My Take

[cusefan88]

Tom, interested in your take on the battle between Kapilovic (OC for UNC) and Ward. To my eye, Kapilovic had Ward's number all day. I have not seen an offensive scheme as creative as that in a long time outside of the pros. They ran that pop-sweep (to Newsome) to perfection a couple of times for chunk gains, passes across the middle, in's, out's, boundary screens, reverses, counters, a few vertical passes ..etc (the kitchen sink). He kept Ward guessing all day even though our defense did a good job containing Carter. We had no answer for Newsome.

The play calling for UNC was superb. Really other than WR pass play thing that should have sealed it, almost flawless from their OC.

 

[knicks07]

Tom, interested in your take on the battle between Kapilovic (OC for UNC) and Ward. To my eye, Kapilovic had Ward's number all day. I have not seen an offensive scheme as creative as that in a long time outside of the pros. They ran that pop-sweep (to Newsome) to perfection a couple of times for chunk gains, passes across the middle, in's, out's, boundary screens, reverses, counters, a few vertical passes ..etc (the kitchen sink). He kept Ward guessing all day even though our defense did a good job containing Carter. We had no answer for Newsome.

Agree with this. I was vociferously complaining to my bar mates while watching that for most part our play calling sucked...and that UNC plays were slicing and dicing chunks at a time...

 

[hungrychuck]

Wonderful post Tom — said just about everything I’d want to say, only better.

Agree too with the take on Dungey.

But as SWC said, the focus on who’s starting is misplaced. I believe both Tommy and Eric will be important the rest of the way, and NOT because Eric is playing TE.

 

[orange44]

I think he has helped the team. I would give him a B so far. Looks pretty solid run blocking but has been beat pass blocking a few times too many for me to give him a better grade. Still plenty of season left though and lots of chances to bump it higher.

Well said!

 

[sutomcat]

Tom, interested in your take on the battle between Kapilovic (OC for UNC) and Ward. To my eye, Kapilovic had Ward's number all day. I have not seen an offensive scheme as creative as that in a long time outside of the pros. They ran that pop-sweep (to Newsome) to perfection a couple of times for chunk gains, passes across the middle, in's, out's, boundary screens, reverses, counters, a few vertical passes ..etc (the kitchen sink). He kept Ward guessing all day even though our defense did a good job containing Carter. We had no answer for Newsome.

I think Kapilovic did a good job with what he had. Their QB was limited to throwing short passes that would be easy to complete. They didn’t trust him to throw downfield and I think were afraid to use long developing plays with our strong pass rushers. Fedora said after the game the wrinkles Ward added with 2 weeks to prepare surprised them and basically shut their offense down the whole first half.

He was able to make adjustments at halftime that improved things, especially running the ball, but their offense scored 20 points in regulation. In these days of high scoring offenses, that isn’t so bad. If UNC was able to run a couple decent drives late to close the game with the lead, I would agree. He made a few strange calls late that really helped us. The QB runs, some foolish passes, etc.

I say Ward won the first half and Kapilovic won the second but those clutch late stops for the Syracuse defense give Ward a small advantage. Kapilovic had a lot of talent at his disposal at the skilled positions and I think the Tarheels are getting better on both sides of the ball. Would not be surprised to see them beat someone good soon.