There isn’t anything this team does well
Heading into Carolina’s game against Clemson, the UNC offense had some of the worst numbers in the country in yards per game and points scored (especially against FBS competition). The special teams unit has already had numerous gaffes ranging from bad penalties to missed kicks. The defense seemed like it was the only unit that occasionally showed life; often the Heels would hang around for a half before the defense rolled under after repeatedly being put in poor positions due to the offense’s inability
to stay on the field or hold on to the ball.
On Saturday, the defense got completely rolled in the first quarter. Clemson scored a 75-yard touchdown on a wide receiver pass on their first offensive play of the game and the Heels defense never recovered. The offense put together a respectable first drive of their own ending in a field goal, but the defense immediately gave up another 75-yard touchdown drive in only three plays. Cade Klubnik was nearly perfect before getting pulled in the third quarter; he finished 22 of 24 for 274 yards and four touchdown passes. UNC would end up limping out of the first quarter down 28-3. This offense doesn’t have the pieces to be explosive this season; without some semblance of defensive pressure, it’s hard to see how the Heels keep pace even with bad ACC teams.
This team was unprepared to play
Pretty sure I’m stating the obvious here, but it still seems worth noting how disjointed UNC looked when the game started. UNC and Clemson both came into this game with questions on both sides of the ball and pressure on their respective head coaches to improve their teams over the bye week. Clemson came out determined and focused. Dabo Swinney clearly had a plan to keep the Heels off balance, dialing up a trick play on the offence’s first snap. On their third possession, the Tigers faced a 4th and 4 near midfield. Clemson went for it despite being up 14-3 at that point and promptly scored a touchdown one play later. Clemson looked like a team that spent the last two weeks working hard to improve.
Meanwhile, the Heels looked completely out of sync and timid. Faced with a 4th and 1 at Clemson’s 16-yard line, Bill Belichick elected to kick a field goal to cut the lead to 7-3. Hindsight is always 20/20, but even at that moment it felt like that was an opportunity for the Heels to reassert themselves after giving up the quick touchdown. The timing of the passing game was off despite having two weeks to get Max Johnson some reps for the injured Gio Gonzalez. Some of this was certainly just Johnson missing throws, but no one looked in rhythm. The Heels also finished with eight penalties for 75 yards including some on special teams. Disciplined play is supposed to be one of the hallmarks of a Belichick coached team, and up to Saturday this was one of the few areas Belichick had improved upon from Mack Brown’s teams.
There’s not much hope left for this season
Hope can take a few different forms in college football. Maybe you’re hoping a bye week gives you a chance to reset for this year; or maybe your hope lies in the schedule easing up or even just a few lucky bounces go your way. Your hope may even lie in watching the next class of players get reps to prepare for next year.
Unfortunately, none of this seems likely for the Heels. Coming into this game, my hopes were modest. I didn’t expect UNC to win but was looking for incremental improvement from two weeks of work figuring out what went wrong. Instead, UNC improbably looked even worse coming out of the bye week against a 1-3 Clemson team that was also in dire straits. While the ACC schedule isn’t daunting, I’m comfortable in saying we might have one remaining game we will be favored to win. And perhaps most frustratingly, Belichick doesn’t seem interested in changing anything. Clemson played three quarterbacks in a game that was over early in the third quarter, yet neither of the freshman QBs that are considered the future for UNC got a rep in the game. In his post-game comments, he more or less said there didn’t need to be any major changes, they just needed to do what they’re already doing better. I’m not saying he needs to burn it down after five games, but the lackadaisical attitude isn’t going to inspire any hope in the UNC fanbase.
