CHAPEL HILL – On paper, North Carolina’s defensive performance Friday versus Notre Dame might not grade out splendidly well, but one can see a different storyline when peeling away the layers and understanding the bigger picture.
The Fighting Irish scored 31 points and accumulated 478 total yards, but it was a glass-chewing effort by the second-ranked team in the nation. The Tar Heels made the Irish work for everything they got, which hasn’t always been the case for Carolina’s defense.
Notre Dame won, 31-17, but if taking away positives from UNC’s performance is a mandate, look no further than the scheme, execution, and effort by Jay Bateman’s crew as Exhibits A, B, and C.
This was improvement.
“I think we really took a step forward,” said junior linebacker Jeremiah Gemmel. “I thought this was our best communication game all year. We were in spots to make plays besides the end-around reverse in the second half. That was a good play they drew up.
“For the most part, I feel like all our DBs, linebackers and d-line were in good position to make plays.”
The most important defensive statistic in football is points allowed, obviously, and Notre Dame had just 24 inside the final two minutes of the contest. It was a one-toucdown game. As well as its ballyhooed quarterback Ian Book played, it wasn’t as if the Irish were crossing the goal line with the same kind of frequency Wake Forest did two weeks ago against the Tar Heels, or Virginia two weeks before that, or Virginia Tech three weeks before that.
Carolina was stingier in all parts of the field, a reason it kept the Irish from scoring on six of their 11 possessions. The Tar Heels were more the aggressor than in previous games, they dictated more than at any other time since winning 26-22 at Boston College in the second game of the season.
“We showed some up looks where usually I'm blitzing pretty much, if you go back and you self-scout, it's like 100 percent of the time,” Gemmel said. “And this week he had me mugged on the center instead of blitzing, he dropped me out and I think that got the o-line to shift and slide to protect.
“And (Bateman) added a couple new blitzes to his package this week and two of them we actually got off the field on third down, so I think that definitely helped.”
Bateman made some mid-week adjustments in part because Carolina’s personnel changed a bit. The staff has brought along several true freshmen on that side of the ball for a few weeks, and after having an open date, turned some of them loose against the Irish.
Six true freshmen played 160 snaps, including cornerback Tony Grimes, who was in the game for 67 snaps. Only senior linebacker Chazz Surratt, junior defensive back Trey Morrison and Gemmel played more plays for the Tar Heels.
Three true freshmen started on defense, and by Notre Dame’s first possession of the second quarter, six defensive tackles had been in the game. The youth made the Heels fresher, thus they were quicker and faster, and the young ones’ talent levels were obvious: More elite athletes on the field allow for more creativity by the staff, even if those players are still wet behind the ears.
“Everybody sees the obvious,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said. “The obvious is our defense played better than we have.”
Notre Dame was 4-for-11 on third downs, it’s average distance to go on third downs was 7.2 yards, another positive for UNC, and while the Heels only registered two sacks and nine QB hurries, they had Book on the move a lot. Two of Notre Dame’s most critical offensive plays were the result of Book escaping a heavy rush and simply improvising in the manner that adds another layer to his NFL appeal.
First, on second-and-goal from UNC’s four-yard-line, Book took a low snap and immediately faced a heavy pass rush, which included true freshman defensive tackle Myles Murphy blowing through his blocker and darting toward Book along with hard-charging senior Tomon Fox. Book reversed direction, ran toward his right and found running back Kyren Williams, who dove into the pylon for a touchdown.
Then, on third-and-6 and leading by a touchdown a few minutes into the fourth quarter, Book was once again heavily pressured, in pursuit this time by linebacker Chazz Surratt, and out of near-desperation, Book lob-flipped the ball to tight end Michael Mayer for a first down. It was a magical play by the Notre Dame quarterback but was forced by UNC dictating more movement.
Surratt nearly made the play, which could have changed the game.
"I was just really keying him,” Surratt said. “We knew, on third down, he likes to scramble and make plays, so my job was to try to contain him and go get him really and he was able to convert on some downs like that."
There’s still plenty that needs cleaning up: Tackling, angles, more general ruggedness. But those things will come with time and added experience.
And experience is exactly what Carolina got from Friday’s game, and maybe even a little confidence boost, too.
