(Bruce Young, aka The Man of Many Talents, in spite of his horrible taste in music, is THI's social coordinator, official bureaucrat, no-longer-available bachelor even though he's still our International Playboy, back seat driver, photographer and resident Tar Heels' fan)
​I'm not one to sugar coat anything. I call things as I see ‘em and I'm honest with my opinion to a fault most of the time. I left a little high school looking stadium in Durham last Thursday night with a feeling of total disgust.
The Tar Heels are a better team than the Blue Devils and no one will ever change my mind on the matter. Yes, Duke scored more points than we did, congrats to them. They took advantage of the Tar Heels’ undisciplined style of play on defense and won the game. Undisciplined is a strong word, but in my mind it's appropriate. Watching the defensive line on the sidelines in the second half, performing this "mannequin" thing for an Instagram Video (Google it if you don't know what that is), is totally unacceptable in my opinion. I understand it's a game and they should be having fun playing it, but not staying focused and working on the problems your opposition is causing you when you get off the field is a must, period, unless you're the '85 Bears!
All you have to do is watch the offensive line when they leave the field. Coach Kap, our Offensive Coordinator and O-Line Coach, has them all sitting on the bench discussing what the defense is doing and the adjustments needed to be more successful on the next series. Before Coach Kap gets to the bench, players are talking to each other about what's going on. This is not to say that the Defensive Coaches Coach Chizik has on the field aren't doing this, because they are, eventually! This defense lacks a leader in the mode of LB Jeff Schoettmer from last year’s team, to help keep them focused off the field.
Let's face it, the offense sometimes doesn't stay on the field for long periods of time, due to the fast, physical and smart style of play Coach Fedora preaches. The defense often has very little time to get ready for the next series. I won't name names here, but we only have so many players on the D-Line. It just rubbed me the wrong way and the fact they gave up so many yards to a bad football team and lost the game against our most despised rival, not to mention losing "my" Victory Bell, which is now surely painted in a shade of blue that makes me sick to my stomach, are actions that are totally unacceptable! Just saying!!!
After what happened this past weekend in College Football, the Tar Heels have no one to blame but themselves as Ryan Switzer stated in a tweet after the game. Virginia Tech, which beat Carolina only because of Hurricane Matthew, lost to a bad Georgia Tech team. A victory over Duke would have positioned Carolina perfectly to play for the ACC Championship for the second year in a row. For the ones of ya that think I've forgotten about the Wolf Pack game the day after Thanksgiving, I haven't, it's just really hard to take NCSU seriously, you know what I mean? Having said that, if the defense doesn't get their collective stuff together and focus, the same thing that happened in Wallace Wade "Park", could possibly happen against the lowly Wolf Pack, and if that happens, I'll need therapy. I'm Serious!!!! Go Heels!
