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Tar Heels Knock off TCU in Dublin Opener
Coach Belichick and the Tar Heels are starting the 26-27 season off with a 15-10 win of the TCU Horned Frogs in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. The torrential rain played a big factor in the pacing of this one.There were numerous plays where either open receivers fell down or got open because the DB fell down, due to the wet field. Billy Edwards Jr was able to out duel hot shot Harvard transfer Jaden Craig in what was a slug fest of a contest.
The Tar Heels offense looks completely different under Bobby Petrino compared to what we saw last season, if you know what to look for. Counters, screens, disguised formations, and even some new blocking schemes are some of the differences I saw from last year. Now, obviously, most if not all offenses run those kinds of plays, but the way it was done against TCU was certainly new to the Heels under Bill Belichick.
Jelani Thruman was easily the best player on offense for the Carolina. Thurman had 4 catches for 94 yards, and it felt like all 4 of them were in very clutch situations. Thurman had the most receiving yards, but WR1 Jordan Shipp led the way in receptions with 5 for 71 yards. Benjamin Hall got the start in the backfield for the Heels but went down in the first half with an injury. Per sources, Hall is not 100 percent, but is expected to play against ETSU, even if it may be limited. Hall had 11 carries for 36 yards, McGill had 5 carries for 33 yards, and a TD, and Demon June had 6 carries for 25 yards.
Billy Edwards had a couple of nice runs as well, but ended up with -4 rushing yards due to sacks. Edwards went 16/28 on the day with 232 yards thru the air and a rushing long of 11. Edwards wasn’t amazing, and frankly, the coaching staff isn’t asking him to be. On more than one occasion, I find myself impressed with Edwards vision in the pocket, but especially his awareness and mobility in the pocket. Certainly a few shades of Tom Brady in his performance Saturday, but Edwards still has plenty of room for improvement. He had more three passes that I counted that would have been completions if Edwards had not thrown them late.
The biggest concern I have coming out of this one is easily the offensive line. The Carolina OL had a great deal of trouble at multiple points picking up disguised and delayed blitzes, especially coming out of the secondary. As a result, I expect to see opposing teams do exactly that moving forward this season until the Heels can prove they can stop it.
Another concern I have is the specialist group, specifically, Aeron Burrell. Burrell, a transfer from LSU, did a phenomenal job on Saturday against the Horned Frogs in emergency punt duty. Starting punter Jacob Horvath missed the contest due to an unreported injury. Burrell went 2/3 on field goal attempts, made his lone extra point attempt, and punted 3 times for an average of 41.7 yards per punt.
My final major concern is offensive efficiency. Despite over 300 yards of total offense and 20 first downs, Carolina was an abysmal 3/11 on 3rd down in Dublin. Redzone efficiency also continues to be as major struggle for Bobby Petrino as a play caller. The Tar Heels had only one touchdown in the redzone on Saturday. Despite all these concerns, the key to this one turned out to be discipline. The Tar Heels were penalized only 3 times against TCU. This is the fewest in a UNC season opener since at least 1996.
All things considered, this was a great win for UNC. There was a massive amount of noise in the media all off-season about trouble in the UNC football program under Coach Belichick. It’s just one game, but it was certainly a statement win. Up next, the Tar Heels have their first bye week, alarmingly early in the season. The week off should give the Carolina program time to readjust back on campus after spending the week over in Ireland. Following the bye, Carolina will play its home opener at Kenan Stadium against the ETSU Bucs out of the SoCon. Kickoff will be at noon on the ACC Network.
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