
{"id":21749,"date":"2011-11-03T12:47:20","date_gmt":"2011-11-03T16:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=21749"},"modified":"2011-11-03T12:47:21","modified_gmt":"2011-11-03T16:47:21","slug":"heels-zero-in-on-wolfpack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2011\/11\/03\/heels-zero-in-on-wolfpack\/","title":{"rendered":"Heels zero in on Wolfpack"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2011\/08\/18\/support-the-players-by-filling-kenan-stadium\/landreth-mug-30\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-20318\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/landreth-mug1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"landreth-mug\" width=\"100\" height=\"134\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-20318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/landreth-mug1.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/landreth-mug1-84x113.jpg 84w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/landreth-mug1-74x100.jpg 74w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/><\/a><strong>By Eddy Landreth<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><br \/>\nAs the UNC football team ran to the locker room following a 49-24 victory against Wake Forest last Saturday, someone associated with the team yelled the question of the season.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Can we beat [friggin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122] State?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>He actually yelled it quite loudly and several times \u00e2\u20ac\u201c with emphasis.<\/p>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a question interim coach Everett Withers is anxious to get answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Right after that ball game on Saturday, we started getting ready for this one,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Withers said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important for us. I grew up a Carolina fan. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a Carolina guy. I never once thought about N.C. State.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Withers said this is the kind of game that makes college football so special.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153College football needs rivalries,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Withers said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to have rivalries in your state. <\/p>\n<p>Senior defensive tackle Tydreke Powell said the players know the score, and right now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Wolfpack 4, UNC 0.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There is no doubt everybody gets it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Powell said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Carolina hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t won in four years. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be a great battle.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>UNC could use a repeat of quarterback Bryn Renner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s performance against the Deacons. He had his best day as a Tar Heel, completing 21 of 28 passes for 338 yards and three touchdowns. He did not throw an interception.<\/p>\n<p>He read his progressions well and took advantage of the short routes that were open, utilizing the athletic skills of his backs and wide receivers.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I believe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a matter of Bryn getting to those [shorter] routes,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Withers said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Those routes have been there all year long. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the maturation process of a young quarterback: You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to throw it 80 yards down the field.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Hitting those shorter routes is also an efficient way to avoid throwing interceptions. Renner has now thrown 19 touchdowns and nine interceptions. With his uncanny accuracy, he is capable of improving that ratio by season\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s end.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The quarterback needs to be the point guard out there and get the ball in their hands,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Renner said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I try to do that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Maybe what helped Renner more than anything, though, was the continued success of redshirt freshman running back Giovani Bernard, who gained 154 yards on 27 carries against Wake Forest.<\/p>\n<p>Bernard took some vicious hits, including a helmet-to-helmet blow that left him on the ground for a few moments. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He got drilled a lot of times,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Withers said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gio is a special, special player. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s competitor. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quiet. He just does his job. We never ask these guys to be superman, but Gio has a little something about him.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Bernard rushed for two touchdowns and scored one on a reception. He has now rushed for 965 yards this season on 168 carries. His 11 rushing touchdowns are the most by a Tar Heel since Leon Johnson scored 12 in 1995.<\/p>\n<p>His reception for a score gives him 12 TDs overall, tops in the ACC.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He can do it all,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Renner said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He caught the ball out of the backfield. He made great runs. He made one at the end of the game, a 54-yard run that was amazing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for the moment of truth \u00e2\u20ac\u201c at N.C. State.<\/p>\n<p>And the question remains the same: Can the Tar Heels beat the Wolfpack?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the UNC football team ran to the locker room following a 49-24 victory against Wake Forest last Saturday, someone associated with the team yelled the question of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":20318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[431],"class_list":["post-21749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21749"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21751,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21749\/revisions\/21751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}