Slept On It (Twice): #UNC's Sloppy Win over #UVA

For the second week in a row I was unfortunate enough to not be able to watch the Carolina football game live due to Pennsylvania's apparent hate towards Chapel Hill. Instead of Pittsburgh Comcast holding up their end of the deal, the Marshall Thundering Herd Snooze fest was on the Fox Sports Affiliate. So I followed along via the Twittershphere and listened to the ball game on the radio (thank you, premium radio) and had to take the analysis a it was fed to me: a mixed bag. This morning I carved out 75 mins and sped watched the ball game and to be honest, was kinda happy I didn't see it live.

What I saw

• One of the more uninspired first halves we've seen from this team in quite some time. Carolina allowed an overmatched, and frankly not great, UVA squad to move the ball at will  and was completely predictable on offense, in the first half. UVA did an excellent job of keeping the Tar Heel defense off balance by showing a bunch of looks that we haven't seen from the Hoos yet this year. What concerned me the most about this game is if we had played any other team in the coastal, we would have lost the ballgame. 
• Sloppy Play on Both Sides Landon Turner was adamant about how sloppy he thought the offense was on Saturday and I couldn't agree more. Quise missed some easy shots, receivers dropped balls and the offensive line missed assignments. On defense, this sloppy play was really limited to the first half as Carolina forced 4 second half Wahoo turnovers. UVA moved the ball pretty well on Saturday by giving the ball to Smoke Mizzel in space. The front seven came alive in the second half as the linebacker's racked up tackles and the defensive line got after the quarterback. While the defensive line has a long way to go from where it needs to be, it was nice to watch the pass rush force a couple of those second half turnovers.
• Elijah Hood continues to impress. Behind a much improved offensive line, Elijah Hood continued to show us why he's the best running back Carolina's had since Natrone Means. I think there was one play when Hood went down on first contact. Otherwise, UVA needed 3 or 4 defenders to bring down the Bull. Carolina's gonna need a steady dose of Elite Elijah the rest of the season as Carolina closes against 4 physical teams. 
• Carolina's 2nd Half Defense has been lights out While this defense is far from reaching it's potential under Gene Chizik, we did witness another great performance in team defense in the second half Saturday night. Carolina's given up a total of 45 points total in second halves this past season; a far cry from 2013 and 2014. Shutting out UVA this past weekend was another step in the right direction.
• Carolina's Defensive Line is Banged Up - Carolina's defensive line has taken a beating over the past few weeks with the likes of Mikey Bart, Nazair Jones, Dajuan Drennon, Jeremiah Clarke and Tyler Powell all missing either games or significant snaps due to nagging injuries. Nazair Jones hasn't seen action since he was viciously chop blocked by Georgia Tech almost a month ago but the coaching staff is hopeful he can suit up this upcoming week. Carolina will need all able bodies against this physical Pitt Offensive Line which I think is one of the best in the conference. 

Carolina did what it needed to win... against UVA. By no means will Saturday's play equate to wins down the stretch. Up next is Carolina's toughest ballgame of the year, a trip to Pittsburgh. I look forward to studying up on the college team of my current town and taking care of biz on Thursday.

Go Heels.

WFP