UNC Football Catch-all | Bill Belichick Era underway

[Zoo_View]

Interesting that we fired the OC for poor performance but did not fire the DC but putting forth a defensive product that was likewise abysmal. Can’t quite put my finger on the difference between the two guys but it’ll come to me soon. Come to think of it, I wonder why we didn’t fire the QB coach who is making $700K to put forth a quarterback who was a significant contributor to the offense sucking enough to warrant the OC being fired.

It is quite the puzzle.

 

[farce©]

The team went 1-3 after that rousing locker room speech.

 

[fuheel]

Interesting that we fired the OC for poor performance but did not fire the DC but putting forth a defensive product that was likewise abysmal. Can’t quite put my finger on the difference between the two guys but it’ll come to me soon. Come to think of it, I wonder why we didn’t fire the QB coach who is making $700K to put forth a quarterback who was a significant contributor to the offense sucking enough to warrant the OC being fired.

We obviously had an incredibly poor year across the board, but there was significant statistical difference in how the O performed vs how the D performed. I haven't seen a lot of discussion about the need to change up the coaching staff on defense, and they generally seemed well (or competently) coached on that side of the ball.

 

[GoHeelsweeeehoooo]

As to the QB coach - Im waiting to see what happens when we hire an OC - that person might have a QB coach he will want to bring in - or maybe the OC will also coach QBs and the current QB coach will get reassigned or let go

 

[heel79]

We obviously had an incredibly poor year across the board, but there was significant statistical difference in how the O performed vs how the D performed. I haven't seen a lot of discussion about the need to change up the coaching staff on defense, and they generally seemed well (or competently) coached on that side of the ball.

Defense was fine. Especially given the time control issue with our offense unable to sustain drives. We wore down late in several games. I'm think it will turn out Steve Belichick is a good DC.

 

[CFordUNC]

We obviously had an incredibly poor year across the board, but there was significant statistical difference in how the O performed vs how the D performed. I haven't seen a lot of discussion about the need to change up the coaching staff on defense, and they generally seemed well (or competently) coached on that side of the ball.

The primary reason we haven’t seen discussion about a need to change up the coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball is because 40% of the coaches on that side of the ball have the same last name and the paternal DNA of the head coach. The unit overall had horrible defensive efficiency metrics for most of the season, and the only time in which it looked remotely competent was against the worst team in P4 in Stanford, a Syracuse team playing a true freshman walk on lacrosse player at quarterback, and against UVA (props to them- that was a good performance). They were otherwise bad to dreadful. They gave up the most yardage and the highest YPC against a terrible Wake Forest offense that they had amassed all season outside of playing Western Carolina. It was a very poor defense overall this season.

I’m not even necessarily advocating that we should make any coaching changes on that side of the ball, but pointing out the hilarity of the fact that two of Belichick’s sons and one of Lombardi’s sons are somehow immune to having their poor job performances questioned by the head coach.

 

[CFordUNC]

Defense was fine. Especially given the time control issue with our offense unable to sustain drives. We wore down late in several games. I'm think it will turn out Steve Belichick is a good DC.

Eh, I don’t really know about that. We didn’t wear down late in the TCU, UCF, Clemson, and NC State games. Those were defensive catastrophes well before late in the game. That’s a third of the season right there, and another other third of the season we were playing Charlotte, Richmond, Stanford, and Syracuse- all horribly bad offenses. The defense played decently well against Cal, and played very well against Virginia. But that’s only two games out of a 12 game season.

My point is that the offense was atrocious, for sure, but the defense was objectively bad in its own right, yet the only changes we are seeing are on the offensive side of the ball, which I find fascinating.

 

[uncjhodges]

Eh, I don’t really know about that. We didn’t wear down late in the TCU, UCF, Clemson, and NC State games. Those were defensive catastrophes well before late in the game. That’s a third of the season right there, and another other third of the season we were playing Charlotte, Richmond, Stanford, and Syracuse- all horribly bad offenses. The defense played decently well against Cal, and played very well against Virginia. But that’s only two games out of a 12 game season.

My point is that the offense was atrocious, for sure, but the defense was objectively bad in its own right, yet the only changes we are seeing are on the offensive side of the ball, which I find fascinating.

I don’t find it fascinating. I just find it par for the course this grifting farce

 

[heel79]

Eh, I don’t really know about that. We didn’t wear down late in the TCU, UCF, Clemson, and NC State games. Those were defensive catastrophes well before late in the game. That’s a third of the season right there, and another other third of the season we were playing Charlotte, Richmond, Stanford, and Syracuse- all horribly bad offenses. The defense played decently well against Cal, and played very well against Virginia. But that’s only two games out of a 12 game season.

My point is that the offense was atrocious, for sure, but the defense was objectively bad in its own right, yet the only changes we are seeing are on the offensive side of the ball, which I find fascinating.

Well, we do not know if we have seen all the changes. I mean changes other than firing coaches is possible. Defense was good against Wake, we gave up a TD on a fumble return, a drive that was sustained when the ref incorrectly marked the ball on a fourth down when we stopped them, an explosive on their part (yes, defensive breakdown) and a score on the last TD of the game, so really you could argue one TD. But the defense was OK.

it was a terrible season, disappointing on a lot of levels, but I am looking ahead, hoping to see a great haul in the portal and improved play.on the field.

 

[Calheel]

The unit overall had horrible defensive efficiency metrics for most of the season, and the only time in which it looked remotely competent was against the worst team in P4 in Stanford, a Syracuse team playing a true freshman walk on lacrosse player at quarterback, and against UVA (props to them- that was a good performance).

Cal?

We held them to 21 @Cal, which is the fewest points Cal scored in a home game all year. Some of that was an off game from the Cal QB, and a surprisingly good ball control offense from UNC, but it was part of a good defensive streak from Syracuse through UVa.

Also, the defense didn't play terrible against Wake or Duke. There were some flukey plays in both of those games. State was the only truly terrible defensive performance by us in the 2d half of the year.

Overall, the defense showed noticeable improvement after the Clemson game. The offense did not.

 

[CFordUNC]

Cal?

We held them to 21 @Cal, which is the fewest points Cal scored in a home game all year. Some of that was an off game from the Cal QB, and a surprisingly good ball control offense from UNC, but it was part of a good defensive streak from Syracuse through UVa.

Also, the defense didn't play terrible against Wake or Duke. There were some flukey plays in both of those games. State was the only truly terrible defensive performance by us in the 2d half of the year.

Overall, the defense showed noticeable improvement after the Clemson game. The offense did not.

Happy to grant the Cal game. We were certainly fortunate that their WR’s couldn’t catch herpes in a brothel, but the defense was mostly fine. We allowed a really bad Wake Forest offense to amass the most yards and most YPC that they had all season outside of against WCU. The NC State game was a defensive catastrophe. I guess I can grant we were merely mediocre against Duke since Mensah didn’t light us up, but it wasn’t a good defensive performance by any means.

Point being, the defense was never really good, or even really average, for the overwhelming vast majority of the season against decent teams. It was varying degrees of below average (Duke, Wake Forest) to outright bad (TCU, UCF, Clemson, NC State) for the most part (Virginia and Cal being exceptions) whenever it played any team with some semblance of an offensive pulse. So to me, in the 10 games we played against non-FCS-level competition (UNCC is essentially FCS), we were decently competent defensively in, what, *maybe* half of them? And two of the teams we played (Stanford and Syracuse) were horrible offenses, and we allowed the another (Wake- a bad offense) to roll up their highest offensive output of the season. That leaves the Cal and Virginia games as the only two games where we can say that, relative to the competition, we played objectively somewhat well on D.

I just don’t personally see the supposed defensive improvement that others might see, but I am happy to agree to disagree.

 

[Peppers49]

Eh, I don’t really know about that. We didn’t wear down late in the TCU, UCF, Clemson, and NC State games. Those were defensive catastrophes well before late in the game. That’s a third of the season right there, and another other third of the season we were playing Charlotte, Richmond, Stanford, and Syracuse- all horribly bad offenses. The defense played decently well against Cal, and played very well against Virginia. But that’s only two games out of a 12 game season.

My point is that the offense was atrocious, for sure, but the defense was objectively bad in its own right, yet the only changes we are seeing are on the offensive side of the ball, which I find fascinating.

The best thing I can say about the defense is that they righted the ship for a stretch in the middle of the season after the Clemson when most of us assumed they would just roll over. At times it looked noticeably better than what we were used to under Mack based on the eye test and I can (half-heartedly) buy that that side of the ball could improve and be decent next year.

Overall though it was an objectively below average unit according to all of the power ratings. Pretty tired of hearing about how much they improved throughout the season too. They regressed against Wake and Dook and got absolutely shredded by State, so it’s not like they closed out on a high note.

 

[Calheel]

We allowed a really bad Wake Forest offense to amass the most yards and most YPC that they had all season outside of against WCU.

Don't believe this stat is correct. Just looking quickly, Wake had 468 yards against Duke and 414 against us. Perhaps you meant rushing yards. In any event, I don't think total yards is that important of a stat. Wake scored 28, and really should have scored 21 except for a petulant time out by Belichick.

The defense played well enough to win that game if we had any semblance of an offense. And that was true for every game after Clemson. Heck, even UCF might have turned out different if we had a real offense.

Steve fielded a competent defense at Washington and is certainly competent to coach a P4 defense. Which is more than I can say about Kitchens, who through no fault of his own, is not a competent college offensive coordinator.

 

[SnoopRob]

I think we were thoroughly mediocre on defense this year, but - sadly - they were also the best performing unit.

If we fire the OC, STC, & DC; that’s pretty much an admission we need to fire the HC…and we all know that ain’t happening.

 

[CFordUNC]

Don't believe this stat is correct. Just looking quickly, Wake had 468 yards against Duke and 414 against us. Perhaps you meant rushing yards. In any event, I don't think total yards is that important of a stat. Wake scored 28, and really should have scored 21 except for a petulant time out by Belichick.

The defense played well enough to win that game if we had any semblance of an offense. And that was true for every game after Clemson. Heck, even UCF might have turned out different if we had a real offense.

Steve fielded a competent defense at Washington and is certainly competent to coach a P4 defense. Which is more than I can say about Kitchens, who through no fault of his own, is not a competent college offensive coordinator.

I’m so dumb- I forgot that Wake-Duke game. I knew that until Wake played them we were their best offensive output besides WCU, but yeah, they definitely rolled against Duke.

Fair points you make above , all else.

 

[akillesheel]

for a numbers-based perspective, the UNC defense finished the season ranked 100th in defensive FEI. That's worse than Gene Chizik's defense last year, which finished 74th.

Fremeau helpfully maintains a list of teams' weekly progressions, and here's UNC's.

There were basically 3 good weeks: Week 9 against UVA (gain from 101 to 82), 10 against Syracuse (gain from 82 to 68), and 11 against Stanford (hold at 68). The efficiency numbers say that the performances against Wake, Duke, and State were all in line with the early season performances against Clemson/TCU/UCF, just against worse offenses.

 

[Calheel]

for a numbers-based perspective, the UNC defense finished the season ranked 100th in defensive FEI. That's worse than Gene Chizik's defense last year, which finished 74th.

Fremeau helpfully maintains a list of teams' weekly progressions, and here's UNC's.

There were basically 3 good weeks: Week 9 against UVA (gain from 101 to 82), 10 against Syracuse (gain from 82 to 68), and 11 against Stanford (hold at 68). The efficiency numbers say that the performances against Wake, Duke, and State were all in line with the early season performances against Clemson/TCU/UCF, just against worse offenses.

I'm not sure how much you can divine from weekly adjustments to season totals. You'd really need individual weekly efficiency numbers to more accurately judge game 1 vs. game 9.

 

[heel79]

Don't believe this stat is correct. Just looking quickly, Wake had 468 yards against Duke and 414 against us. Perhaps you meant rushing yards. In any event, I don't think total yards is that important of a stat. Wake scored 28, and really should have scored 21 except for a petulant time out by Belichick.

The defense played well enough to win that game if we had any semblance of an offense. And that was true for every game after Clemson. Heck, even UCF might have turned out different if we had a real offense.

Steve fielded a competent defense at Washington and is certainly competent to coach a P4 defense. Which is more than I can say about Kitchens, who through no fault of his own, is not a competent college offensive coordinator.

Wake scored on a fumble return when our defense was on sidelines. They also scored after an incredibly bad spot on a 4th and 1 when the linesman came in and placed his foot a full 2 feet short of the line. In my mind the the defense e gave up 7 points in that game.