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The key to this season

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.
 
^ solid points @6666Heel.

I'm telling y'all, I just don't think teamwork and a united front will be an issue this season. The new coaches will demand accountability, focus, and effort; and players not exhibiting any of those traits will see their playing time disappear completely.

Very excited to see the change in attitude and focus in this year's team versus last year's. W's and L's may be no different, but I expect a much improved effort game in and game out.
 
The improvement that is a must is OL and DL play. Plain in simple. I love the idea of running the ball more like THnation talks about. But OL was terrible at run blocking. Which is sad considering we probally have one of the best set of RBs in the ACC. To me the reason we ran MW to me was it gave our OL help with having a lead blocker in our really good RBs. With no FBs on our roster. I would like to have a really good blocking TE motion into the backfield to lead the was for the RBs. Question is did we have one our team last year? If so,this would only make the play calling look worst. And more importantly do we have one on our roster this year. I think this would help big time. And as far as the DL. It's simple to get push on run plays to allow the LBs to flow and make the plays. And get some pressure on the QB on pass plays. This game has always been simple. Win the line of scrimmage.you win the game.
 
Split backs would provide a lead blocker and make the most of the 1-2 punch of Logan and Hood
 
Oh I agree with u totally on you last post about the FB and TE THNation. I'm just trying to answer why MW ran so much last year. I just think with the bad OL play last year and the need to have a lead blocker to have any type of running game. If you look back to last year. Whenever we just turned and handed the ball to one of our backs. Not a lot of long runs due to no holes to run through. Now Hood looked ok at times for the fact he made his own hole. We haven't really ran the ball well since Feds first year. Yeah we had Gio. But that OL made a lot of hole big enough to drive cars through. I mean didn't most of that group if not all get drafted.
 
Something to chew on:

Under Withers/Shoop in 2011, UNC averaged 139 rushing ypg and 4.1 ypc. The offensive line starters were Hurst, Cooper, Holland, Bond, and Williams. Gio Bernard started at RB and got 54% of the team's carries. UNC ran a pro-style offense.

Under Fedora/Anderson in 2012, UNC averaged 194 rushing ypg and 5.1 ypc. The offensive line starters were Hurst, Cooper, Bodine, Bond, and Williams. Gio Bernard started at RB got 40% of the team's carries (missed the Wake and Louisville games). UNC ran a spread offense.

The only change in the lineups was at Center. I'm not making an argument in favor of either style of offense*. As Fedora often says, it's simply a matter of lining up and beating the guy in front of you. Our offensive line rarely did that last season.

* Although these numbers suggest that the spread can be just as effective as a pro-style offense, even accounting for player improvement between the two seasons.
 
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This ^

O-Line gets some blame but the play calling and decision-making were problematic
. . . and if the qb cannot properly read the defense to help the OL then you got big problems. The game is too fast to be in the wrong OL scheme. It was a major problem last year and when combined with some bad play calling made us look bad.
 
. . . and if the qb cannot properly read the defense to help the OL then you got big problems. The game is too fast to be in the wrong OL scheme. It was a major problem last year and when combined with some bad play calling made us look bad.

Ding, ding, ding. It is false that Wiliams ran all the time because there was 0 blocking. We had no backup C, so when Crowley was out, Ds plowed through the middle at will. Other than that, our OL, though making many mistakes common to young and inexperienced OLs, was average. If our OL were as bad as many think, at least when they wish to exonerate Willliams for running too much, then he woud have picked up maybe half the yards he did with the same number of carries.

Williams ran all the time for 2 main reasons: 1) many called runs and 2) because his instinct is to tuck and run, and he could not read Ds well, especially in the passing game. Williams failed to try to pass to quite a few open receivers because rather than make the read patiently and/or make it correctly, he pulled the ball down and ran.
 
We had no backup C, so when Crowley was out, Ds plowed through the middle at will.
Crowley started 11 of 13 games. He got injured in the UVA game and missed Miami, but he was back for Pitt. So he was out 1.5 games total. While we struggled in his absence, that's hardly a representative example of the O line problems we had all season.

If our OL were as bad as many think... then he woud have picked up maybe half the yards he did with the same number of carries.
We averaged 4.0 ypc with one of the deepest and most talented RB corps in the ACC. That was 9th in the conference and 86th nationally. Every returning rusher -- Williams, Logan, Morris, and Francis -- saw a decline in their ypc average from the preceding year. The O line was as every bit as bad as advertised.

Williams ran all the time for 2 main reasons: 1) many called runs....
There were very, very few called QB runs. The overwhelming majority of his runs came out of the read-option, because he was doing exactly what he was supposed to do. When the end crashed down on the RB, Quise kept the ball. Most every opponent chose to take away the RBs and let MW try to beat them, which he often did.

2) because his instinct is to tuck and run, and he could not read Ds well, especially in the passing game.
I agree on this point, although I think you've got it backwards. It's his difficulty reading defenses that results in him having to tuck and run, not instinct. The guy has sat in the pocket and taken more abuse than any UNC QB I can remember since Matt Baker (who I was pretty sure had been killed during the Wisconsin game).
 
Matt Baker.....geez that was some rough times for Carolina Football. I remember sitting in Bobby Dodd Stadium -- AKA Tar Heel House of Horrors Stadium -- in some hot, hot heat, watching the Jackets crush us that year.

IIRC, Baker actually led us on a mini-comeback that fell short. I think we had the ball with a chance to tie (down 8 I want to say), but the drive sputtered out.
 
This is a nice piece of research by Andrea Adelson:

"That [fast offensive] tempo worked best, though, with an effective run game and a healthy O-line: In seven games last year with all five starting OL, the Heels averaged 181.3 yards rushing."

Here's the bad news. Those seven games were against some of the worst rushing defenses in the nation: Virginia (18th nationally and the only respectable entry), Pittsburgh (55), Georgia Tech (62), Moo U (65), Notre Dame (72), dook (92), and Rutgers (106).
 
This is a nice piece of research by Andrea Adelson:

"That [fast offensive] tempo worked best, though, with an effective run game and a healthy O-line: In seven games last year with all five starting OL, the Heels averaged 181.3 yards rushing."

Here's the bad news. Those seven games were against some of the worst rushing defenses in the nation: Virginia (18th nationally and the only respectable entry), Pittsburgh (55), Georgia Tech (62), Moo U (65), Notre Dame (72), dook (92), and Rutgers (106).
And....of the rushing yards gained at Virginia, like 55 of them came on one Marquise TD run.
 
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