UNC Football: Which Tar Heel Team Will we see Against East Carolina?

Through three games in the college football season we have seen two different teams hit the field for the North Carolina Tar Heels.  The team that played extremely well in a blowout victory week one against Elon Phoenix.  Then the team that suffered a heart breaking loss due to a big time defensive collapse against Wake Forest in week two.

September 15, 2012; Louisville, KY USA; North Carolina Tar Heels running back Romar Morris (21) runs the ball for a touchdown against the Louisville Cardinals during the second half of play at Papa John

The perfect example of this two headed monster came against Louisville in week three. Larry Fedoras crew looked like one of the worst teams in college football in the first half. The Cardinals punter never came off the bench as the defense couldn’t stop anything. Teddy Bridgewater diced up the defense like it he was playing a Pop-Warner team. The game looked like it was over and the embarrassment would only continue in the second half.

And then something happened, the team played loose, they played like they had nothing to lose. And they almost won the game coming four yards and a Erik Highsmith catch in the end zone away from pulling out a great comeback. All that without star running back Gio Bernard.

I’ve drawn a few conclusions about this team after three games. One, they don’t exactly have the right personnel for the system Larry Fedora and his staff employ. Two, the ups and downs will continue. This is a complicated offensive and defensive systems, it’s not going to be pretty. We will see this team play great football and we will see them play like they belong playing on Friday nights at the high school level others. Three, the defensive backfield is pretty bad and it may not get much better this season.

Each week the team needs to focus on progressing, getting better than they were the week before. Will that happen against East Carolina? The Tar Heels have a lot more talent than does EC, but it will depend on which UNC team shows up on Saturday if they show it or not.