In what looked to be a great start regarding ACC play, the Canes crapped the bed in the final minutes, allowing some big plays from the Heels and surrendering 14 points in the final quarter.
Miami’s defense folded late while the oft-criticized offensive playcalling again went conservative and reactive, instead of assertive and confident.
Butch Davis again outcoached Randy Shannon, rallying his troops late and keeping the score close late. This marks the second straight week a back up quarterback outsmarted Bill Young and his defense.
Patrick Nix began his attempt at running out the clock with 9:00 left on the game clock. Over the next two drives, six of eight play calls were handoffs to Graig Cooper. Not once did he test North Carolina’s defense, choosing the conservative route and relying on ball control.
Robert Marve provided some fireworks – right down to a potential game-winning pass that Kanye Farquharson couldn’t snag in the final seconds. Marve finished 18 of 27 with three touchdowns and two interceptions, the final one coming on the last play of the game.
Marve hit the ground running, throwing for two first quarter touchdowns before Shannon and staff gave way to Jacory Harris in the second quarter. Harris again looked shaky out the gate, pulled it together, finished 4 of 6 on the day – but in no way did the true freshman show the poise of #9. Marve didn’t regain his mojo until early in the fourth quarter, which is precisely when the Canes defense fell into a lull and was a non-factor for the duration of the game.
Who’d have though Young’s defense’s best outing would’ve been in Gainesville three week ago?
Kudos to UNC for weathering the storm and stealing a win behind the arm of a junior quarterback who attempted one pass in 2007 and was 3 for 8 with two interceptions in a loss against Virginia Tech last week. After blowing a 17-3 lead against the Hokies, the Heels rallied from the same deficit to spring a comeback against the Canes in what many predicted would be a defensive battle.
It’s back to the drawing board for Shannon and staff. Nix is going to hear it – deservedly – for his conservative playcalling, while Young’s defense is now responsible for back-to-back, late game collapses.
A young Miami team was expected to have its share of rookie mistakes this season.
To have so many occur in a ‘redemption’ game at home with a late 24-14 lead – it’s simply unacceptable.
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Positives: Robert Marve is the real deal...he has all the tools to be a good college QB. Great to see that! I think the overall talent of the team is much improved.
Negatives: The team just isn't mature yet physically/mentally to compete against teams filled with juniors and seniors.
This loss falls not one singular person/coordinator. I don't understand how Bill Young can decide to keep blitzing play, after play, after play, and not expect to get beat deep on at least a few plays a game. That's Bill Young and Coach Shannon needs to step in and tell Young he can't rely on the blitz schemes 100% of the time.
what's up chris, my name is brian, I've been reading your blogs since last year dude, keep up the good work.
that said, this game leaves me so clueless, I might as well be a 18 year old blonde who doesn't know which outfit to wear to school. I am completely dumbfounded by what I saw the last 2 quarters of this game.
inserting jacory Harris in the second quarter is beyond reality, and I've yet to understand why the hell he enters when marve is on a roll and getting into his groove. he throws 2 tds And we yank his ass? unacceptable.
the playcalling once again, the color of vanilla was oozing on almost every play. UNC read us as if they had our actual playbook. our coatches were clearly outcoached
once again and this one really hurt.
I can't even stomach the fact that with under a minute to play we finally started to see throws down the field.
w/e the only thing that makes me happy right now is that the turds lost.
Unfortunately, i think we are beginning to see a pattern. We aren't finishing games and thats gonna hit us where it hurts. With games to go against FSU, GT, VT and Wake we could end up having some major problems. I'm hoping that with FSU well be able to win solely on the premise that they dont have a capable QB in the backfield but the rest of those games scare the hell out of me.
I dont want to say it, but is there a feeling of dejavu with anyone else? I mean all this looks eerily similar. A nice win against a sub div opponent, a somewhat lopsided loss against a top ranked out of conference opponent, then a big win over a declining aTm, then a heart breaking loss to the Tar Heels. I know we have a better team this yr, but still, all this seems so damn familiar.
Dont get me wrong, im by NO means throwing in the towel, however, with the youth we have on this team and the inability to win conference games at home(dating back to last season), im afraid this season could go south really quick. These guys HAVE to respond in a BIG way next weekend. The game against FSU was already circled, but now, i feel the rest of the season rides on that game.
at least FLA lost because we prob took a serious recruiting hit today
Can some one please let Randy Shannon know that every time he brings Harris in the game early, it totally destroys our offensive rythymn. Man that game was horrible, I am so tired of losing games like this!! I need some heart medication!!
" the oft-criticized offensive playcalling again went conservative and reactive"
Indeed.
The offensive play calling sucked.
What was the reasoning behind running Cooper up the middle 3 straight times with 4 minutes remaining in the game?
Its sad that such a talent-rich offense has such a terrible coach. Patrick Nix really doesn't belong at the U. I'll support him for the rest of the season, but I really hope Randy axes him unless things drastically turn around. I feel bad for the players who are being held back by this totally unqualified coordinator.
this was a fantastic game with a few, playcalling issues offensively and defensively, this a very good young team and when we went down 28-24 w/ 46 sec left the offense showed some heart even a pass in the endzone that should of been caught. now nix is at it again with the conservative playcalling the drive before that on third and long knowing unc has one more time out why not play action or something other than run up the middle. and lets not get started on why in the world jacory was put in when marve was hot that just blew my mind and jacory really struggled. man a up and down game, and what looks like a great team in the making
IMO game changer was when Marve was taken out in the first half for Harris to come in. To me they didnt seem the same the rest of the game..
Nix should be fired. This guy does not belong at the U. Next, Shannon obviously has something going on with Jacory - he had to have promised him playing time. There was no reason (other than that) to put him in the game. This is garbage!