Silver Lining in a Black Cloud

The North Carolina Tar Heel football team opened on the road at Georgia Tech Saturday, but fell to the favored Jackets 27-21. Tech has a solid team, give them credit, and Chan Gailey and his staff had them well prepared to go against Carolina. But, despite several series where the Yellow Jackets moved the ball well, toward the end of the first half and for the last half of the fourth quarter the Tar Heel defense rose to the occasion, stopping Tech in its tracks consistently. The tough play on D helped boost the offense to three -- and nearly four -- scores in just ten minutes of game time.

Unfortunately, there were too many mistakes on offense -- 3 interceptions, a few dropped passes, some missed blocking assignments, and other procedural matters which should be cleared up in practice. However, the Heels did have two shots to win the game in the last 3 and a half minutes, and any team would love to have similar circumstances.

Matt Baker will be better than he was against Tech, and once he gets used to game speed, he'll become more comfortable. For a guy who supposedly can't run, he did a pretty good job of avoiding the rush and finding the open receiver. He even scored the first TD for Carolina on an 11 yard QB draw.

James "Cooter" Arnold and Barrington Edwards looked good in the early going running the ball, but both were stymied in the second half. For Carolina to win more than a few games this season, those two will need to kick it in to the next gear.

Carolina's defense gave up a lot of yards again, but played well enough to keep the Heels in the game. They also forced Tech into several straight "three and outs" during the comeback in the second half. This defense is better than last year's. If the offense can keep them off the field better (by keeping drives going) than they did today, the numbers will look better.

This year's special teams seem to be as solid as they've ever been.

The old saw is the biggest improvement in a season comes between the first and second games. Let's hope that's true. It will be needed next Saturday when Carolina hosts Wisconsin. Looking forward to meeting up with other former Carolina Lettermen for Lettermen's Day at Kenan Stadium -- that's always fun.