THI TV: Chizik Balances Good & Bad at Clemson, State's Challenges

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina defensive coordinator Gene Chizik met with the media Monday for his weekly press conference to discuss his unit’s performance in the loss at Clemson, some individual players, and look ahead to Saturday’s game at NC State.

The Tar Heels (8-3, 4-3 ACC) and Wolfpack (8-3, 5-2) kick off at 8 PM and the game will air on the ACC Network.

Above is video of Chizik’s presser, and below are some notes about what he discussed:

*Chizik spent some time discussing the controversial calls that went against the Tar Heels, notably Clemson QB Cade Klubnik’s scoring TD that was reviewed, and the roughing the passer penalty on Cedric Gray.

Obviously, Chizik could only say so much, but he did discuss it. Some interesting stuff there.

*Carolina’s defense did some really nice things at Clemson. It forced six three-and-outs and also limited the Tigers to 6-for-19 on third downs, yet still allowed 92 plays and 466 yards.

Chizik said processing that is tough because so much good came from the game, but it has to be consistent. They allowed too many long (10-plus plays) drives, not complementing the positive play.

*One of those 11-play drives came at the end of the first half, and when Clemson had no timeouts. It ran 11 plays in 71 seconds, so why did the Heels struggle keeping the ball in play to use up more clock? The drive ended with a touchdown.

“Basically, just being able to keep the ball in bounds. They did a good job of getting the ball out of bounds. A couple of missed tackles in there when they’re getting first downs, that stops the clock. And the ball was on the perimeter some in getting out of bounds.

“We have to do a better job in that scenario. And we had a couple of penalties as well that kind of added to that.”

*Chizik spoke a lot about NC State QB Brennan Armstong and how the Wolfpack has changed its approach with him of late. Armstrong presents a challenge to their eye discipline, and the defense must properly strike blocks because State pulls a lot to get blockers out in front of Armstrong and the different things it does.

He also had plenty to say about the different ways the Pack uses freshman WR Kevin Concepcion. He will line up all over the field, and State does whatever it can to give him plenty of different kinds of touches.

*Chizik said when true freshman Caleb Lavalee went in for Cedric Gray for a snap, after the senior linebacker had his left eye poked, it was because Lavalee had earned it. He was limited in the fall and at times through the first several games because of an injury, but has practiced real well of late. In fact, Gray followed Lavalee last week on the practice field coaching him up.

*Once again, some defensive Heels, mainly at LB and Jack, played a ton of snaps. The staff constantly says it will play more guys and rest the corners and LBs, but it didn’t happen again.

“We did a really poor job of that… we need to do a better job of that.”

*In an around-about way, Chizik was asked about his future at UNC and in coaching. It was referenced that he had a two-year plan at UNC the first time, but he said there isn’t any such plan now.

“When we (he and his wife) took this two years ago, we were taking it for the long haul… We’ve had a lot of success and a lot of fun here and this is what we want to do.”