All very interesting! BUT, I also think a very big key this year will be special teams production, which I don't recall anyone mentioning above. Our FG game last yr was non-existent, to say the least, and that resulted in many drives in normal FG range petering out on a "forced" 4th down run or pass, when it could have resulted in 3 pts from a proficient place klcker with decent range. Furthermore, we've had a great punter in Tommy Hibbard, but I believe he's now used up his eligibility, and we're faced with breaking in a new punter - if he's not close to Hibbard's efficiency, we have a whole new range of problems to be faced by Chizik's defense.
That said - for whatever reason, there was way too much talent on last year's team (as demonstrated by a solid game in South Bend [in which the "officials" appeared to make several very strange key calls, ball placements, etc in the 4th quarter when the Heels closed the gap]), and the monster win over a solid dook team in Wally Wade Stadium. Somehow the team that took the field against the 'pack and then the sunburned nights in the bowl game, just wasn't the same team that demolished the Blew Devils the week before the W.Rawleigh Tech game.
Whether there was dissension among the players, disenchantment with the coaching, or overconfidence, lack of discipline or desire - whatever! No one is talking (and probably shouldn't be, publicly!) about what went wrong. But whatever the problem - it's gotta be FIXED, and the players wearing the Carolina Blue (or Black, Pink, Purple - whatever!), be they offense, defense, or special teams, need to take the field as a unified, unstoppable TEAM, with only one goal in mind - that being to WIN as a team, regardless of any personal stats or recognition. They really need to play FAST, SMART, and PHYSICAL - last year's team seemed to get away from the last two of Fedora's objectives as the season wound down.
That said - for whatever reason, there was way too much talent on last year's team (as demonstrated by a solid game in South Bend [in which the "officials" appeared to make several very strange key calls, ball placements, etc in the 4th quarter when the Heels closed the gap]), and the monster win over a solid dook team in Wally Wade Stadium. Somehow the team that took the field against the 'pack and then the sunburned nights in the bowl game, just wasn't the same team that demolished the Blew Devils the week before the W.Rawleigh Tech game.
Whether there was dissension among the players, disenchantment with the coaching, or overconfidence, lack of discipline or desire - whatever! No one is talking (and probably shouldn't be, publicly!) about what went wrong. But whatever the problem - it's gotta be FIXED, and the players wearing the Carolina Blue (or Black, Pink, Purple - whatever!), be they offense, defense, or special teams, need to take the field as a unified, unstoppable TEAM, with only one goal in mind - that being to WIN as a team, regardless of any personal stats or recognition. They really need to play FAST, SMART, and PHYSICAL - last year's team seemed to get away from the last two of Fedora's objectives as the season wound down.
