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SOUTH BEND, IN – Wash, rinse, repeat.
The issues North Carolina is having almost weekly on the defensive side of the ball has become by far the team’s number one problem, and it isn’t even close.
The Tar Heels found some things on offense in their 44-34 loss to No. 11 Notre Dame on Saturday night. Any time a visiting club racks up 564 yards in front of Touchdown Jesus, it has performed at an exceptionally high level. The Heels did that.
Sam Howell was off-the-charts sensational, skilling, gritting, and willing the Heels into the final minute of the contest still in position to steal one.
That he and the offense were forced to do so much just to have a chance late is once again the main storyline from this game. The dudes and depth UNC had (has) on defense coming into the season was one of the main reasons there was so much optimism hovering above.
But a consistent inability to apply pressure to opposing quarterbacks (one sack tonight against a team that had allowed 26), force turnovers (none tonight), regularly missing tackles, allowing wide open receivers to catch balls inside the teeth of the defense and everywhere else, plus a unit that has been enveloped by miscommunication the program itself has cited for so any of its problems, have sabotaged the season.
The Tar Heels sit at 4-4 needing two more wins to get to a bowl, and next week they face what is easily the best offensive team on their schedule in unbeaten Wake Forest. If Notre Dame’s pedestrian offense can race up and down the field on the Heels, what will Sam Hartman and the Demon Deacons do?
And the Irish are rather so-so on offense. They entered the game averaging just 370 yards per contest, which was 82nd in the nation, but gobbled up 523 here. And the run game aspect of this is most damning for the Heels: The Irish entered the game No. 115 in the nation averaging just 107 yards per contest, but they chewed up 293 against the Tar Heels, averaging 7.0 per attempt.
To put this into perspective, Florida State held Notre Dame to 65 yards and an average of 1.9 per attempt. Toledo kept the Irish at 132 yards and an average of 3.4 per attempt. Versus Purdue, how about 120 yards and a 3.5 average? Dame finished with THREE rushing yards versus Wisconsin and 84 versus Cincinnati.
Yet, the Heels just couldn’t stop them. And 20 or so minutes after the game ended, UNC Coach Mack Brown wasn’t really sure how to reply when asked if anything jumped out at him why the defense struggled so much again.
“I really can't say,” he said. “They scored too easily, I know that.”
He was probably just avoiding a major negative. No need to go there in-depth under he reviews the film a few times.
As for those easy scores, how about 75 yards on three plays right after Carolina took its only lead of the night in the third quarter? And how about 91 yards on one play, one in which it appeared the Heels had Kyren Williams stopped in the backfield? But he reversed course, gave a stiff arm to Tomon Fox, and then raced for the 91-yard score, a play Brown called “a backbreaker.”
He also praised Williams, because it was a special play.
“We lost leverage he was tackled in the backfield, and then just bounced out completely and that's one of the best runs I've ever seen,” Brown said.
That kind of stuff happens in football, and sometimes to really good defenses that are playing well. But when it happens to a unit that allowed five scoring drives of 73 or more yards, it’s part of the problem.
And, the same old same old followed a script that has essentially saddled this team’s season to date. It's quite unbecoming to UNC fans, but it's essential to note: From the time Notre Dame started a possession with 3:22 left in the first half and the score tied at 10-10, the Irish gained 408 yards and scored 34 points on their final 43 offensive plays, which spanned the last two quarters, three minutes and 22 seconds.
Just like before: Virginia had 28 points and 366 yards at halftime; Georgia Tech scored 32 points with 313 yards in the second half in Atlanta; Florida State amassed 35 points on 352 yards in the two middle quarters; and Miami scored 25 points and chewed up 341 yards in the second half two weeks ago.
To some, this may be beating a dead horse, but it cannot and should not be overlooked. The Tar Heels played a lot of winning football Saturday night. They showed some huge positives that suggest much in the program is well and getting better.
But the defense continues to struggle in inexplicable ways. And there are no signs suggesting it’s getting any better.
