The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: North Carolina Edition

As Miami walked off the field down 20-3 to end the first 30 minutes of action, they were showered with boos by the home crowd.

And who could blame them?

UM was atrocious in the first half.

In the second half though, they came to life and made it a game.

But a late costly turnover was the final of many sloppy plays and was the difference in a 20-13 loss to UNC.

This season’s team is starting to eerily resemble teams of the past few years in both error prone football, and FSU hangovers.

The particulars below.

The Good:

• This!

• Nice job by the fans today making Hard Rock a nice home field advantage, even if it wasn’t a sell out.
• This is nice from start to finish, even for just a short gain.

• Rayshawn Jenkins was everywhere today on D in the first half.
• As was Corn Elder, who made a huge hit to spark the defense in the 2nd Q. He would later add a big sack.

• David Njoku is a beast. Miami’s O would be smart to find him more often. He did have a sloppy 3rd Q drop though.
• Phenomenal cut by Joe Yearby, that led to a FG to cut the lead to 20-13 (Mark Walton was hurt a few plays earlier but returned).

The Bad:

• The first points the ‘Canes have surrendered in the 1st Q all season, which is good. All great streaks have to come to an end, bad.

• Rayshawn Jenkins had to make too many tackles from his S spot. And Jamal Carter missed bad on a 3rd Q tackle. The tackling as a whole was the worst its’ been all season today.
• Brad Kaaya was way off on a 4th down throw that could have been a TD to Njoku. Kaaya once again did not have his best effort today. His 4th Q fumble was also a critical error.
• Simply put, but accurate. They were awful on UM’s final series.

• Lots of zone coverages that were exposed time and time again by Mitch Trubisky and Bug Howard.

The Ugly:

• Another blocked kick, this time a FG not an XP, ended a drive for Miami in which they bloodied UNC’s nose with the run. But it’s all for naught if you get no points on the board.
• The breaks really aren’t going UM’s way of late. This is an awful blown call.

• Speaking of which, how do the refs also miss a 4th Q face mask on Mark Walton that was beyond obvious?

Team Grades:

Offense - Lots of mistakes. Njoku was a presence in the passing game, but had a bad OPI called on him in the second Q and aforementioned drop, and was missed badly on what should have been an easy TD toss by Kaaya in the first half. The UM signal caller was very inconsistent today. The play calling was at times, bland and predictable.

D

Defense - The blown coverage on 3rd and long on the Heels opening drive was too reminiscent of recent seasons of the past. As was Shaq Quarterman 1 on 1 with a slot receiver on UNC’s opening TD to make it 10-0. Sheldrick Redwine was toast on a key series to finish the 1st half. They did do some things in the 2nd half that gave the team a chance. That early 4th Q goal line stand could have been a difference maker.

C+

Special Teams - Great job by Stacy Coley as the gunner on UM’s first punt, nailing Ryan Switzer as soon as he caught the ball. But another blocked kick? Are you kidding me? And catching the opening kick off and going out of bounds at the 3? Also bad. Elder picked up a bad flag on catch interference. Michael Badgley did nail a 47 yard FG to get UM on the board and R.J. McIntosh blocked a FG of his own. But this group was far too up and down today.

D

Coaching - The Hurricanes came out chippy, which I liked. But UM did not sustain it. And then they made mistake after mistake after mistake in all three phases of the game. This staff needs to tighten the reigns before the season spirals out of control. These last two weeks have been very disappointing for Mark Richt and the coaches, as much as the players.

D