By Eddy Landreth
Staff Writer
North Carolina is in serious danger of falling to 5-3 after a 5-1 start to its football season.
The Tar Heels travel to Clemson for a noon game on Saturday. They will be playing one of the finest Clemson teams in years.
The Tigers (7-0, 4-0) have the second-highest scoring average in the league, at 38 points per game. They are coming off a 56-point effort at Maryland.
“We’re playing a top-10 team this week with a very, very explosive offense,†interim head coach Everett Withers said.
The Tar Heels (5-2, 1-2) have started emotionally flat in consecutive games. They survived against Louisville, but Miami used Carolina’s lack of passion and a fumbled kickoff return to grab a 14-0 lead before UNC even ran an offensive play.
“When we are at home, I think our guys might get comfortable,†senior cornerback Charles Brown said. “But going away, we know we are going into a hostile environment. I think more guys might be ready.
“We can’t do that; against a good team, we can’t come out flat like that and make mistakes. We made some big mistakes, with people running wide open and fumbling the ball.â€
To their credit, the Tar Heels fought back. Had they managed the clock better on the final drive of the game, who knows what could have happened?
Freshman runner Giovani Bernard again proved to be a sensational talent. Miami could not stop Bernard with any consistency. The Tar Heels might want to rely more on halfbacks Bernard and Ryan Houston. Houston looked the best he has this season, and Bernard has found consistent success.
Teams that defeat Miami’s speed do so by running right at the Hurricanes. Clemson has plenty of speed on defense as well. The Tigers also have a strong defensive front. UNC’s offensive line will need to play its best game on Saturday.
“Defensively, I think this may be the best front four we will play,†Withers said. “They have some guys up front that look like first-round draft choices.â€
Whatever the Tar Heels do, they need to do it quickly.
“It’s starting off fast,†Bernard said. “That is what we have to do against Clemson.â€
Bernard might just be the catalyst for getting started quickly and also for taking some of the pressure off first-year quarterback Bryn Renner.
Bernard has unique traits. His vision, his ability to follow blockers, to stop and go in an instant, are gifts that separate him from ordinary runners.
He has set a school record for freshman runners with five consecutive games of 100 yards or more. He has run for 767 yards this season, with 622 of those coming in the last five games.
Bernard has scored nine touchdowns, the most for a Carolina runner since Houston did it in 2009. The difference is Houston’s scores came from near the goal line.
Bernard can and has scored from all over the field.
This might well be an area the Tar Heels can exploit against Clemson. The Tigers are ranked 10th in the league in rushing defense, allowing 179 yards a game.
Carolina will certainly want to throw the ball, but they will have far more success if they find some rushing plays that work and rely on those until Clemson has no choice but to honor the run. Then Renner can use play-action to buy time.
But Renner also needs to get rid of the ball quickly and be willing to throw it away to keep from taking sacks.
“We have to keep harping on it, keep pounding it,†Withers said. “You [Renner] don’t have to make every play. Don’t take a sack. He is a young quarterback trying to make every play. He wants to win. Here he is competing and fighting, wanting to win. I’m not going to ever take that away from him.
“We have to help him as coaches. I have to do a better job of saying, ‘This is when you have to throw the ball away.’ And you know what: He’s a coach’s son. He’ll listen. Eventually, that is going to help us win a game.â€