The UNC offense was stagnant against Virginia Tech. Here’s how the Tar Heels can fix it
It was all good just a week ago for North Carolina football. The possibilities seemed endless, with a top 10 national ranking, and a potential Heisman Trophy campaign looming for quarterback Sam Howell.
The Tar Heels’ 17-10 loss at Virginia Tech deflated some of the grand visions of a special season in Chapel Hill. UNC coach Mack Brown vowed the Heels wouldn’t just stick to the script as they prepare to face Georgia State in their home opener on Saturday.
“You don’t let one game beat you twice, but you also can’t sit around and act like it’s okay,” Brown said. “It’s not okay.”
The Heels’ offense has the most adjusting to do, because their performance was the most disappointing. Their 10 points scored was the fewest since Brown’s return to UNC, and their lowest output since a 47-10 loss to Miami on Sept. 27, 2018.
Brown said their offense is predicated on completing deep passes to open up space for everything else they want to run. They didn’t connect on anything deep against the Hokies — Josh Down’s 37-yard scoring reception came off flat pass five yards behind the line of scrimmage.
The two areas in which UNC receivers have to improve are gaining separation from defenders, and making contested catches. Sophomore Justin Olson had a ball taken from him by VT cornerback Jermaine Waller as both claimed possession while falling to the ground.
“To run this offense the way we want to, we’ve got to hit the deep ball,” Brown said. “And we didn’t get that, and you got to. I mean, that’s who we are. You’re gonna throw it deep, you’re gonna spread people out. You’re gonna give more running room for your running backs and Josh. Right now, people are just gonna double team Josh and play man outside, so we’ve got to have somebody else step up.”
Brown was pleased with his running backs and said he thought Ty Chandler, who led the team with 66 yards on 10 carries, got more comfortable as the game progressed. But Brown said he’d like to see them get the ball more, utilizing them in flares and screen plays.
Communication issues hampered the offensive line. Some of that was due to the Lane Stadium crowd noise, which made it difficult for the line to hear pre-snap reads. Some of it was due to players taking on new roles.
Quiron Johnson started at center in place of Brian Anderson, who is still working his way back from injury. Asim Richards and Josh Ezeudu swapped places on the line with Richards moving inside to left guard and Ezeudu moving out to left tackle.
Offensive coordinator Phil Longo pointed out on the Heels’ final play, when Howell was intercepted while under pressure and trying to throw the ball away, there was supposed to be a guard pulling to protect him. Right guard Marcus McKethan mistakenly pulled to the left side.
“This week really for us, regardless of who we’re playing, is going to be a lot more about us maintaining our focus and minimizing mistakes on an individual basis so that we can just execute and go do what we do well,” Longo said.
Brown warned his players to stay off social media because of the harsh criticism that was sure to come. He also joked that reporters who vote on the polls would now claim they knew the Heels were ranked too high.
The silver lining from the loss, Brown said, is that the Heels now know exactly what they need to correct.
“If we had played a poor team at home and blown them out, you probably don’t fix things,” Brown said. “So shame we lost, but probably the best thing to happen to us, we’re not the 10th best team in the country, we got back down to earth, we got a lot of work to do, (but) our program’s still ahead of what it should be.”
This story was originally published September 6, 2021 at 3:36 PM with the headline "The UNC offense was stagnant against Virginia Tech. Here’s how the Tar Heels can fix it."