team also picked up a key running-into-the-kicker penalty that kept a Frogs drive alive.
Missed tackles
Yes, it’s Week Zero, but missed tackles continue to haunt the Heels. Fortunately, this seemed to improve as the game went on, but you would hope.
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Ugly
Cashing in on opportunities
We interrupt the awarding of flowers to Petrino and the offense to note the missed opportunities in the red zone. The stat sheet says Carolina was 3-for-4 on red-zone chances, but only one of those four produced a touchdown. UNC had a 2nd-and-goal at the 1 and a 2nd-and-goal at the 3, and came away with only 6 points; they also had another 1st-and-goal at the 20 and got nothing. The Heels should have had more space between themselves and an inept TCU team down the stretch instead of sweating out a 5-point win, but Carolina’s luck in Ireland was solid.
Like finding a leprechaun’s pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, UNC found a win on its schedule that it may not have been counting on before noon on Saturday. The Heels will have next week off before the hoped-for opener vs. East Tennessee State, then another open date before back-to-back games vs. Clemson and Notre Dame. Obviously, 15 points is not going to stand up against those two (and maybe not even against ETSU), but if competence was what you were looking for, it showed on the field on Saturday. This start will certainly help build confidence and hopefully get fans reenergized and showing up to Kenan in two weeks, like Mama Boucher bringing Bobby to the Bourbon Bowl.
Doc Kennedy is an alum, longtime UNC fan, and former high school and college basketball coach who wrote this report for years on Tar Heel Blog.
Photo via @UNCFootball
