Sept. 17, 2009
By Lauren Brownlow
Every Thursday, check TarHeelBlue.com for the latest edition of the Game Guide, which provides all the information you need to get ready for gameday.
The Basics
No. 19/24 North Carolina (2-0, 0-0) will return to Kenan Stadium, where it will play four of its next five games, to face East Carolina. It will be the 12th meeting between the two schools in a series that began in 1972. Carolina is coming off of a 12-10 win at Connecticut. East Carolina (1-1, 0-0) is coming off of a 35-20 loss at West Virginia. The Pirates also beat Appalachian State in Greenville in the season-opener, 29-24. Carolina has not started 3-0 since 1997.
This is the first meeting between the two schools in Chapel Hill since October 6, 2001, a game Carolina won 24-21. The East Carolina win in Greenville in 2007 was only the second ECU win in the series and the first since October 25, 1975, when ECU beat Carolina 38-17 in Kenan Stadium. There was also a 24-24 tie in 1979, giving Carolina an 8-2-1 edge in the series.
Game Time: East Carolina at North Carolina, 12:00 PM, ESPN2.
Carolina's game notes can be found here and East Carolina's official football site is here.
Last Time: Carolina lost at East Carolina, 34-31, on September 8, 2007. Carolina led 17-7 early in the second quarter on a 39-yard touchdown pass from T.J. Yates to Brandon Tate. The Pirates would score two more times before halftime to tie it at 17. ECU scored on a 24-yard catch by current NFL star Chris Johnson and Tate answered with another touchdown catch. Johnson ran for a touchdown and Brandon Tate ran a punt 58 yards back for a touchdown and Carolina's two-point conversion tied the game at 31 as the third quarter ended. The fourth quarter was incredibly sloppy. Kicker Ben Hartman missed a 32-yard field goal, Hakeem Nicks lost a fumble, Hartman missed another field goal and Carolina botched a field goal attempt before finally Hartman hit the game-winner as time expired.
Yates completed 20-of-32 passes for 344 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
Hakeem Nicks had six catches for 77 yards and a touchdown. Tate caught three passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns.
Johnny White had four catches for 58 yards. White also led Carolina in rushing with 49 yards on ten carries.
Durell Mapp led the Carolina defense with a whopping 18 tackles, including one for loss.
E.J. Wilson had one of Carolina's two sacks;
Kentwan Balmer and
Hilee Taylor combined for the other. Taylor also had a forced fumble.
East Carolina's Patrick Pinkney completed 31-of-41 passes for 406 yards and three touchdowns. Pinkney was also the team's leading rusher with 22 yards on ten carries. Current Tennessee Titan star Chris Johnson managed just eight rushes for 18 yards but caught five passes for 136 yards and had two touchdowns. Johnson also had four kickoff returns for 104 yards. Jamar Bryant had six catches for 93 yards and Phillip Henry added six catches for 67 yards. Mark Robinson had two sacks and Pierre Bell led the team with 11 tackles.
Gameday Weather: Check the local weather forecast before heading for the game.
Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 11:00 AM. The radio broadcast is also available on XM Channel 192/Sirius Channel 218 at 12:00 PM. Since it's a home game, the Tar Heel Sports Network broadcast can be heard on XM.
TV Coverage: The game will be shown on ESPN2. Pam Ward will handle the play-by-play and Ray Bentley will be the analyst.
Game week TV/radio coverage: "Butch Davis Live", Coach Davis' weekly radio show, will be broadcast live from the Top of the Hill restaurant on Franklin Street every Wednesday at 7:00. Inside Carolina Football with Butch Davis airs Saturday morning at 9 a.m. on FOX Sports South. Inside Carolina Football with Butch Davis will air on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. on WTVD ABC 11 in the Triangle and will review Saturday's game. The show will also be available On Demand on Time Warner Cable channel 1234 for free. The Tar Heel Football Review show featuring highlights of the previous week's games will air Tuesday's at 7 p.m. and Thursday's at 8 p.m. in the Triangle and Fayetteville on the local Time Warner Cable station.
Storylines
Wearing them down: It sounds like a football cliché, but every team has to be able to play hard for 60 minutes. Carolina has not always been able to do that, and even with leads, at times it has not been able to hold on. It could not run the ball well enough to sustain drives. But after two and three summers with strength and conditioning coach Jeff Connors, the thin offensive line was ever to find a way to make holes for Ryan Houston. Considering how few offensive linemen actually saw action, that seems like a miracle.
The participation report for the Connecticut game does not list at least one snap that Travis Bond had in the game when center Cam Holland lost his shoe, which would mean that essentially the five starters played the entire game. Part of their problem was inexperience as much as fatigue. Cam Holland was making his first start at center and Greg Elleby has less than a year on the offensive line in his first start. But with Jonathan Cooper back at practice and starting center Lowell Dyer out 3-4 weeks, the situation will improve as long as the line as it is now can hold up. They were tired late in the Connecticut game, but they managed to find a way to push through on back-to-back drives that totaled 26 plays and nearly 12 minutes. Dyer went down during a midweek practice, making for chaos not only at practice the rest of the week but also on the field against a national top-six defense last season.
"I thought Greg (Elleby) and Cam (Holland) stepped up huge in the absence of Lowell (Dyer) and Jonathan (Cooper). They definitely made some mistakes, which we knew was going to happen in their first start ever," Yates said. "Going against a defense like that, it's not surprising that they made a few mistakes. They got better in that game, just gaining the experience. We took a lot of steps in the protection and the running game.
"We tried so many different things during the game and we kind of just had to go back to the basics, things that we had been practicing all week long. ... In that second drive, we had them tired a little bit. We had them on their heels. We just kind of went back to the basics. I think we ran the same play like five times in a row, that running play with Ryan Houston. It was the exact same call in a different formation. That was one of our easiest, base zone runs. You keep chipping away, keep going at them and it finally kept working."
The Pirates seem to be tiring on both sides of the ball; they are rushing for 104 yards in the first half compared to just 21.5 in the second half. Their defense is holding teams to just 35.5 first-half rushing yards and allowing 103. So after out-rushing opponents by 68.5 yards in the first half, they are being out-rushed in the second half by over 80 yards, on average. The Pirates are actually allowing fewer passing yards (121 in the first half to 118 in the second) but they are passing for fewer yards themselves, going from 105 in the first half to a mere 47.5 in the second half. They have also averaged just 69 second-half yards while allowing 221. In the first half, they out-gained opponents 209.5 to 156.5.
Even though East Carolina has struggled on defense this season, they were a very good defense last year that returned most of its elite players and was expected to be one the nation's best defenses coming into this season. It's also important to keep in mind that ECU's struggles have come against two mobile quarterbacks. Also, while the defense allowed 509 yards of total offense, 267 of those yards came on eight plays (33.4 yards per play). The other 60 plays, West Virginia averaged four yards a play. ECU head coach Skip Holtz pointed out that his team had ten zone coverage "sacks" in the game when the West Virginia quarterback had nowhere to throw. So he would scramble, either for 20 yards by himself or out of the pocket to make a big throw. That's not necessarily something T.J. Yates excels at.
The Carolina defense: Carolina has not yet forgotten the way it felt when Patrick Pinkney picked them apart as freshmen for big play after big play. This likely won't be an offensive shootout either way, but it could get ugly quickly if this secondary assumes Pinkney will continue to struggle as much as he has. His wide receivers have eight drops, but they are largely an experienced bunch. However, Carolina's secondary is no longer the inexperienced bunch feeling its way around and allowing big play after big play like they did two years ago in Greenville. Patrick Pinkney torched the young Tar Heels for 406 yards passing.
"Last time, they kind of got us on rolling out," Deunta Williams said. "We were young. We didn't really know about sprint-out rules and the guy to the flat has to take the No. 1 receiver and stuff like that. So they got us on a lot of those routes. They also busted a couple of big screens on us. Some of that was ... our youth. Some of it was not being disciplined. So I think as a defense as whole, we're a lot more disciplined on defense this year. So hopefully we can limit some of those things. I think they busted one for maybe like 70 yards, a screen. Maybe we can limit that to six or seven yards instead of 70."
Carolina's defense was also fresh enough to be aggressive late against Connecticut, leading to the safety in the end zone. Carolina played just eight defensive linemen, fewer than it has played since just eight saw action in the home loss to Virginia Tech last year. Carolina played more defensive linemen last season - 10.3 on average per game saw reps - but more of them are now seeing more snaps rather than coming in for special situations, like third down. Michael McAdoo and Quentin Coples are seeing significant playing time now. Aleric Mullins and Tydreke Powell are seeing significant time as well.
This defense is experienced enough that Carolina's coaches are beginning to allow the front seven to play more aggressively late, where as the last two years, that would not have happened. Williams said that defensive coordinator Everett Withers demonstrated his trust in them by putting pressure on Cody Endres late in the Connecticut game and letting the cornerbacks cover. "I think the one thing that he understood was we've got some guys back there that can cover," Williams said. "I think that we had an advantage with our secondary versus their receivers. So he took that into consideration and it was fourth down, so why not go get him? We've been begging him all spring, all summer - let's go do this. So it kind of gives us a little bit of an air of confidence that he trusts us to do it."
The newfound depth at linebacker has also helped. Last season, including special teams, Carolina would play 6.7 linebackers on average and went through a two-game stretch when just five saw the field (Notre Dame and Virginia). This season, 18 have seen action in two games and nine played against Connecticut. Kennedy Tinsley at full health helps give Carolina an experienced backup and a chance for starter Zach Brown and freshman backup Kevin Reddick to get their feet wet slowly. Carolina has allowed just 13 second-half points this season. East Carolina has yet to score a single second-half point. West Virginia managed to hold East Carolina to just 85 yards in the second half (just 13 rushing yards). West Virginia quarterback Jarrett Brown completed 24-of-31 passes for 334 yards and four touchdowns.
Both East Carolina and UNC had nearly as many big plays in the 2007 game alone as they have this season. Carolina had six plays of 20 or more yards and four of 37 or more in the game. East Carolina had six of 20 or more yards and two of 50 or more. In 2009, Carolina does not have any 50-yard plays but does have six 20-yard or more plays in two games. It has allowed just two. East Carolina has nine "big plays" this year and has allowed eight. East Carolina head coach Skip Holtz gave Carolina's defense the ultimate compliment, saying it reminded him of Virginia Tech's defense in 2007, which finished No. 1 in the country. The Carolina defense has become not only more talented but also smarter and more mature, a unit capable of carrying this team when it is struggling. Against a team like East Carolina that might be necessary, particularly early on.
Effective field position: Give Connecticut credit - their special teams played much better than they did in 2008. Their special teams were a huge factor in Carolina's terrible field position. Carolina had 12 drives against Connecticut and four were started either at the Carolina 20 or less. Only two began in Connecticut territory, both after turnovers. Only four began at Carolina's 30-yard line or better. "One of the things that really hurt our offense during the course of the day was horrible field position," Davis said. "We've got to play a little bit better on special teams that gives us a little bit better starting position. I know that we started two of the drives backed up inside the two-yard line. For the entire day, our average starting field position was the 21-yard line. It's a long, hard day against a very good Connecticut defense to try to go 80 yards every single time and try to score points."
Carolina's defense, on the other hand, was forced to stop Connecticut on 13 drives, eight of which began at Connecticut's 30-yard line or better. Two began in North Carolina territory. In three situations when Carolina gave the ball back to Connecticut - a missed field goal and two interceptions - Carolina's defense allowed one touchdown but forced a punt and an interception. The only touchdown given up was on a drive that began at the Carolina 26-yard line. All three of those drives began at the Connecticut 27-yard line or better (two at the 40 or better) and Carolina's defense gave up 4.5 yards per play on an average of 5.6 plays per drive. But on Connecticut's other ten drives, the defense held Connecticut to a mere 3.2 yards per play and just 4.4 plays per drive. The most yards it allowed on those drives was 40, on the drive before halftime that led to the Connecticut field goal; the 40-yard drive was the longest scoring drive Carolina has allowed this season.
East Carolina got very good field position from its special teams that it was sometimes not able to take advantage of against West Virginia. The Pirates began three of its seven first-half drives in West Virginia territory. Two of those came after East Carolina's special teams forced and recovered two fumbles by West Virginia punt returners. ECU converted those into a touchdown and a field goal. East Carolina's Travis Simmons returned two punts for a 26-yard average, setting up one
West Virginia field goal with a 38-yard return. West Virginia's best starting field position in the first half was its own 34-yard line and it started three of its six drives at the 20-yard line or further back. But in the second half, the best starting field position East Carolina had was at its own 39-yard line after a 30-yard kickoff return. Its defense was able to steal two potential scores from West Virginia by intercepting the ball at their five-yard line and recovering a fumble at the ECU 19. West Virginia began three of its seven second-half drives in ECU territory (one after a 35-yard punt return) and only two at its own 20 or further back.
Carolina's special teams have not been as sharp as they should; mistakes against the Citadel led to allowing six of the 16 points teams have scored on Carolina this season. Mistakes against a good special teams unit with solid athletes will not be so easy to overcome in a game when every yard will matter. Carolina absolutely needs to at least start every drive at its own 20-yard line, if not better. With this young and thin offensive line, it's simply asking too much to ask them to continue to protect T.J. Yates and provide lanes from Shaun Draughn when continually backed up in their own end zone.
At The Game
Listening to the Tar Heel Sports Network at the game: WCHL 1360 is the local affiliate.
Parking/construction update: For the latest information, click here.
Pregame activities: Tar Heel Town will open at 9:00 AM on Saturday and the Countdown to Kickoff radio show will broadcast live there beginning at 10:00 AM. The Old Well Walk will be at 9:45 and then the Marching Tar Heels will perform on the steps of Wilson Library at 10:00 before heading to the stadium. Then at 10:15, start making your way to Kenan Stadium and make sure you're in your seats early. For more information, see the website for Tar Heel Town on TarHeelBlue.com.
Postgame activities: See Gameday Central on TarHeelBlue.com for the latest information.
Watching At Home
Turn down the sound: If you're watching at home while listening to the radio or over the computer via Carolina All-Access, there will inevitably be some delay. For the reason - and a possible solution - click here.
A full list of THSN affiliates can be found here.
ESPN2 coverage: The game will be shown on ESPN2. Pam Ward will handle the play-by-play and Ray Bentley will be the analyst.
Names To Know
Erik Highsmith: The freshman wide receiver has turned into one of those rare training camp wonders that actually is producing so far, and earlier than most thought. He played against the Citadel but did not get catch a pass or get one thrown his way. Against Connecticut, Highsmith was targeted five times and caught four passes for 59 yards, gaining three first downs. One of his catches went for six yards on a 3rd and 7 and even then it came when Carolina was backed up against its own goal line at the five.
Of his three third-down targets, he caught all of them for 47 yards and gained two first downs. He converted two of the longest third downs Carolina faced all day - a 3rd and 20 and a 3rd and 18. A freshman, getting his first-ever targets on the road in front of a raucous crowd, accounted for three of Carolina's six third-down conversions. On the 3rd and 20 catch, the offense was again backed up inside Carolina's 20 after a holding penalty and Highsmith managed to find an open spot near the sideline while Yates scrambled. It was 3rd and 18 midway through the fourth when he again managed to find a soft spot in the defense and catch the crucial pass that ended up extending Carolina's drive ten more plays.
He wasn't without error - he did bobble a ball going out of bounds that would have been a completion on first down in the third quarter - but his clutch catches gave Yates a reliable target, and someone that could continue to be one as Zack Pianalto misses 3-4 weeks. "He's a quick receiver, he's very good at getting open," Yates said. "He's a little small and undersized, but he makes up for it. He's very strong. He doesn't really look like it, but he's very strong in the weight room. He just came up big. He didn't really seem like he was rattled at all. He was very calm. He didn't say much, kind of just went out there and performed."
Marvin Austin: Being double-teamed for most his Carolina career, Austin rarely has a chance to have the kind of game he did last Saturday. Austin did not notch a single defensive statistic against the Citadel, but against Connecticut, he had eight tackles (three solo) and 1.5 tackles for loss. He also had a sack in the second quarter on 3rd and 9 when he burst through the line practically untouched to drag down Zach Frazer in the backfield. There was also a play right before the game-deciding safety when a bad snap went over the head of Cody Endres and Sturdivant got there first, but Austin was right there to make sure they lost the 12 yards. Without that play, the safety doesn't happen.
He finished last season with just four tackles in the last two games (both solo stops), but against State, he had one sack and one quarterback hurry. Though he had just three tackles against Georgia Tech, he clogged things up enough so that fellow defensive tackle Cam Thomas had plenty of room to have one of his best games as a Tar Heel. He also had a three-game stretch last season in some of Carolina's biggest wins, starting with Connecticut and ending against Boston College, in which he had 8 tackles, three quarterback hurries, an interception returned for a touchdown and 0.5 tackles for loss.
Statistics often don't bear out how important Austin is to this defense. Carolina will need him to lead this team on and off the field to prepare for an ECU offense that is certainly struggling but will be eager to get back on track and win a crucial road game. ECU will likely do whatever it can to keep the pressure off of Pinkney. But that can only happen if Austin and his teammates can't sufficiently clog up the middle and bottle up the ECU running game. His teammate Deunta Williams thinks he can do that. He watched a tape of the 2007 game and has seen not only his own physical transformation, but also that of Austin, who is in the best shape of his career. "Guys are making a lot of plays. Marvin made a lot of plays last week. Marvin did a good job of fronting," Williams said. "It's funny seeing how people transform and transcend into leaders. Marvin's doing a great job of that."
Patrick Pinkney: When the senior was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA in January (he missed 2005 with a shoulder injury), he was expected to be the leader of a talented and experienced East Carolina offense. But the ECU offense has not looked like it has in the past, and neither has Pinkney. In the first two games this season, Pinkney has completed just 28-of-66 passes (42.4%) for 306 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. He has been sacked four times and has -22 yards rushing on six attempts. In the last game against West Virginia, he completed 16-of-39 passes (41%) for 175 yards, one touchdown and one interception; he was also sacked four times.
But he has shown he is capable of being a great quarterback against great teams in the past. When ECU knocked off top 20 teams in back-to-back weeks last season, he completed 41-of-51 passes for 447 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also rushed for 23 yards on 15 attempts and one touchdown and was sacked just one time. The Pirates beat Virginia Tech (No. 17) and Wes Virginia (No. 8). He finished last season completing 223-of-363 passes (61.4%) for 2,675 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Part of the problem has been the ECU rushing game, which has been inconsistent at best. It has forced ECU to become a one-dimensional team. Pinkney will have even more of a responsibility to keep the offense going against Carolina without running back Dominique Lindsay, who will miss the game with a shoulder injury. But Carolina shut down ECU's running game in 2007, only to see Pinkney do what he has done to so many teams, only better. Carolina gave Pinkney all of his career highs that still stand - completions (31), attempts (41), yards (406) and touchdowns (three).
The Tar Heels have not forgotten that performance and they know that they can't sleep on Pinkney, despite the Pirates' offensive struggles. "They've got a very, very experienced veteran quarterback in his sixth year," Davis said. "There's not going to be a lot of things that he hasn't seen. You're not going to disguise him. You're not going to bluff him. You're not going to trick him. He's going to have seen just about everything from an experience standpoint."
Van Eskridge: Like Carolina, ECU's defensive line is the most publicized unit on the team. But also like Carolina, ECU's secondary has unheralded members like Van Eskridge that make it a dangerous one. Eskridge, a senior safety, is the leader of that group. He has been a steady force on what has been an erratic ECU defense this season. He has nine tackles in each game so far, including 0.5 tackles for loss in each game. He had his first interception of the season against West Virginia.
He has always been known as a hard hitter, but lately he has actually been able to pick off more passes. His defense has at least one interception in 12 of their last 13 games and Eskridge has snagged a pick in three of his last four games, including one against West Virginia. It was the sixth interception of his career. He has averaged 6.5 tackles per game over his career and led the team in 2007 with 104 tackles. Last season during two upset wins to open the year, Eskridge had 16 tackles (8 solo) and one forced fumble. With as little time as T.J. Yates has had to throw the ball and with an untested group of wide receivers, Eskridge could be a difference-maker with his veteran leadership in arguably the toughest secondary Carolina has faced so far.
Lauren Brownlow is the executive editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
