Chizik's men

[TarHeelNation11]

Played one HELL of a game last night. The secondary was faced with a very tall task and they came through big time, especially Lawrence who looked like former Pitt player Darrelle Revis last night. Donnie Miles also had a really nice game and M.J. Stewart did some nice things.

Overall, LB's did a good job. Still gave up a few too many big gainers when Peterman decided to tuck it and run (he had acres of space a couple times) but they did bring the wood like they have been all season. There was some solid hitting going on last night.

D-Line was able to get more pressure than they have been (still need to improve greatly on this) and pick up a few sacks as well as hurry Peterman and force him to throw it away or make bad throws.

The possible turning point of the game was the HUGE red zone stop when Pitt took over after that blocked punt. If they had scored a TD there to cut it to 10, it could've gotten dicey. But they stood tall and kept Pitt out of the endzone. Excellent, excellent job by the defense last night. You'll have nights where your offense just can't put it together and the defense will have to step up (and vice versa) and the D did a good job of having the offense's back. We are night and day different from last year. Just wow.

 

[heelbent]

Secondary was outstanding.

 

[WoadBlue]

This team is where it is because of the D. The improvement is amazing. The D did more than enough to beat SoCar - our 1 oss is 100% on the offense.

After last year, that seems an impossibility to even think. But it is real.

 

[gteeitup]

not only are they covering better, but they are way more physical than they've been, maybe in the last 20 years.

so happy to have defense that keeps us in games...who would've thought that scoring 27 a game can win games under fedora?

 

[nolegeorge]

Give it a couple of years with solid recruiting and you all better get used to being ranked .... I dont see another team beating UNC this year ... so Im going to say you end up in the ACC championship game vs Clemson .... then you can expect a high profile bowl game ... I hope you guys travel well! Hell I hope you guys play in Orlando lol

And what about next year? Your schedule is off the charts ... and you return a lot. Its going to be a nice run for UNC and the Defensive turn around will have started it all.

 

[SeaHawk98]

UNC's D won the last games. Great playing Kind of makes you wonder who is more valuable to the program, Fedora or Chizik

 

[WoadBlue]

Give it a couple of years with solid recruiting and you all better get used to being ranked .... I dont see another team beating UNC this year ... so Im going to say you end up in the ACC championship game vs Clemson .... then you can expect a high profile bowl game ... I hope you guys travel well! Hell I hope you guys play in Orlando lol

And what about next year? Your schedule is off the charts ... and you return a lot. Its going to be a nice run for UNC and the Defensive turn around will have started it all.

It almost always is improvement on D that gets things going.

 

[6666Heel]

It almost always is improvement on D that gets things going.

Tell that to BC. It's still a team game - and you need all 3 phases to be respectable to really make a difference. Last yr's defense was quite young, undersized and ultimately the coaches were unable to really cope with the situation. With a couple changes, we still have the same players, who are now a year older, both physically and maturity wise - and more importantly have more highly qualified coaches on that side of the ball who are able to train and motivate those players to be all that they can be (to borrow a very appropriate slogan) and to play as a TEAM.

Can't say enough positive about the coaching job which Coach Chizik is being credited with - but I wonder how much of that credit really goes to the other "D" assistants. They too appear to be a very effective TEAM. We're very fortunate right now to have the coaching staff we have - all areas. I strongly suspect that come end of season, we're going to be looking to fill some gaps for some of these guys, who will receive very offers which promise to significant upgrade both level of responsibility and compensation. Hopefully Bubba and LF can minimize the losses by improved compensation and other incentives, and continue to find highly qualified and motivated replacements for those that do leave.

 

[nolegeorge]

UNC's D won the last games. Great playing Kind of makes you wonder who is more valuable to the program, Fedora or Chizik

For a lot of the top teams, the head coach wouldnt have the success without solid assistants ... the combination of those two brings a lot to the table.