CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina defensive coordinator Gene Chizik met with the media Monday at the Kenan Football Center to field questions about his unit’s performance in the upset loss to Virginia over the weekend, certain position groups, and to look ahead to this Saturday’s game at Georgia Tech.
The Tar Heels dropped a 31-27 decision to the Cavaliers, who entered with one win, and it was over an FCS team. UNC dropped to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the ACC, even though it led 24-14 midway through the third quarter.
Chizik discussed all that went wrong defensively, especially its poor performance once the Tar Heels took the 10-point lead.
Above is video of Chizik’s presser, and below are some notes from it:
*Up 24-14 with 9:35 left, instead of digging in, the Tar Heels allowed UVA a 13-play, 74-yard touchdown drive in which the Wahoos ran the ball 11 times, only throwing it twice. One run was a 20-yard scamper by QB Tony Muskett when UNC’s defense completely bit the wrong way, allowing the long run.
“As you go back and look at everything, you’re always trying to look for reasons why. So, everything starts with me. I thought they had a very good game plan coming in, they did some things we needed to adjust to, but we didn’t do a good enough job adjusting to them.
“I think they kept us off balance a lot during the night. That drive that you’re talking about, there wasn’t a lot of great third-down opportunities; I think there was one third-and-5 that we didn’t capitalize on in getting off the field.
“It was leaky yardage. There was a couple of big explosive plays in there; one being a quarterback for I think 20 yards… All of those things happened at that time in the game when normally we’ve been good at making a stand at that point, getting the ball back to our offense… It was little things. Everybody was involved, it wasn’t one position group.”
*Chizik’s defense was out of character much of the night, as UVA ran the ball for 228 yards, 129 above its per-game average. It also allowed Muskett to complete 20 of 30 pass attempts, and UVA was 8-for-18 on third down, but 2-for-3 on fourth down, so it was 10-for-19 oin down-extending situations.
“We never felt in sync,” he said.
*Graduate cornerback Armani Chatman was one of the Tar Heels who made big plays Saturday night, and it has earned him more snaps. Chatman intercepted a pass in the end zone late in the first half and then stripped the ball out of a UVA back’s hand at the goal line causing a fumble that went through the back of the end zone, resulting in a touchback and Carolina ball at its 20-yard-line.
Chatman’s experience and understanding the defense have met at the same point.
“Yes, they have definitely meshed together. It’s hard to argue production. Nobody out there has played perfect, but when you are out there, are you making plays? Well, Chatman had a great pick against Minnesota in a critical time in the game, and he had a real big interception the other night at a critical time in the game.
“So, he is starting to produce. I think he’s getting a better feel for everything that we’re doing, (and) that combined with the experience he already has, is starting to show up. That’s why he’s getting more reps as we go. He’s starting to gain the confidence of everybody around him. And when he gets on the field, he’s been productive.
“So, we expect his reps to continue to grow.”
*Chizik says Georgia Tech has faster wide receivers than UNC has faced thus far, and compared Yellow Jackets QB Haynes King to Syracuse’s Garrett Shrader. This is a task this week because Tech also approaches offense in the same way UVA does.
“I remember him coming out of high school when I was in TV; I remember when he signed at (Texas) A&M. Coach’s kid, won a lot of games in East Texas as a quarterback. Really athletic, great in open space, had a 71-yard touchdown run the other day.
“So, he’s a handful, so we’re going to have to be able to make sure we’re really prepared for all the quarterback run-game scenarios that we know we’ll see. And let’s not bury the fact that his escapability on scrambles is there as well. He’s much like Shrader, the young man we played against Syracuse.”
*In addition, Chizik spoke about the “power of proximity” being off Saturday night, he said the defense was highly “disappointed” Sunday but they are “a bunch of alpha dogs” and will handle it, and “with disappointment and pain there always has to come growth. If you don’t get anything out of the disappointment.”
