FB: North Carolina 19, Duke 6

[devildeac]

Speaking of which... why do we run the option play, ever? I'm fairly certain we average about negative two yards from it this year.

To set up the pass, of course...

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Next time, get your own ticket (). There were several advantages:

1. the band kept us from having to listen to repeated chants of "tar...heels" by playing loudly
2. the band taught us the cheer is really "tar...holes"
3. the A-buse cheer for a sack by our D
4. V-O with their arms held aloft for a big play by big Vince
5. the "our ball" cheer when their possible fumble was being reviewed
6. A "we want Paulus" cheer after a couple bad plays by their QB.

Our D played fairly well stopping 2 long drives and 1 short drive for FGs and only allowing about 310 yards total. Stopping them once on 3rd and short (or long) on their TD drive plus our inability to put together 2-3 consecutive 1st downs and score a TD when we got the great field position on their 37 once (coupled with that INT) woulda/coulda/shoulda made a huge difference in the game, as in the difference 'tween a loss and a win.

After Wake's near miss, I not sure whether that means they are far better than we think and any more wins for us will be surprises, or it means we have realistic expectations of beating both of them and finishing 7-5. I think Miami becomes much more difficult to beat after their destruction of uva yesterday.

(BTW, Ozzie, "jk" about the seats. I didn't like them much either but we did get a good view of the cheerleaders and the company was pretty good.)

The N&O's photo gallery of the game is a great, quick summary of much of what happened. Our guys did make some really good plays which show up in the pictures. http://www.newsobserver.com/gallerie...ry/181661.html

[OZZIE4DUKE]

(BTW, Ozzie, "jk" about the seats. I didn't like them much either but we did get a good view of the cheerleaders and the company was pretty good.)

The ticket was greatly appreciated! And you're right, our view of the cheerleaders was truly outstanding!

[SharkD]

Maybe I missed it but does anyone know why Snyderwine is not playing today? I think he probably could have made a FG on that last play - would have been nice to tie!

A google search led me to the darkside (by which I mean the lighter shade of blue side):

The answer is in the last paragraph of Coach Cutcliffe's postgame comments, quoted on http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/m...110709aab.html.

"We were fortunate it was as close as it was when it was, and made a decision to go for it on fourth down there on our 35. Snyderwine, I was informed, strained a quad in pregame warm-ups, so that's why Maggio was doing the kicking. I just didn't feel good about trying a kick in that circumstance. I did feel good that we would make it on fourth down but they got their hand on the ball and we didn't successfully complete the fourth down."

[Bob Green]

I'm always sadden by an athlete being injured. Hopefully Shaun Draughn makes a speedy and full recovery:

http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/c...ry/182319.html

Junior Shaun Draughn, UNC's leading rusher, fractured his left shoulder blade on the first play of the game and will miss the rest of the season.

[Udaman]

Make no mistake about it...this was poor coaching. Actually, let me rephrase that - THIS WAS AWFUL COACHING. AWFUL! AWFUL! AWFUL! AWFUL!

Now, I'm a coach Cutliffe fan. I think he makes too much (but so do all Div 1 coaches, really)...but he clearly has a talent for offense, he knows how to motivate, he's a good QB coach. He's a massive upgrade over what we have had in the past, for certain.

But this game...he was brutal. And the loss, really rests on him.

Why?

The last few games (really, our entire season) has shown that we cannot run the ball. We simply can't. We are the worst rushing team just about in Division 1. But...we have a really good QB, we have good receivers, and our line is pretty good at defending for the pass. Now, I know some will say - "You cannot win a game just passing the ball," but in college, I don't believe that. In fact, when you aren't as big and strong as the other guys, the way you win is by mixing it up. You go with an exotic offense (see Wake, or TCU, or Texas Tech). You put 5 WR's on the field (see Spurrier way back with Duke), you try to confuse the defense - because these people are just kids, and they can be confused. And this year, we have actually won games by pretty much just passing (see State, NC).

So - what did we do against UNC? Here's our possession charts

1st Possession (Down 0-3): 1st Down...Rush for 1 yard gain. Next play, clearly had to pass, sack. Next play pass. Then punt

2nd Possession (Down 0-3): Run...4 yard gain. Incomplete pass. Incomplete pass. Punt

3rd Poss: (after great field position due to blocked punt, still down 0-3)...1st down run by Lewis for a 6 yard loss. 2nd down - pass for first down. 1st down...run 1 yard gain. 2nd down incomplete pass. 3rd down 8 yard pass gain. 4th and 1 from their 5 yard line...we go for the field goal. Bad decision, if you ask me...Now tied 3-3

4th Poss: rush for 4 yards...incomplete pass...pass for 1st down. Incomplete pass...rush for 2 yard loss... pass for 6 yards...punt

5th Poss: Pass for 12 yards...rush for no gain...incomplete pass...pass for 9 yards...go for it on 4th and 1 and get it rushing...pass for 3 yards...pass for 3 yards...pass for 7yards...UNC commits penalty...pass for 4 yards...kick a field goal. Tie 6-6

6th poss (start of 2nd half)...rush for 1 yard...rush for 14 yards...rush for 12 yards...pass for 6 yards...incomplete pass...incomplete pass...punt

7th Poss: after penalty gives us 1st and 5...rush for 4 yard gain...rush for 4 yard loss...incomplete pass...punt

8th Poss: (great field position)...run for 1 yards...pass for 4 yards...Interception

9th Poss (down 9-6 now) rush for 1 yard loss...incomplete pass...pass for 7 yards...go for it on 4th down (on their 35 yard line)...incomplete.

Caroline goes down and scores...now down 16-6

10th Poss: Rush for 3 yards...incomplete pass...sack...Punt

11th Poss (now down 19-6)...pass, pass, pass, pass, sack, pass, int


So...if you ignore our final drive, when we were down by 13 and had to pass...we had 9 first downs on drives...and then 10 more posessions where we had the ball first and 10. So that's 19 times we had a choice with what to do on first down...we ran the ball 13 times and passed 6. This with a team that CANNOT run the ball. Why on Earth would we do that? Seriously. Our play calling on 1st down basically guaranteed that we could not and would not win this game...and that falls completely on the coaches.

And when you have 4th and 1 on their 5 yard line in the first half, just down 3-0...YOU GO FOR IT. We are not Florida, playing safe to try and make sure we get the national championship game. We need to act and feel confident and aggressive. Kicking that field goal basically told the other team we were scared, and playing tight.

Here's the stunner to me. We play Georgia Tech this weekend...they are much better than UNC (better offense and defense)...and they are only favored by 10 1/2. Maybe Duke can pull it out...maybe...but the ONLY way will be if we call a spade a spade and basically give up the run - especially on first down.

[Troublemaker]

I have to side with the folks who think we were simply just outmanned and coaching wasn't an issue here. I bet if we had just "passed more" throughout the game, UNC would've beat us much worse. Their defense just has more talent than our offense. It was strength against strength and they were much stronger, with their d-line whipping our o-line and their coverage blanketing our receivers. Cut is doing his best to bring in better talent but, at this point in time, UNC still has appreciably more talent/athletes than Duke. There's no way I can say coaching lost this game.

And regardless of whether you agree or disagree, I'm just happy that Cut came to Duke and has developed a passing game good enough that he is criticized for not using it enough. This is much better than the days when Duke had no strength at all to speak of, in any unit on offense or defense.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

I have to side with the folks who think we were simply just outmanned and coaching wasn't an issue here. I bet if we had just "passed more" throughout the game, UNC would've beat us much worse. Their defense just has more talent than our offense. It was strength against strength and they were much stronger, with their d-line whipping our o-line and their coverage blanketing our receivers. Cut is doing his best to bring in better talent but, at this point in time, UNC still has appreciably more talent/athletes than Duke. There's no way I can say coaching lost this game.

And regardless of whether you agree or disagree, I'm just happy that Cut came to Duke and has developed a passing game good enough that he is criticized for not using it enough. This is much better than the days when Duke had no strength at all to speak of, in any unit on offense or defense.

You've hit the major point to take from Saturday's game. The Carolina players were so much bigger and faster than almost all our guys on both offense and defense; it's amazing there weren't more injuries to Duke players. The improved conditioning of the our players may have helped them stand up to the repeated physical beatings that took place.

Having our place kicker sustain an injury in warm ups also hurt us before the coin was even tossed. Some of the play calling which has been ridiculed from the vantage point of a recliner took place because our place kicker couldn't get out there when we needed him.

The second year of crawling out of the basement is harder than the first. I appreciate the tenacity of our players and coaches and look forward to seeing them play GA Tech Saturday.

[roywhite]

I have to side with the folks who think we were simply just outmanned and coaching wasn't an issue here. I bet if we had just "passed more" throughout the game, UNC would've beat us much worse. Their defense just has more talent than our offense. It was strength against strength and they were much stronger, with their d-line whipping our o-line and their coverage blanketing our receivers. Cut is doing his best to bring in better talent but, at this point in time, UNC still has appreciably more talent/athletes than Duke. There's no way I can say coaching lost this game.

As the saying goes, "It's not about the X's and the O's it's about the Jimmys and the Joes."

My take is the same as Troublemaker. The biggest personnel need IMO, which Coach Cut is trying to address in his recruiting (with some promising steps), is size and strength on the Offensive Line, and also speed and power in the Running Back area.

The quality of coaching for this Duke team is quite good, I think.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

As the saying goes, "It's not about the X's and the O's it's about the Jimmys and the Joes."

My take is the same as Troublemaker. The biggest personnel need IMO, which Coach Cut is trying to address in his recruiting (with some promising steps), is size and strength on the Offensive Line, and also speed and power in the Running Back area.

The quality of coaching for this Duke team is quite good, I think.

I believe Coach Cutcliffe has said he's looking for big guys who fit certain criteria: mobile, agile and hostile.

[Defenserules]

1) Ga Tech is in no way as good as UNC on Defnese. They just aren't....

2) To the person who said Duke's players were lucky they weren't injured more, you clearly have never played or understand college football. The difference in size and speed between the Duke O and the Carolina D. is very small. Those small difference surely effect the outcome of the game, but it wouldn't lead to them "hurting" more players. This is not like a high school team playing UNC, our boys are plenty big to ensure they don't get injuried by the big bad boys from UNC. Very uninformed commment.

3) Finally, if UNC is so unstoppable why are they last in the ACC? Why did UVA destroy them? Why did they need a mircle to beat UConn. We can make ourselves feel better by saying that they are just physically much better than us, but it would be a lie. The match-up wasn't great for sure, but the truth is our guys just didn't execute. If we excute we are more than capable of beating a very mediocre UNC team.