Oh Irish, Why Must We Fight Again?
by T.H. on Oct 10, 2008 7:38 PM EDT
in Football
3 comments
Skimming a couple of the Notre Dame - UNC previews around the internet being written by rabid midwestern fans this week, I generally have one reaction. I don't recognize the Carolina team they're talking about at all. Which isn't surprising when you think about it, as the set of People Who Are Rabid Notre Dame Fans and the set of People Who Have Seen a UNC Football game presumably do not have many members in common. Still, there are reasons statistics don't give the whole story:
"North Carolina has thrived on running the ball." Technically, they haven't completely failed at running the ball as in years passed, and built up enough leads that they can run the clock down near the end. And occasionally one or the other back will break free for significant yards. But there's a reason the starting back is still up in the air; neither Greg Little or Shaun Draughns have wrested the job away.
"If Notre Dame controls the run and gets out of the blocks early, Sexton will have to throw; and that will be the Irish's advantage." Don't let the nine passes against UConn fool you. UNC's defense won that game before the Heels had finished establishing the ground game, and there wasn't much for Sexton to do. Also don't believe what I told you the last time these teams met:
Can your secondary catch? They've only got six interceptions on the year, but that's proof-of-concept, I suppose. They're going to enjoy UNC's passing attack, which is based around Joe Dailey, an extremely mobile and short yardage-thrower and Cam Sexton, a more traditional pocket-passer, alternately throwing lots of passes to the opposing team. Dailey has 7 picks in the four games he's started, and Sexton 8. The consensus is Dailey is the better tackler.
The past two weeks UNC has strictly alternated QB's, giving each two series under center before, swapping them out for the other. It can't be called a quarterback controversy, as no one is really arguing for one or the other. Should either player catch fire, they will almost certainly remain in the game until something goes wrong. The most likely way one will catch fire would involve arson of some sort however, and the perpertrator will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
(Man, I used to not suck at this blogging thing. Although Dailey was pretty much the sole quarterback that game, and had no interceptions, three touchdowns, and 213 yards. I don't know nothin'.) Anyway, Sexton has improved considerably, and not just in being able to scramble and identify the correct color jersey. It helps that the Heels have a plethora of good wideouts to throw to, as we've discussed. It's why you should be worried if the game does turn into a shootout - I find UNC's secondary to be considerably tougher than what I've seen out of South Bend.
Carolina fans, however, can get a decent idea of Notre Dame from the above linked reviews. The running game is small to nonexistent, the offensive line is much improved over last year, and the passing attack is how the Irish will try to take the game. It's a very similar situation to what the Heels saw against Rutgers a month back, although presumably with a much more talent on the other side of the field. It'll be interesting to see if Davis puts a similar defense on the field, eschewing the rush for a zone defense to confuse and intercept, as well as contain the short dump passes. Or maybe they'll just rely on Bruce Carter to get punt block number five. And six. And seven...
0 recs |
3 comments
Email
Print
Comments
Heya
Hey, I like seeing a real Tarheel blog out there. I like going around game week and seeing what our opponents out there have to say about the matchups. You have about 5000 bonus points over the librarians at Purdue who are so boring they’d rather sit on their hands all night and drink cough medicine until they start seeing the beard fall off Joe Tiller.
Anyway, I dont think any of us ND fans are really under the impression that we’re going to march in there and dominate you as in years past. All of the blogs I subscribe to basically say this game is going to be the biggest test and the toughest matchup we will face all year. We already lost to MSU, so you can imagine the respect we have for your team.
I think what the majority of Domer Nation feels is that we have to control what we can control. Thats where the running game comments originate from. However, like you said in this post, dont let the stats fool you. We havent run the ball terribly effectively each game, but that is derived from a number of factors. The first game against SDSU, we still had 3-9 hangover and decided we couldnt move the ball against the worst team in D1-A football. It took a d*** slap from Ron Powlus to get Jimmy Clausen to realize that he just needed to make A throw and not try to make the perfect one all the time. We barely scrounged that one out, so we dindt have the time to play around with running the ball. Game two, we didnt NEED to run the ball because Michigan(sucks!) basically gave us theirs every time they touched it. Its hard to rack up huge rushing numbers when your drives are starting on the opposition 11, 20, and 30 yard line all game. Against Purdue, the reason was the opposition we were facing. We allowed ourselves to get into a pissing match through the air and decided, “Aw, F*** it, lets just kick their A** now and worry about stopping someone later.” And finally, Stanford just begged us to torch them because they left Michael Floyd( wide open all day. I dont care if Osaisai IS the Pac-10 100-meter dash champion or whatever he is, someone should have taught him how to cover a WR before they put him on a football field.
Bottom line is this game should be very interesting, to say the least. It is strength vs strength definitely. We dont turn the ball over much, you guys seem to need turnovers/special teams to dominate, we dont allow deep pass plays nearly as much as in years past and actually have a pretty good secondary(FINALLY!!) and that’s statistically your best side. I have a hunch in me that cant bring myself to say UNC wins, but I’m sure it’s going to be an entertaining game. I think ND needs to ensure we dont get into a shootout, because I dont think we have the veteran leadership yet to keep it together in that kind of game. Best of luck to your Tarheels tomorrow, hope everyone gets to go home healthy and safe.
GO IRISH! BEAT TARHEEL!
by clearwall on Oct 11, 2008 1:15 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Re: Heya
Oh, I don’t think any Irish fans are taking UN lightly – or vice versa for that matter. It’s just the particular aspects of the game you’re worried about are the exact opposite of what I consider the Heels’ flaws. I’m now a lot more intrigued by ND’s running game, however, especially since Carolina’s run defense is typically sporadic. (SEE TECH, DAMN VIRGINIA)
by T.H. on Oct 11, 2008 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Running.
Well Weis has been saying since spring football that he wanted to pound the ball this year. So far, it just hasnt happened, but that’s not saying we CANT do it. Armando Allen had a breakout game against Purdue and racked up 247 all purpose yards, 115(i think) were on the ground. So the potential is there, we just havent gotten to doing it with any regularity.
by clearwall on Oct 11, 2008 11:54 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
