Tar Heels battling consistency problems

[Brad]

Tar Heels battling consistency problems

 

By NOLAN HAYES : The Herald-Sun

nhayes@heraldsun.com

Oct 13, 2006 : 12:20 am ET

CHAPEL HILL -- During a meeting Monday, North Carolina football coach John Bunting showed his players back-to-back snaps from the Tar Heels' 27-7 loss at Miami on Saturday.

On the first play, a second down and 9 from UNC's 5-yard line early in the fourth quarter, UNC quarterback Cam Sexton took a shotgun snap and quickly became the meat in a sandwich created by Miami's defensive ends. Sexton barely got rid of the ball for an incompletion as the Tar Heels avoided a safety.

The very next snap, Sexton again stood in his end zone. He surveyed the field with no defenders around him and threw a strike over the middle to wide receiver Jesse Holley for a 14-yard gain and a first down.

"Why the difference?" Bunting said, recalling what he asked his players. "One play, he gets hit. The next play, perfect completion and move the chains. Those are the things that we've got to get better at. Those are the consistencies that this coaching staff and offense are trying to get done."

So far, the going has been slow for UNC's offense in its first year under coordinator Frank Cignetti.

The Tar Heels racked up 446 yards and 45 points in their three-point victory over Division I-AA Furman on Sept. 18, but they have averaged 266 yards and totaled 40 points in their four games against Division I-A opponents. The numbers are even worse in ACC play, with UNC averaging 221 yards and eight points per game against Virginia Tech, Clemson and Miami.

"When you face the three top defenses -- at least that's where they are right now -- in the ACC, that can smack you in the face a little bit in terms of production," Bunting said.

Indeed, those three teams have the ACC's top three defenses in terms of yards allowed per game. But their impressive statistics lead to an interesting question: Is UNC's offense struggling because it has faced those defenses, or are those defenses flourishing in part because they've faced UNC's offense?

UNC's offensive players have given credit to each of those defenses, but they also have accepted plenty of blame for not producing more points. In fact, some Tar Heels believe they are more responsible for their struggles than their opponents.

"We watch film over and over again, and a lot of the things that are happening negatively offensively are not because of the other team. It's because of us," Holley said. "We might miss a block up front, the quarterback might miss a read, the running back might pick the wrong hole, the receiver might not get enough depth. It's been a multitude of stuff that we've done to ourselves, nothing another team has done to us.

"We go through film play by play, and Coach Cignetti asks us, 'Was that us, or was that them?' And the majority of it -- 85 or

90 percent of it -- is us. What we've done wrong. Maybe not catch the ball, maybe not protect right up front. All that kind of stuff is us. It's nobody else. It's not the defense. It's just us killing ourselves."

The Miami game featured several examples, some old and some new.

UNC couldn't run the ball effectively and threw two interceptions, problems that have plagued the team most of the season. The interceptions came on first down, making them extra painful. But the Tar Heels made things even worse for themselves by struggling in pass protection and dropping passes, two areas that had been strengths entering the game.

The Tar Heels get a break from ACC play this week when they host South Florida (noon, ESPNU), but they don't anticipate getting much of a break offensively. The Bulls' defense ranks in the nation's top 40 in most key statistical categories, and UNC likely will be without starting wide receiver Hakeem Nicks (sprained right ankle).

Neither factor will aid UNC's effort to move the ball, so the team's search for offensive consistency takes on added importance.

The Tar Heels believe they're capable of succeeding in their new offense, and the second play Bunting showed them -- with Sexton standing tall in the pocket behind good pass protection before delivering a perfect pass -- proves it. Now they just have to do a better job of eliminating the small mistakes that eliminate big plays.

"There's a lot of positive that's come out that people really don't realize," senior tailback Ronnie McGill said. "The offense has gotten a lot better, but we just haven't made the best of all the opportunities we've had thrown our way.

"But overall, we're still growing. I think we have improved over the first five weeks. We've just got to take everything that we've learned so far and make the best of the opportunities that we get for the rest of the season."

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