CHAPEL HILL – Through its first four games, North Carolina scored a touchdown 73.7 percent of the time it reached the red zone. In its last five games versus FBS teams, the Tar Heels have done so just 51.7 percent of the time.
Capping off this less effective red zone stretch took place this past Saturday, when the offense’s inability to score touchdowns nearly cost it a game it could, and perhaps should have, easily won.
Instead, the Tar Heels were forced to eek out a 47-45 overtime victory over rival Duke on a night Mack Brown’s team scored just four touchdowns in nine trips to the red zone.
The problem wasn’t relegated to just the Duke game. Carolina scored 14 touchdowns in 19 red zone trips through the Pittsburgh game, but had only two touchdowns after getting inside Syracuse’s 20-yard-line seven times.
The Heels were three out of five in the win over Miami, one out of two in the home loss to Virginia, and then a scorching five-for-five scoring TDs in a loss at Georgia Tech. The struggles versus the Blue Devils, however, is cause for concern. It happened on four consecutive possessions in one stretch, when touchdowns could have put the game away before halftime. Instead, Carolina (8-2, 4-2 ACC) was fortunate enough to get a win.
“You go back and look at it and study it,” Brown said Monday. “Two of them were penalties. We had a substitution mistake on fourth-and-goal from the one we were going for it, and then we had a holding penalty in another one that would have given (us) an opportunity to have 6-for-9 (in the red zone.) And then we had two first-down plays that weren’t good. They were outside screens and we didn’t block well…
“We’ll go back and look closely at why we didn’t score more points in the red zone.”
Brown somewhat eluded to it noting the plays on first down that didn’t work. Perhaps utilizing the ACC’s leading rusher, who is among the nation’s leaders in yards after contact, would have made more sense.
Omarion Hampton has rushed for 1,236 yards and 13 touchdowns this season, and Saturday night gorged for 169 yards. He has lost only 10 yards on the season, and even though Hampton has become increasingly graceful, he’s also a bull, as 830 of his yards have come after contact. At 6-feet and 230 pounds, giving Hampton the ball in the red zone makes a great deal of sense.
“The first time we were down there, we were going to give it to Omarion, the safety came off the edge and I pulled it,” UNC quarterback Drake Maye said Tuesday. “The second time, I felt like we got down there, then the QB sneaks. Obviously, you should try to get it to big O, but at the same time I blame myself for not getting it in there.”
UNC offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey is responsible for calling the plays. Runs tagged with pass options happen, and every team does it, but lining up and getting the ball to a team’s horse does as well.
Lindsey said that is part of the plan, but things change during games, so teams must adjust.
“When you have plays built in, there were a couple of times where we threw it where we thought we had what we wanted 2-on-2 out there and they defended it pretty good,” Lindsey said. “We had one run where we took a loss, or we might have gotten back to the line of scrimmage with Omarion going in toward our end zone , but at the end of the day we have to find a way to execute that’s what’s going to matter in these big games down the stretch.”
Carolina heads to Clemson (6-4, 3-4) on Saturday to face the best defense in the ACC and one of the tops in the nation. The Tigers don’t let opponents have much success running or throwing in the red zone.
So, UNC’s challenge is clear. And improved efficiency is a must.
