This week's "What we gotta do to stop em" article

[GiveEmHellJackets]

http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/story/1700643.html

UNC plan: Wreck Tech again

Tar Heels built a 21-0 lead en route to a victory in 2008

BY J.P. GIGLIO - Staff Writer

The stat sheet says North Carolina did not stop Georgia Tech's option offense last season, but the scoreboard says otherwise.
Those 326 rushing yards that the Yellow Jackets piled up against the Tar Heels in Kenan Stadium didn't stop Georgia Tech from losing 28-7.
UNC coach Butch Davis would welcome the same high-yardage, low-scoring outcome for the 22nd-ranked Tar Heels' trip to Georgia Tech (2-1) on Saturday in their ACC opener. And he knows how the Heels (3-0) have to defend coach Paul Johnson's unusual flexbone offense.

"The thing we did the best last year is we were very, very disciplined," Davis said.
The quality of UNC's effort isn't reflected in the final totals (326 yards on 54 Georgia Tech rushing attempts), unless one considers that Georgia Tech picked up 120 of those yards after falling behind 21-0 in the fourth quarter. Most teams would abandon the run at that point, but Tech uncorked an 85-yard touchdown run by Jonathan Dwyer with 6 minutes left in the game to boost their final numbers.
In the first half, UNC held the Jackets to 125 yards on 37 running plays (3.4 yards per rush). UNC did benefit from a couple of breaks. Tech starting quarterback Josh Nesbitt was limited by an ankle injury and shared snaps with backup Jaybo Shaw. It was also the Jackets' first game without All-ACC tackle Andrew Gardner, who had injured his shoulder the previous week.
Perhaps most importantly, UNC had a bye week before the game, which gave the Tar Heels an extra week of practice to prepare. Miami enjoyed the same advantage before beating the Jackets 33-17 last Thursday.
"That clearly had a little bit of an advantage and help for us to have a little bit of extra time," Davis said Monday, adding that Tech has some extra practice time this year to prepare for UNC because it last played on Thursday.
But UNC's preparations for this Saturday's game began long before this week. The Tar Heels carved out practice time in August to review Georgia Tech's offense.
"We got kind of a head start going into this week," linebacker Quan Sturdivant said. "It's a complicated offense. Last year's game, we played pretty good, so I think last year's game helps us out a lot with the experience we had playing against it."
More of a concern to Davis is the growth of the players in Johnson's offense and the addition of running back Anthony Allen, a Louisville transfer. The Yellow Jackets led the ACC, and ranked fourth in the country, in rushing last season, averaging 273.2 yards per game in Johnson's first season. That was before they had the benefit of extra practices for a bowl game and a second spring together.
Their rushing numbers are down slightly through the first three games -- 243.6 yards per game. But that's still good enough to lead the ACC, even after gaining just 95 yards on the ground against Miami.
Dwyer, who led the ACC with 1,395 yards in 2008, had just seven yards against Miami and left the game because of a shoulder injury. He's expected to play Saturday.
Allen has picked up any remaining slack for Georgia Tech. He's averaging 13.6 yards per carry and busted an 82-yard touchdown run in a 30-27 win over Clemson on Sept. 10.
Nesbitt, a junior recruited by former coach Chan Gailey to run a pro-set offense, leads the team with 213 rushing yards. He also has done a better job of involving receiver Demaryius Thomas, who leads the ACC with 109 receiving yards per game.
"They've added some things ... to get the ball to the perimeter that last year really and truly weren't there for them just because of the added talent that they've got on their roster," Davis said. "Which makes it even more difficult. So you've got to play disciplined. You've got to tackle well."

Staff writer Ken Tysiac contributed to this report.

 

[alpha]

Anyone remember why our offense couldn't get to the end zone last year? Other than the muffed punt and the fumbles that kept the ball away from our offense. If I remember correctly, UNC's d-line was ridiculous and we had quite a few 3-and-outs.

 

[surferdave]

Anyone remember why our offense couldn't get to the end zone last year? Other than the muffed punt and the fumbles that kept the ball away from our offense. If I remember correctly, UNC's d-line was ridiculous and we had quite a few 3-and-outs.

We had no tackles or guards by the end of the game, and Josh had no ankles.

 

[GT65_UGA89]

If I remember correctly, UNC's d-line was ridiculous and we had quite a few 3-and-outs.

We had a couple of four-and-the-ball-goes-over-on-downs too --one inside the UNC 20.

 

[cajunjacket]

I really think that Josh has to carry a lot of the running weight this season. Last year the dive seemed to be open and it hurt our opponents. LSU picked up on that and shut down the segment of our offense that produced a ton of big plays. The QB keep seems to be open more this year than last year. Josh seems to turn on the jets a little to late when he keeps it. If he can be a bit faster with his decision making to keep it, you can expect some really long runs by Josh this year. The keep has been open almost as if teams are daring Josh to keep it.

 

[Jorge]

Butch Davis is worried about Anthony Allen! LOL
If he doesn't have the ball, he almost ensures the play will get blown up by not blocking his assignment. I am down on AA. We need A backs that get the block done--even if they are slower than AA when carrying the ball. At least we will gain a few yards.

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

Here is how you solve your problem!

Give the damn ball to Anthony Allen and run him until they have to carry him off the damn field. Much like carrying the dying warrior off the battlefield on his shield. I saw that in a movie one time.

That's the kind of effort we need if we are going to beat UNC.

Go Jackets!

 

[alpha]

Re: Here is how you solve your problem!

Give the damn ball to Anthony Allen and run him until they have to carry him off the damn field. Much like carrying the dying warrior off the battlefield on his shield. I saw that in a movie one time.

That's the kind of effort we need if we are going to beat UNC.

Go Jackets!

I was thinking bench Anthony until he knows his blocking assignments and learns how to block. I don't find it surprising that he has the most rushing yards in the team so far. When he has the ball, he doesn't have to block.

 

[unforgiven108]

I really think that Josh has to carry a lot of the running weight this season. Last year the dive seemed to be open and it hurt our opponents. LSU picked up on that and shut down the segment of our offense that produced a ton of big plays. The QB keep seems to be open more this year than last year. Josh seems to turn on the jets a little to late when he keeps it. If he can be a bit faster with his decision making to keep it, you can expect some really long runs by Josh this year. The keep has been open almost as it teams are daring Josh to keep it.

This is probably because, JD gets by one level (via mistake, great block, shed tackle) then he is gone. If Nesbitt gets by one level then he only gets between 10~15 yards. Nesbitt, for whatever reason, hasn't shown the ability to break loose once shedding that first level.

 

[Geori]

Tevin and Jaybo are better in the second level than Josh is. The problem is that Josh is the only QB tough enough able to get there.