Complementary Football Can Help Heels Progress On Defense

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CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina’s defense needs help, and Mack Brown is asking the offense to oblige.

To do so, UNC’s head coach wants his offense to be more consistent sustaining drives. Carolina’s defense is ranked No. 126 out of 131 FBS teams, allowing 495 yards per game. With a unit searching for answers, perhaps the offense playing complementary football could help defensive coordinator Gene Chizik and company improve on those numbers as the season moves forward.

“You have to stay on the field more to help your defense,” Brown said at his Monday presser. We get beat down on defense because they are out there so much.”

Carolina’s game against Notre Dame showed the importance of the Tar Heels maintaining drives. In that contest, out of the seven times the Fighting Irish scored, six came after a Carolina offensive drive that was five plays or less. The Tar Heels scored on a one-play, 75-yard strike preceding a Notre Dame score, and on a nine-play drive as well.

On the other five, UNC totaled 12 plays for 11 yards consuming just 4:26 of the game clock. Given that the Irish had a 38:13-to-21:47 edge in time of possession, and its average scoring drive was 71 yards, outside of a 15-yard possession after a Carolina fumble, and it is easy to see where one of the issues resides.

There were two other scoring opportunities for the Irish to take advantage of after a UNC three-and-out, but one ended in a missed field goal, and the other with an Irish fumble in the end zone.

When Carolina’s offense is on the field a short time, it's not always a bad thing for the Heels (3-1), like when quarterback Drake Maye connected with senior receiver Antoine Green on the 75-yarder that only took 11 seconds off the clock. And while the deep strike put seven much-needed points on the board for the Heels, it also contributed to Notre Dame’s ball-control game plan.

“Our positive deep plays for touchdowns hurt our defense in a weird way,” Brown said.” We had three three-and-outs, so the defense is on the field too long early in the game. Then we come in and throw one play deep touchdown and the defense is right back on the field, so we have to run the ball better offensively to try to stay on the field more.”

Obviously, the Hall of Fame coach is correct. The easiest way to ensure your defense isn’t playing too many snaps is by establishing a consistent run game on offense.

If Carolina’s fast-paced offense is a luxury sports car, the passing game is the exterior, the paint, the rims, all the things that make the vehicle enticing. The running game, however, is the engine, the part that makes everything move. But unlike an extravagant car, UNC has not run consistently, particularly, on early downs.

“I think we are averaging 27 minutes a game, and we are scoring fast, but we are not consistently good enough in the running game, SAID <><><><><>, whose team hosts Virginia Tech on Saturday at Kenan Stadium for a 3:30 PM kick (ACC Network). “We are getting running yards in a lot of cases, but it's a big play, it's not first down runs.”

The offensive line is the easiest target for blame when a running game isn’t consistent. However, while UNC’s running back rotation is talented, it is also young, and maybe adjusting to how long a hole stays open on the Power 5 level.

Supremely talented backs don’t always have to hit the right holes in high school to be successful, but they usually do in college. That is part of Omarion Hampton’s and George Pettaway’s process.

“A couple of them that played the majority of the game on Saturday had a few good runs,” said UNC offensive coordinator Phil Longo. “We also missed a few, and that certainly not to load the running back with all the blame, but there are some things outside of the offensive line we have to do better.”

Through the first four games of the season, each one of UNC’s running backs has shown flashes of their abilities. Longo, however, is looking to find more consistency, and to do so, he challenged each back individually to separate themselves from the rest of the group.

“We can’t keep rolling with four," Longo said. “I’m going to challenge them. We want someone to separate themselves. We all have talents, George is explosive, Caleb (Hood) has that nice blend of both, D.J. (Jones) is our everything guy, and Omarion is the physical downhill kid.”

Despite how much talent this group has, they need a guy to help contribute to first-down success, to help keep the defense off the field. Against the Fighting Irish, UNC’s four-man running back rotation combined for ten first down carries for 22 yards, an average of 2.2 yards per carry

“We have entirely too many one-yard gains, two-yard losses on first down…,” said Brow. “We have to be better on first down. You have to stay on the field more offensively to help your defense.”

While Carolina’s fast-break offense has proven successful in Brown’s second stint in Chapel Hill, it must now take a step toward consistently controlling the ball to help a defensive unit that’s still finding itself.