UNC Football: O-Line’s poor play holding the offense back
By John Bauman
Just a couple numbers from UNC’s most recent game against the Miami Hurricanes.
20 points for UNC (second lowest offensive output this season)
47 points for Miami
13 offensive first downs for UNC
23 offensive first downs for Miami
99 yards gained on 32 rushing attempts for UNC
317 yards gained on 49 rushing attempts for Miami
3.7 yards per play for UNC
7.3 yards per play for Miami
UNC got beat in every aspect of Saturday’s battle with the Miami Hurricanes. The narrative became Duke Johnson beating the Tar Heels, but in reality, UNC couldn’t stop any Hurricane running back (or quarterback Brad Kaaya) with any consistency. UNC allowed Miami to rack up 494 yards of total offense, right in line with how the Tar Heel defense has been playing all season. The Heels now rank 121st in the country in Total Defense, allowing opponents to gain 510.3 yards per game.
As bad as the defense was, the most striking numbers come from from the other side of the ball. The Tar Heels trotted out an offense that garnered 6 net yards rushing on 32 rushing attempts. I will do the math for you — that is .1875 yards per rushing attempt. Those numbers are thrown off because of the two botched punts by the Tar Heels, but either way, UNC’s offense was pitiful on Saturday. The Heels had 258 yards of total offense, well below the average of 442.7 per game that the Heels average on the season.
The defense struggling is something that Tar Heel fans have come to accept this season. But the offense spinning its wheels like it did on Saturday was very much a surprise. The Heels have had a prolific offense for a majority of the season. Even counting the stats from the Miami game, the Heels rank 21st in the nation in passing yards and 29th in the nation in points scored. UNC has an above average offense, and it has carried the team for much of the season. So when the offense didn’t show up on Saturday, the Tar Heels stood no chance at pulling off the upset in Miami.
The Tar Heel offensive flop was a manifestation of the season’s biggest problem that has been plaguing the Tar Heels. This position group (that has made some progress earlier this season) just looked its worst on Saturday, resulting in the worst offensive performance for the Tar Heels under Coach Fedora. That problem? The Offensive Line and its inability to pass block, run block, screen block or keep Marquise Williams upright over the past two games.
North Carolina’s offensive line two years ago was one of the best groups in the nation. Johnathan Cooper and James Hurst held down the left side. Hurst now plays left tackle for the Baltimore Ravens and Cooper was a first round pick but has had his career slowed by injuries. Brennan Williams and Travis Bond held down the right side. Williams was eventually a third round pick and Bond a seventh round pick. In the middle was Russell Bodine, a 4th round pick of the Bengals in the 2013 NFL Draft. Count ’em up, that is all five lineman from the 2012 class gone and playing well in the NFL.
It is tough to deal with that much turnover, and the Tar Heels are feeling the effects of that this season. The effects are also compounded by injuries, which have decimated the offensive line. A rundown of the new starting five…
John Ferranto has been a mess at left tackle in place of James Hurst. I don’t mind Caleb Peterson, but he is no Johnathon Cooper. Lucas Crowley has been solid, but injured. His backup, Arien Smith, played Saturday. Landon Turner was supposed to be a strong right guard and a plus offensive lineman, but don’t let anyone tell you that he is an All-ACC caliber player anymore. Injuries have kept him out of the lineup and impacted his play on the field. And right tackle John Heck has also been solid, but has missed significant time with injuries this season.
The results? UNC has allowed nine sacks over the past two games. Virginia’s big, athletic front four knocked Williams down countless times and Miami sacked the Tar Heel quarterbacks six times on Saturday. Six times in one game!
Here is one of John Ferranto just losing a one on one matchup with a defensive end. This isn’t the first sack allowed by Ferranto.
Ferranto doesn’t have to be perfect on every play, but he can’t continually get pushed back into Marquise Williams. Ferranto can
do some things in the run game
, but when dealing one on one with defensive ends,
. He kind of reminds me of Byron Bell for the Panthers. He is a good football player, but probably not ready for left tackle this season. Unfortunately, he is all UNC’s got. (Bentley Spain isn’t available, Kiaro Holts is meh and watch R.J. Prince, right tackle, #76,
) Williams isn’t just being affected on sacks. He often can’t get a clean pocket to work in and deliver a solid throw. UNC has three guys blocking the defensive tackle and he breaks through on 4th and 2!
UNC isn’t particularly good at blocking four man rushes, but when the defense blitzes,
Delayed blitzes are especially effective at confusing the young offensive line. Ferranto never sees the linebacker coming off the edge.
Ditto for Landon Turner. He is a tick late in detecting this delayed blitz.
I don’t want to just rail on the offense line. They have played well in spots. Here is a good example of good blocking against a blitz.
Virginia rushes five and everyone gets picked up. Give credit to Arien Smith (#74), who slides over to block the delayed blitzer. But notice that Ferranto is getting pushed back into Marquise Williams again, but Williams delivers a strike.
The weakness of the Tar Heel offensive line is hurting UNC’s offense is many different ways. Marquise Williams doesn’t have enough time to throw in the pocket and there is not enough time to allow for longer routes to develop, leading to more quick screen and short passes. Their aren’t enough holes for the running game to establish itself. Marquise is constantly on his back, and those hits are starting to accumulate as the season has gone along. Allowing sacks stalls the offense’s progress and leads to punts, not first downs.
I want to touch briefly on that point about longer routes not having time to develop with the offensive line playing like it is this season. That maybe isn’t 1000% true, but UNC’s offense has shifted more towards screens this season. Partly, that is a product of the tendencies of Coach Seth Littrell, part of that is UNC’s personnel, and part of that is the limitations with Marquise as a dropback passer. I think Coach Fedora would like to air it out more, but the offensive line is holding him back from doing so. There just isn’t enough time for longer routes to develop. Instead, the Heels have to chuck it deep to Mack Hollins on a straight seam route and hope he catches it to take the top off the defense.
One more point — Injuries have also not allowed the unit to gel as a starting five on the field. It is tough to play with a different offensive line each week, and part of what made that 2012 group so strong was the continuity that developed without any major injuries to the starters over the course of the season.
UNC O-Line played especially bad on Saturday, but there is hope that they can watch the film, get healthy and get ready for Pittsburgh on the 15th. They really need to step up their game, otherwise, more 20 points performances are in the forecast for Coach Fedora’s offense. The extra week will help this unit get healthy and ready, but there is clearly less talent for Offensive-Line Coach Kapilovic to work with this season.