Heel Tough Blog: California Recap

ESPN

The Tar Heels returned to the field on Friday night after a second bye week filled with a host of negative off-the-field storylines. With questions surrounding this group and how they would respond, the team put together their best performance against a power conference team this season in a 21-18 loss to the California Golden Bears. Here are our biggest takeaways from what we saw in the loss in Berkeley.

Two Fumbles Were the Difference In the Game

The Tar Heels had two turnovers on Friday night and both of them were costly fumbles. It started with the first offensive play of the game where Shanard Clower would cough up the football on a quick screen pass, giving Cal the football at the UNC 25. The Golden Bears would find the end zone just four plays later to open the scoring, giving them the early advantage. The more important fumble, though, came on the final drive where wide receiver Nathan Leacock had the ball punched out six inches from the goal line on a play that would have given the Tar Heels the late lead and their first in a power conference game this season. Instead, because of these crucial mistakes, the Tar Heels are forced to settle for silver linings.

Third Down Defense Also a Major Factor in Loss

One of the other big reasons that the Tar Heels fell short on Friday night was the team’s third down defense. The Tar Heel defense actually did well on first and second down, but struggled on the most important down despite having Cal in 3rd & Long often. While Cal was only 6-16 on third downs, five of those conversions came on their last two scoring drives and four of them came in 3rd & 9 or longer situations. This group showed some progression overall as a unit but they simply have to be better on 3rd down than they were in this game.

Gio Lopez Was Better, But Not Great

After missing the Clemson game with a leg injury, Lopez returned to reassume his starting quarterback role on Friday night and put together what might have been his best performance of the season. He finished the night 19 of 35 for 167 yards and while he failed to find the end zone, he took care of the football with no turnovers for the first time against a power conference team this season. While he wasn’t perfect, especially on his downfield throws, he looked more confident and under control than he did in those first four games of the season. The rest of the year should be about figuring out if Lopez is your guy going into next year and the hope is that he can continue to build on this performance.

Offensive Line Made Progress in the Run Game

Another unit that had their ups and downs but took a step in the right direction on Friday night was the offensive line. The team continued to struggle in pass protection, but as a run blocking unit they were much better, leading the way for a successful night on the ground for Benjamin Hall and Davion Gause. The most success for the running game came behind Austin Blaske and Chad Lindberg, guys that the team should look to continue to run behind this year. Across the board, though, it was a better overall run blocking effort and the hope is that it will continue to progress as this season goes along.

Kobe Paysour Re-Emerged

The Tar Heels were looking for someone to step up in the receiving corps and Paysour was that guy on Friday night. After catching just two passes for 18 yards in the first two games of the season, Paysour was targeted seven times and caught six of them for 101 yards. Not only did he become the first wide receiver to reach the 100-yard mark this season, but he may have found something after everything that he has had to go through over the past two seasons. His re-emergence would be huge for an offense that needs consistent threats who can create separation for Lopez to throw to.

Defense Did Show Some Signs of Life

The offense wasn’t the only side of the ball that made progress in this game. This Tar Heel defense was helped out by some drops from the Cal wide receivers, but they still were much better fundamentally than any other game that we have seen so far this year. While the team was still credited with 10 missed tackles, it felt like the team was in position to make plays and tackled much better than they did in the first three games against power conference opponents. The team as a whole still didn’t get a ton of pressure on the quarterback, but Tyler Thompson stepped up and played the best game of his career, registering three total tackles, two sacks and three total quarterback pressures. The linebacking room was really solid once again, led by Andrew Simpson who finished with three total tackles, 1.0 tackle for loss, three total quarterback pressures and two pass breakups. Even the secondary had a standout in the form of Greg Smith III, who played just 19 snaps but finished with three total tackles and a pass breakup. It may be hard to look at this performance and say that this unit has turned the corner, but this was certainly a step in the right direction after such an abysmal performance against Clemson.

Better Effort Across the Board Inspires Some Hope

It may seem weird to say because of the way that it finished, but even with the loss, this game had to make you feel a little better about the direction of this program. This game at least gave you hope that this game will be able to compete in some games the rest of the year and possibly even find a win or two along the way. Now the question is, can they build on this performance against one of the best teams in the ACC coming to Kenan Stadium next week.