Coordinators Monday: What's To Fix From Tallahassee & More

CHAPEL HILL – Monday morning on a game week means North Carolina’s coordinators meet the media to discuss what they learned from the previous game, their sides of the ball and to look ahead to the upcoming opponent.

So UNC offensive coordinator Phil Longo and defensive coordinator Jay Bateman fielded questions about what did and didn’t go well in the loss at Florida State and addressed some issues within their units.

Here are videos of their full interviews plus some notes and pulled quotes from what they had to say:

*Florida State entered the game this past Saturday with just three total sacks through its first four games, but versus the Tar Heels, the Seminoles registered four sacks and had 12 QB hurries. Pass protection wasn’t a problem versus Virginia Tech, but it was at BC and at times versus Syracuse, so combining the other three games aside from versus the Hokies, UNC has allowed 11 sacks and 35 QB hurries. What is Longo’s evaluation of his unit’s pass pro at this time?

"I think probably that's the area that needs the most improvement,” he replied. “I think we are doing a really good job run blocking, we're doing a good job in play action protection. I think our straight drop-back protection right now is probably the area of emphasis for the week. And when and how we choose to throw those drop-back shots I think will have a lot to do with keeping people off Sam (Howell).

“What plays I call in the drop-back game, with regards to how quickly Sam can get rid of the football. I've got to help the o-line and help Sam in that respect so we're not sitting there holding. There's a lot of 7-on-7 'skelly' plays out there that can get open and can be prolific that are down the field throws off the drop-back, but you've got to be able to protect for those. So, I've got to be careful which ones I call.

“We've got to do a good job getting the ball out of Sam's hand, and that improves your protecting from just a quarterback standpoint. But, from a technique standpoint and from an assignment standpoint, that's gonna be the area of focus this week heading into the NC State game."

*Sam Howell’s fourth thrown interception of the season went for a pick six late in the second quarter in Tallahassee. The score gave FSU a 24-0 lead and came on a simply short pass attempt to the left side.

What did Longo see on the play and what did he say to Howell about it?

"It's a situation that we've talked about that's something that we know defenses can do,” Longo said. “Obviously, Sam would love to have that play back. He's not an excuse maker. Typically, when he comes to the sideline, he's gonna tell me what I'm gonna tell him before I even say it. He knows.

“It was not a great decision to throw that out there and he had his eyes on the linebacker and didn't see the end initially and triggered it out there, so we gave them the football. Every play that you run, you know what the negatives are, you know what the defaults are, you know what we're looking for. And, you're right, those plays come few and far between. I'd be shocked if you saw him make that same mistake the rest of the year. He learns from those."

*In the last two games, quarterbacks from Virginia Tech and FSU have run for 194 yards on 35 attempts with three touchdowns versus the Tar Heels. If you subtract the two sacks for minus-6 yards, that means they’ve gained 200 yards on 33 attempts in the two games, which is an average of 6.1 yards per attempt.

Why has this been an issue for Carolina’s defense?

"I think the thing that we haven't done a good job with the last two weeks is handling quarterback run,” Bateman said. “And I think, when we haven't handled the quarterback run, it's put stress on the rest of the defense. So, I think it starts with that a little bit."

*UNC finally got on the scoreboard with 1:02 remaining in the first half after Javonte Williams scored from one yard out to make it 24-7. Mack Brown said Monday he thought that was okay, that deficit wasn’t insurmountable. But he also said the ensuing five-play, 75-yard drive by FSU to get into the end zone on a 12-yard pass play was obviously huge and was a key moment in the game’s eventual outcome.

What was the primary problem for the UNC defense on that drive, which consisted a 15-yard run to start, incomplete pass, another 15-yard run (both of those run were by FSU QB Jordan Travis), a 33-yard pass play and then the 12-yard TD.

"The last two plays, schematically, were things that we had covered that we felt really good about going into the game and we didn't get it done in the secondary,” Bateman said. “It was things that we identified a tendency based on a formation and we were asking kids to play a certain way and we didn't play it that way.

“And so, what happened is we ended up wasting some man power. If we're gonna have the DB push out and help you and you don't align yourself in position to use the help, shame on you. We gave up the long one and the last play of the drive we had a pressure on that we didn't get run correctly and we let the quarterback escape. All week long we talked about, 'We've gotta keep him in the pocket, we've got to keep him in the pocket.' And we called a certain blitz based on trying to keep him in the pocket, trying to blitz from his right hand, and didn't get it done.

“So, those are things that fall on me. I'm obviously not getting that done and we've got to do a better job with it."

*Jacob Turner contributed to this piece