Techbert
Dodd-Like
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2002
- Messages
- 26,196
I've been bizzy, but I wanted to get this in before the Duke contest.
If anyone did not study the game but just read the internet boards, they would think that we just drooled through the game like the Upper Class Twits from the Old Monty Python skit.
That's not what I saw. For the most, we played well. For the most, so did UNC.
Football fans, at least the foolish ones, tend to think that opponents play a constant level game, while the team they follow goes up and down. They post things like UNC was blown out by so-and-so, but we only beat them by seven! They also analyze the play of their team as if their team was the only one that had any control of their destiny.
Well, in the game I saw, UNC had a lot of control over their destiny, for better and for worse.
Their defense played better than ours. Their front six did a great job of containing the run for most of the game and applying quick pressure. Only having six in the box allowed them to do a great job against the pass. Choice got his yards, but couldn't break their back. Grant still lacks strength to be a dominant ACC runner. I only noticed Ball try what was probably a planned run once, and that went in the books as a sack.
Their offense moved the ball consistently, but not quickly. Then they huddled and said, "Let's run the self-destruct play!" When Dailey decided to throw interceptions, there was no doubt about the outcome. No UNC player close. Our defensive back saying, "What is this doing here?"
Meanwhile, Reggie threw the ball a lot better than the stats show. Too many for my comfort were thrown away because of a very good UNC pass rush was on top of him quickly. These were actually good plays by Reggie. Others misses were long balls, which are low percentage anyway, which were pretty well thrown but not perfectly. (I read Kirwan who wrote that they only complete 23% of the long passes in the pros.) You can criticize Reggie for not checking down, but just spouting his attempt-complete numbers is just ignorant.
Special teams had a redemption game, for the most. Punting was typically excellent, and made it a workable field position game for us.
UNC has some exceptional athletes all over the place. Alas for them they were as undisciplined as NCSU is stereotyped as being, and they had no clue how to win. They played outstanding series, and then the wheels would fall off.
As far as how we could improve, I'd like to see in our next big game
a. Less mistakes on the offensive line.
b. Better progressions from our quarterback.
c. More varied run calls, which in our case means Reggie running more.
d. Better focus on defense while still in the middle of the field. We didn't pitch a shutout; UNC just didn't score, and there's a difference.
e. Stronger interior line play on defense.
If anyone did not study the game but just read the internet boards, they would think that we just drooled through the game like the Upper Class Twits from the Old Monty Python skit.
That's not what I saw. For the most, we played well. For the most, so did UNC.
Football fans, at least the foolish ones, tend to think that opponents play a constant level game, while the team they follow goes up and down. They post things like UNC was blown out by so-and-so, but we only beat them by seven! They also analyze the play of their team as if their team was the only one that had any control of their destiny.
Well, in the game I saw, UNC had a lot of control over their destiny, for better and for worse.
Their defense played better than ours. Their front six did a great job of containing the run for most of the game and applying quick pressure. Only having six in the box allowed them to do a great job against the pass. Choice got his yards, but couldn't break their back. Grant still lacks strength to be a dominant ACC runner. I only noticed Ball try what was probably a planned run once, and that went in the books as a sack.
Their offense moved the ball consistently, but not quickly. Then they huddled and said, "Let's run the self-destruct play!" When Dailey decided to throw interceptions, there was no doubt about the outcome. No UNC player close. Our defensive back saying, "What is this doing here?"
Meanwhile, Reggie threw the ball a lot better than the stats show. Too many for my comfort were thrown away because of a very good UNC pass rush was on top of him quickly. These were actually good plays by Reggie. Others misses were long balls, which are low percentage anyway, which were pretty well thrown but not perfectly. (I read Kirwan who wrote that they only complete 23% of the long passes in the pros.) You can criticize Reggie for not checking down, but just spouting his attempt-complete numbers is just ignorant.
Special teams had a redemption game, for the most. Punting was typically excellent, and made it a workable field position game for us.
UNC has some exceptional athletes all over the place. Alas for them they were as undisciplined as NCSU is stereotyped as being, and they had no clue how to win. They played outstanding series, and then the wheels would fall off.
As far as how we could improve, I'd like to see in our next big game
a. Less mistakes on the offensive line.
b. Better progressions from our quarterback.
c. More varied run calls, which in our case means Reggie running more.
d. Better focus on defense while still in the middle of the field. We didn't pitch a shutout; UNC just didn't score, and there's a difference.
e. Stronger interior line play on defense.
