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UNC offensive line producing Grade A ground beef

Posted on October 7, 2010October 7, 2010 by Staff

By Eddy Landreth, Columnist

Clemson is a fine football team, but this is not the 1981 national championship team. These Tigers are 10th out of 12 ACC teams in rushing defense. UNC is coming off a game in which Johnny White ran for 140 yards and Shaun Draughn 137. That is a total of 263 yards rushing.

Quarterback T.J. Yates threw for another 181 yards and two touchdowns. The Tar Heels defeated East Carolina 42-17.

Successfully running the ball and throwing intermediate passes to H-back Zack Pianalto contributed to a successful running game. Those attributes paved the way for UNC wide receivers to get wide open deep three times for what could have been easy touchdowns.

This is not criticism of Yates. Those are passes he usually throws well, but he probably had so much adrenaline pumping through his body it affected his accuracy. To his credit, what Yates did not do was throw an interception.

“It’s a fraction of a second, a half-of-foot type of deal,” Yates said. “We left three big ones out there.”

Offensive coordinator John Shoop deserves credit for, once in his life, sticking with the running game when it was working and then slipping in the occasional deep pass to shake up the Pirates defense.

All too frequently, one gets a sense that Shoop has to show everyone how smart he is by abandoning the running game when that is what carried the Tar Heels the length of the field. And all too often, the ensuing throws turn into incomplete passes or, worse yet, interceptions.

There is no reason a similar game plan would not work for the Tar Heels (2-2, 0-1 in the ACC) this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against Clemson (2-2, 0-1) at Kenan Stadium. The game will be broadcast on cable network ESPN and ABC.

Carolina’s offensive line is maturing quickly, as it showed by dominating ECU in the second half. Clemson will be tougher to block, but another intelligent game plan that emphasizes rushing will provide help when the Tar Heels do pass.

Clemson is eighth in the ACC in rushing defense, allowing 181 yards per game.

“That is the best thing for the O-linemen,” freshman tackle James Hurst said. “We got a chance to run the ball. We just kept pounding it, and everyone gets more and more excited the more yards we get.”

Keep in mind that the Tar Heels have traditionally lost few games when they run for more than 200 yards.
The intermediate throws to Pianalto were every bit as important as the successful runs. Those intermediate routes provide Yates with a clear target when the opposing secondary is doing all it can to slow UNC’s fast wide receivers.

“At halftime, we said we were going to stick to the game plan,” Yates said. “And our game plan was to come in here and run the ball a whole lot.”

There is an old cliché in football that you ought to dance with the one who brought you. Carolina had better find that old gal and give her another twirl on Saturday.

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