Now that we’ve had some time to sit back and digest (aka sleep lol) what happened yesterday, here are my biggest takeaways from North Carolina’s 24-20 victory over South Carolina.
- After a tough couple of early drives, UNC’s defense adjusted & looked the part.
We’ve mentioned it before, but Jay Bateman’s group gave up 166 yards on its first 16 plays but responded by only allowing the Gamecocks’ offense to gain 137 yards over their final 45. That’s a huge turnaround for a defense that had so many questions marks (at least in my opinion) heading into this game.
- Between Beau Corrales, Dyami Brown, Antonio Williams & Myles Wolfolk just to name a few, players stepped up & made plays when it mattered most.
Corrales caught the game-winning TD, his only reception of the game. Brown said he’s expecting a breakout year from himself in 2019 and showed glimpses of it last night, particularly with the one-handed “how in the world did he manage to do that” TD catch he snagged at the beginning of the 4th quarter. Three of Williams’ four runs on the night came on the drive that Brown caught his TD pass, cutting the Gamecocks’ lead to 20-17 after the Sam Howell two-point conversion. Wolfolk had two INT’s late in the game that helped seal the victory. He only had two INT’s all of last season and helped introduce the Dré Bly inspired “turnover belt” to the world.
That’s just a few players but you get the point. Guys made plays when their number was called and that’s what it takes to win ball games. We rarely saw that happen over the last couple of years.
- Sam Howell is a gamer.
The UNC staff eased him into the game early on, choosing to run the ball - particularly in the red zone - in the first half. This led to nothing but a FG party and, wait, did I forget to mention Noah Ruggles? He’s another player that stepped up who hadn’t played much football before yesterday. Credit to him for keeping UNC within touching distance.
Now, back to the topic. Howell looked a completely different player when he was allowed more freedom to throw the ball. He also did a great job of using his legs to get outside the pocket and keep plays alive, surviving some big hits along the way. Howell will have to learn to go down more often, something he admitted in his postgame interview, in order to protect his body but, overall, the true freshman really took over in the 4th quarter and showed that he’s a true gamer.
- Lastly, players, coaches and fans believe more than they have in a long time.
You could just sense it in the final few moments and afterwards during postgame interviews. Mack Brown was as animated as I’ve ever seen him, players were smiling and yelling as they headed down the tunnel and were cracking jokes during postgame interviews. Sure, this is what you expect after a big win but I haven’t personally seen that kind of energy around the football program in a long time. It’s refreshing to see and hopefully the Tar Heels can keep the momentum alive next weekend against Miami.
Get your takeaways in below if you have any others and let me know what you think about what I wrote above. Thanks for reading and hope everyone has a great Sunday!
- Jacob
- After a tough couple of early drives, UNC’s defense adjusted & looked the part.
We’ve mentioned it before, but Jay Bateman’s group gave up 166 yards on its first 16 plays but responded by only allowing the Gamecocks’ offense to gain 137 yards over their final 45. That’s a huge turnaround for a defense that had so many questions marks (at least in my opinion) heading into this game.
- Between Beau Corrales, Dyami Brown, Antonio Williams & Myles Wolfolk just to name a few, players stepped up & made plays when it mattered most.
Corrales caught the game-winning TD, his only reception of the game. Brown said he’s expecting a breakout year from himself in 2019 and showed glimpses of it last night, particularly with the one-handed “how in the world did he manage to do that” TD catch he snagged at the beginning of the 4th quarter. Three of Williams’ four runs on the night came on the drive that Brown caught his TD pass, cutting the Gamecocks’ lead to 20-17 after the Sam Howell two-point conversion. Wolfolk had two INT’s late in the game that helped seal the victory. He only had two INT’s all of last season and helped introduce the Dré Bly inspired “turnover belt” to the world.
That’s just a few players but you get the point. Guys made plays when their number was called and that’s what it takes to win ball games. We rarely saw that happen over the last couple of years.
- Sam Howell is a gamer.
The UNC staff eased him into the game early on, choosing to run the ball - particularly in the red zone - in the first half. This led to nothing but a FG party and, wait, did I forget to mention Noah Ruggles? He’s another player that stepped up who hadn’t played much football before yesterday. Credit to him for keeping UNC within touching distance.
Now, back to the topic. Howell looked a completely different player when he was allowed more freedom to throw the ball. He also did a great job of using his legs to get outside the pocket and keep plays alive, surviving some big hits along the way. Howell will have to learn to go down more often, something he admitted in his postgame interview, in order to protect his body but, overall, the true freshman really took over in the 4th quarter and showed that he’s a true gamer.
- Lastly, players, coaches and fans believe more than they have in a long time.
You could just sense it in the final few moments and afterwards during postgame interviews. Mack Brown was as animated as I’ve ever seen him, players were smiling and yelling as they headed down the tunnel and were cracking jokes during postgame interviews. Sure, this is what you expect after a big win but I haven’t personally seen that kind of energy around the football program in a long time. It’s refreshing to see and hopefully the Tar Heels can keep the momentum alive next weekend against Miami.
Get your takeaways in below if you have any others and let me know what you think about what I wrote above. Thanks for reading and hope everyone has a great Sunday!
- Jacob
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