Oct. 2, 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
North Carolina (3-1, 0-1) will face Virginia (0-3, 0-0) in an attempt to even out its ACC record. It will be Virginia's ACC opener. Carolina is coming off of a 24-7 loss at Georgia Tech one week ago. It will face its second straight opponent coming off of rest as Virginia's last game was a narrow defeat at Southern Miss, 37-34, on September 19th. The game against Virginia will be the first of three straight home games. The Tar Heels will play five of their next six games at home. The series with Virginia dates back to 1892 and is the South's oldest rivalry and the fifth-longest running series in FBS history. Carolina holds a narrow edge, 57-52-4. But the Tar Heels have dropped three straight games to the Cavaliers and have not won since a 7-5 victory in 2005 in Kenan Stadium. Carolina has lost nine of the last 11 meetings.
Game Time: Virginia at North Carolina, 12:00 PM, Raycom
Carolina's game notes can be found here and Virginia's official football site is .
Last Time: Carolina lost at Virginia in overtime, 16-13, on October 18, 2008. Carolina struck first with a 10-play touchdown drive capped off by a Ryan Houston one-yard run. Virginia did not record a first down until four minutes into the second quarter. Virginia got on the board with a field goal after a Cam Sexton interception to make the score 7-3. On Carolina's next drive, Hakeem Nicks lost a fumble at the Virginia 45-yard line. That set up a seven-minute drive by Virginia, resulting in a field goal try blocked by Bruce Carter. Casey Barth capped off a 15-play, 7 ½ minute drive with a 40-yard field goal late in the fourth to make it 10-3. Then Virginia drove steadily down the field in a minute and a half to die the game at ten with 47 seconds left. Carolina managed only a field goal on its first possession and Virginia scored a touchdown, ending the game at 16-13.
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Shaun Draughn rushed for 138 yards on 30 carries. Sexton completed 16-of-25 passes for 166 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions.
Hakeem Nicks led Carolina with six catches for 90 yards.
Quan Sturdivant led Carolina with 13 tackles (ten solo). Jon Copper led Virginia in tackles with 16 (ten solo). Cedric Peerman led Virginia with 44 rushing yards on 17 carries, including two touchdowns. Marc Verica completed 24-of-38 passes for 217 yards. Kevin Ogletree caught six passes for 72 yards.
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 190/Sirius 211 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 Raycom where available.
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
Carolina's offense finding its way: Who would have thought going into this game that Carolina would be second-to-last in both major offensive categories, behind only Virginia? Certainly, Carolina has struggled quite a bit offensively but the offense had shown enough signs of life before the Georgia Tech game that many thought it was only a matter of time before it became at least a middle-of-the-pack group. But besides Erik Highsmith, there is not really a bright spot to take away from the performance against Georgia Tech last week. The freshman wide receiver accounted for three of Carolina's five passing first downs and all seven of Carolina's points.
This offense has been stressing each week how it needs to get off to a good start. Carolina has been able to bounce back from bad starts against other teams, but with only three plays to find a rhythm and the deficit mounting, it is becoming more of a problem. Carolina began the Georgia Tech game with three straight three-and-outs. Against Georgia Tech, Carolina gained four yards on its first drive after a first-down rush for three yards, an incomplete pass on 2nd and 7 and a completion for one yard on 3rd and 7. In Carolina's first three drives totaling nine plays, Carolina gained just eight yards. T.J. Yates completed just 1-of-6 passes for one yard and Carolina ran it three times for seven yards. The average deficit Carolina faced on second down was 8.7 yards and 7.7 yards on third down.
"We didn't start off well - once that kind of happened, it kind of dog-piled on top of each other and things got even worse. We've got to do a better job of coming out quick and finding a rhythm early," T.J. Yates said. "It starts with me just not completing easy passes, routine little things. When you do that at the start of the game, it throws the whole offense off. We weren't running the ball well, which wasn't complementing our passing game and when you're not passing the ball well, it doesn't complement your running game. Two wrongs don't make a right. We've got to do a better job of getting into rhythm and getting things going early so we can piggy-back on that throughout the game."
Carolina has gone three-and-out on its first drive in three of four games. In the last three games, Carolina has gained just 12 yards on its first nine plays, facing an average distance of 9.7 yards on second down and 7.3 yards on third down. Even against the Citadel, Carolina gained 12 yards on its first drive on five plays. So including that game, Carolina has gained 24 yards on the first drive of each game in 14 plays, less than two yards per play. Carolina's second drives are almost even worse. Two of the four drives were three-and-outs and the two that weren't both resulted in turnovers. One of the two drives that ended in a turnover didn't even get to third down. Carolina has averaged 2.4 yards per play on its second drive, rushing eight times for nine yards and completing 3-of-9 passes for 32 yards.
It has taken Carolina too long to get going in both halves, averaging 53.8 yards in the first quarter and 70.8 in the third compared to 88.5 in the second and 92.8 in the fourth. Carolina is waiting far too long to click and against a very good team that is very capable of controlling time of possession, it finally came back to haunt the Tar Heels. But despite how badly the offense played, Carolina was still technically in the game through most of it and whenever any drive showed signs of life, some sort of disaster happened. "We started to get a little bit of momentum. We started to get a couple of first downs. Then we had the snap over the quarterback's head," Davis said. "It seemed like every time that we tried to get a little bit of a grasp and trying to get ourselves rooted and trying to get ourselves going offensively, we shot ourselves in the foot."
Carolina's offense has been able to bounce back from bad starts before to put up very good numbers against good teams. A big problem the Tar Heels have faced is third down. Carolina has averaged 3.9 yards per play on third down despite facing an average deficit of 7.4 yards. Against Georgia Tech, the average deficit Carolina faced was 6.6 yards and it averaged 2.7 yards per play. Virginia is 14th in the country in third-down defense, allowing opponents to convert just 12-of-45 third downs. Carolina is 106th in the nation in 3rd down conversions at just 29.4 percent (15-of-51). "We've got to become better on first and second down. It's kind of hard to be converting third and seven, third and eight, third and nine, third and ten-plus," Yates said. "We had that situation a lot in the game and those are the hardest third downs to convert, the third and longs. We've got to do a better job on first and second down gaining more yards, getting ourselves in better situations so we can attack those third downs better."
Carolina's red-zone offense was not efficient at Georgia Tech, but the warning signs were already there. Despite scoring on all ten of its red-zone chances going into the Georgia Tech game, Carolina had still squandered some chances in its previous two games, missing at least one field goal in each and turning it over once. Still, Carolina made it to opposition territory on 19-of-38 drives (50%) and scored nine touchdowns and hit 4-of-6 field goals. But against Georgia Tech, Carolina made it into Yellow Jacket territory on just three of its ten drives and of those, it scored one touchdown, missed a field goal and threw an interception. The missed field goal came in the red zone, as did the interception. Carolina ranks fifth in the league in red zone offense, converting on 10-of-12 trips (83.3%). Six ACC teams are averaging over four trips to the red zone per game and eight are averaging more than three, but Carolina is one of four teams to average three trips or fewer per game, a group that includes Duke, Maryland and Virginia. Virginia is not only last in the league in red-zone defense as the only ACC team to allow its opponent to score every time, but it is also leading the league in red zone trips allowed per game with 4.3. Despite allowing those 13 trips and allowing 13 scores, just six of those were touchdowns. The Cavaliers are fifth in terms of percentage of touchdowns scored in red zone trips (6 touchdowns in 13 trips).
Carolina has to deal with itself just as much as it has to deal with Virginia's 3-4 defense. Virginia's defense is notorious for stifling Carolina, even when its offense is more prolific than it is this season. The Cavaliers have actually held Carolina to a grand total of 33 points, 11 per game, the last three games. Carolina was shut out in 2006 (tied for the lowest total that season), 20 points in 2007 (actually the fifth-highest point total) and 13 points last season (the second-lowest point total). Carolina has scored over 27 points just twice against Virginia since 1979 and has scored over three touchdowns just twice since that same year. Carolina will need to solve the mystery, and Virginia's defense has struggled with injuries this year so far. If Carolina wants to give its offense a break, it needs to start early, get in a rhythm and keep drives going.
Stopping opponents on third down: Since last week, Carolina's defense has been repeatedly asked if they were frustrated at how long they had to be on the field. It's a natural emotion for even a defense like Carolina's, which has more depth than most, when they are on the field for 42 minutes and on the sidelines for 18 minutes. But there has been no finger-pointing or anger directed at the offense for quite a few three-and-outs or turnovers. Instead, the defense has been pointing the fingers where they at least partially belong - themselves. "They're our teammates. They're battling and we've got to put things on our shoulders and we've got to take of business," Kendric Burney said. "There are plenty of times where we could have gotten our offense the ball back just as quick as three-and-out and we just didn't make plays. They were 10-of-19 on third downs and that's crazy. That's a bad defense."
"We didn't do our best today either," Marvin Austin said after the game. "We should have gotten off the field on third down. A stupid mistake I had, going off-sides on a 4th and 1 - I've been doing this for three years, that's something I should do. I can't say I was frustrated with them. I was just frustrated with the way that we were playing on defense. We weren't getting 11 guys to the ball."
The odd thing about the third down conversions is it seemed as if Carolina's defense was plenty focused on first and second down, holding Georgia Tech to 4.7 yards per play or fewer. But on third down, Georgia Tech averaged 7.1 yards per play despite facing an average of 6.7 yards to go. "Of the 10-of-19, we had lots of opportunities where a year ago we got them out - 3rd and 11, 3rd and 9, 3rd and 7, a couple of 3rd and 6's, and that was somewhat the difference," Butch Davis said. "A year ago, we had two major 4th-down-and-1 stops that inevitably gave us good field position. Same scenario, they had fourth and one and they converted."
Carolina held Georgia Tech to third and long (six or more yards) on 12 of the 19 third downs it faced. The Tar Heel defense absolutely has to hold the offense - any offense - in at least the majority of those situations those situations. It's an absolute back-breaker when an opponent is continually converting third-and-long. Georgia Tech's average deficit faced on third down was 6.7 yards; Carolina's two previous opponents faced third down and 6.1 yards. In the last two games, Carolina's opponents have run 29 third-down plays and converted eight, gaining 59 yards (2.0 yards per play), punting 14 times and making 2-of-3 field goals. Georgia Tech ran 19 third-down plays and converted ten, punting just three times and making 1-of-3 field goals. The Yellow Jackets averaged 7.1 yards per third-down play. Carolina essentially gave up 12-of-19 conversions since the Yellow Jackets easily picked up the 4th-and-1's they faced. And it's 12-of-18 not counting the kneel to end the game.
Out of the 21 first downs Carolina's opponents earned in the first two games, just four were on third down conversions (on 29 tries). In the last two games, 16 of 37 opponent first downs have come on third down and they have converted 16-of-35 third downs. Carolina's first two opponents had just two 3rd and 1 chances and converted one. Connecticut never had a third and one. In the last two games alone, Carolina's opponents have had five third-and-one chances and converted all five. East Carolina had four and Georgia Tech, for all of Carolina's difficulties, had just one and converted it. Carolina's first three opponents combined to convert just 2-of-11 third down and 2-4 yards. Georgia Tech converted 2-of-3 third downs of 2-4 yards; the one it didn't convert, Austin did it for them on 4th and 1 when he went offsides.
In the last two games, Carolina's opponents have converted 7-of-12 third downs of 5-7 yards. The five times they failed to convert turned into 1-of-3 on field goals and one punt. Carolina's first two opponents converted 0-of-5 third downs of 5-7 yards. Carolina allowed just one conversion of third and 8-10 yards prior to the Georgia Tech game, when the Yellow Jackets converted 2-of-3 such third downs, including one for a touchdown. Carolina had allowed opponents to gain a grand total of 13 yards on ten plays of third down and more than ten yards in its first three games. Georgia Tech faced 3rd and ten or more yards four times and converted none, but gained ten yards on those four plays. Also, they made a field goal after one failed conversion and a ten-yard gain on third and 11 led to a fourth-and-short conversion. The final 3rd down and ten or more yards was at the end of the game when the Yellow Jackets were kneeling the clock out.
Carolina does not have a good record against dual-threat quarterbacks, at least in the last three seasons. Considering FBS teams only, Carolina has played eight games against teams thought to have "mobile" quarterbacks and has won just one (Georgia Tech a season ago) while losing six. Those games are either nail-biters (two narrow losses to Tyrod Taylor and Virginia Tech, a 31-30 loss to Pat White and West Virginia and a 22-20 loss to Sewell and Virginia in 2007) or blowouts (Russell Wilson and NC State beat Carolina 41-10 and Matt Grothe and USF beat Carolina 37-10). It's not necessarily indicative of anything - after all, Wake Forest and the barely-mobile Riley Skinner blew Carolina out 37-10 in 2007 as well - but mobile quarterbacks certainly make things much trickier. The last four times Carolina has faced a mobile quarterback (dating back to Georgia Tech last season), Carolina allowed 50 or more yards rushing in all four games to the quarterback. The fewest total yards Carolina has ever surrendered to a mobile-QB team is 241 against Virginia Tech two years ago and 268 the next year against Virginia Tech. Four of the eight teams have broken the 400-yard mark, mostly in routs except for the West Virginia loss.
Virginia has not been strong offensively this season, but it has scrapped its spread offense and reverted back to its old pro style. The Cavaliers had 19 first downs combined in its first two games and had 25 against Southern Miss, also scoring 34 points compared to just 28 in its first two games (14 each game). Virginia went from running 51 plays to 177 yards against TCU to running 90 plays for 390 yards against Southern Miss. The Cavaliers have converted just 16-of-49 third downs this season and have a negative turnover margin, but Carolina's defense has neither been stopping teams on third down nor forcing turnovers in its past two games.
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 11:00 before heading to the stadium. Then at 11:15, 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.
Raycom coverage: The game will be broadcast regionally on Raycom Sports. For a coverage map, click here. Steve Martin will be on play-by-play, Doc Walker will be the color analyst and Mike Hogewood will be the sideline reporter.
Names To Know
Anyone besides Erik Highsmith: The freshman has been targeted by Yates 23 times and has caught 16 of those passes. Of Carolina's 35 passing first downs, Highsmith has accounted for 11 of them, which leads the team. In the last three games, Highsmith has been targeted 12 times (with ten catches) in the second half and has accounted for 162 of Carolina's 376 second-half passing yards. But T.J. Yates has to have another reliable target. Shaun Draughn is third on the team in targets with 15 and has caught nine, but just three were for first downs. Josh Adams has been targeted ten times and caught three passes; he was the target on two of Yates' interceptions. Pianalto has eight targets (and caught all eight) for seven first downs, but he will likely miss this game. "Zack (Pianalto) has definitely helped us out at the tight end spot. That's one of the things that we're going to have to do is get the ball to (tight ends) Ed (Barham) and Christian (Wilson) and guys down the middle, spread the ball out a little bit," Yates said. "That's one of the things we had been doing great the past couple of games is reading the ball around to different receivers. I don't think we did that as well at all this past week. So that's definitely one thing we're going to focus on is getting the ball to different guys."
The production by other receivers has been spotty. Jheranie Boyd had a great game against East Carolina but was targeted four times against Georgia Tech and caught two of those passes for five yards. Johnny White has not been targeted since the Citadel. Bobby Rome has dropped two of the three passes thrown his way and his only catch was for three yards. Todd Harrelson and Dwight Jones were targeted one time each and neither has a catch. On third down, five receivers have been targeted at least once without a catch. Three of Carolina's most heralded receivers coming into the season - Boyd, Jones and Adams - have been targeted a combined seven times on third down and only one catch was made between the three. Josh Adams hauled in a great catch on third down against ECU for 23 yards.
Greg Little has quietly become No. 6 in the league in receptions per game with 4.2. He has been targeted a team-high 24 times and caught 17 for 159 yards, one touchdown and eight first downs. Little has also been a steady third-down target; Yates has sought him seven times and he has caught four for 44 yards, two first downs and a touchdown. Little is also becoming a more reliable second-half target, getting 12 balls thrown his way of the last three games and catching eight of them for 82 yards. Anthony Elzy has also been a steady option, catching all five of his targets from Yates, including one for a first down. The speedy fullback also drew a pass interference penalty in the end zone at Georgia Tech late in the game that kept Carolina's final drive alive on 4th and 1. Elzy also has caught all three of the second-half passes thrown his way in the last three games for 28 yards. Simply put, though, someone else has to step up as a consistent threat not only to help Carolina's offense get big plays, but also to make the defense believe that Carolina will be able to both run and pass the ball effectively.
Ryan Houston: Shaun Draughn has not quite yet clicked consistently with Carolina's offensive line. But for whatever reason, Houston seems to be able to come into the game and provide Carolina with an offensive spark, even if it is a brief one. He was responsible for getting one of Carolina's best drives going last week; Carolina had gone three-and-out on its first four drives and was finally moving. Houston earned Carolina's first first down of the game and after four plays, a snap went right over T.J. Yates' head at the Georgia Tech 48-yard line all the way back to the Carolina 32 for a 20-yard loss and a turnover.
Butch Davis calls an "efficient" run one which gains at least four years on first down or gets a first down or touchdown on second and third down. Ideally, he wants his team to have 52% run efficiency. Carolina has 50 efficient rushes in 137 attempts (36.5%). Houston himself is averaging 58.1% as 18 of his 31 rushing attempts have been efficient. He has ten of Carolina's 31 rushing first downs this season and all four of its rushing touchdowns. Houston saw extensive action against Virginia last season, rushing 11 times for 34 yards and a touchdown. Five of his attempts were "efficient"; despite Carolina's excellent day on the ground in that game (166 yards on 48 carries), just 37.5% of its rushing attempts were efficient.
If Carolina needs yet another spark against Virginia, Houston might be able to provide a change of pace, particularly with all the injuries on Carolina's already-inexperienced offensive line. In Carolina's two toughest games - at Connecticut and at Georgia Tech - he has kept the offense moving as best he could with six of Carolina's combined 11 efficient rushes (on just 13 carries). He also had three of Carolina's six rushing first downs in those two road games.
Jameel Sewell: The senior quarterback is literally carrying the Cavaliers this season, attempting 57 rushes out of 115 team attempts and 81 of Virginia's 98 passes. He has rushed for 119 yards and three touchdowns, leading the team in rushing with 32.7 yards per game. He has completed 41-of-81 passes for 512 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions. He is sixth in the ACC in total offense with 203 yards per game. Sewell has been a part of 138 plays out of 213 total for Virginia this season. Against Southern Miss, Sewell was in on a Virginia-record 69 plays (Southern Miss ran 68 plays as a team). Matt Schaub had the previous record with 64. His 312 passing yards against Southern Miss were a career high. He rushed 23 times for 23 yards but had two rushing touchdowns.
Carolina held Sewell in check on the ground in the first meeting between the two teams, sacking him four times and allowing him -21 yards on ten rushing attempts. He did pass for 96 yards, completing 11-of-17 passes with no interceptions. He had some big plays late that helped keep Virginia in the game. After a TJ Yates interception in Carolina territory, his 19-yard completion basically ensured Virginia would get a makeable field goal try, which it did - and it made it to go up 22-14 in the fourth quarter. "They're utilizing Sewell extremely well. He is a very athletically gifted quarterback," Davis said. "You watch the plays that he made against Southern miss where everybody was covered and he'd just tuck the ball and he would always keep drives alive, make 4-6 yards. He ran a couple of quarterback draws on purpose for touchdowns. He's a handful."
Chase Minnifield: The 6-0 sophomore cornerback was called into action two weeks ago when Chris Cook could not play because of a hurt groin. He answered that call with a career-high ten tackles (eight solo), a pass breakup and a fumble recovery. He also returned punts and had one kickoff return for 18 yards. He returned four punts for seven yards. No one else on the entire Virginia team had more than three solo tackles. He held Southern Miss' top receiver two just two catches for seven yards. Against William and Mary, Minnifield had three tackles (two solo) and a pass breakup. Against TCU, he had no defensive statistics. Last year against Carolina, Minnifield recovered a fumble by Hakeem Nicks that led to a seven-minute Virginia drive that, while it didn't result in points, ate nearly seven minutes off the clock and came when Carolina was driving. He returned kickoffs for the Cavaliers in that game as well, averaging 25.5 yards per return. He had four tackles (all solo) to go along with his fumble recovery.
Lauren Brownlow is the executive editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
