The Coastal may be clinched, but Carolina is far from done. That’s the message being put out by the UNC coaching staff this week as the Tar Heels prepare to host Georgia Tech Saturday night.
There’s plenty of motivation to be found simply by looking at last year’s game with the Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech embarrassed the Tar Heels in front of a national TV audience, blowing them out 45-22 and dropping Carolina out of the rankings for good that season. Head coach Mack Brown was blunt when looking back on that performance.
“They totally dominated the game,” Brown said. “In fact, the score was 45-22, [and] I looked at it this morning and it made me throw up.
“We had 63 rushing yards, they had 261. We gave up eight sacks for 55 yards. That’s enough sacks for a season. We went for fourth down, I remember, on our 31, and that’ll cure you from doing that: we lost two yards, and they scored quickly. And they got 17 points off turnovers.”
Offensive coordinator Phil Longo also didn’t mince words about the game, saying it’s one of just a few he still doesn’t like to look back on. The Yellow Jackets have made several changes to the program since that night, but Longo acknowledged his Tar Heels are also quite different.
“There’s a lot of guys that were in the rotation that played last year that are now in the starting lineup,” he said. “And there are also a lot of new faces with Georgia Tech. And then, you have to take into account there was a head coaching change. And there weren’t drastic differences made after that change, [but] there were some subtle changes made you want to take note of. But this also isn’t last year’s team.”
Just who lines up at quarterback for Georgia Tech has been a developing story. Backup Zach Pyron is out after being injured in the Jackets’ loss against Miami last week. Third-stringer Zach Gibson stepped in for him and will likely start this weekend. Starter Jeff Sims, who torched Carolina for 240 total yards and four touchdowns last year, hasn’t played in almost a month.
But regardless of who throws the passes, UNC defensive coach Gene Chizik said Georgia Tech’s offense is still dangerous.
“[They’ve] got some really good, tall, big, athletic receivers,” Chizik said. “Got some really good running backs. Got some good tight ends. So it’s business as usual, and it’s never really about them anyway. It’s really about us. So the message won’t change there.”
Brown’s message to the team is one of tuning out the noise. The Tar Heels continue to rise in the College Football Playoff rankings, have a quarterback getting Heisman buzz and are guaranteed to play for the conference championship. With all of that circling Chapel Hill, Brown said avoiding complacency is the key for his team to have a successful weekend.
“I said, ‘You’re gonna have a lot of distractions this week with people bragging on you. Lose to Georgia Tech and that all stops. So you need to get ready to play,'” Brown said. “And Georgia Tech’s gonna play hard. We know that. They’re trying to get some things accomplished. And I also told them it’s a great teachable moment. Because one of the toughest things in our life is complacency when we’ve accomplished something that people didn’t think we could. So this is a great moment to see how we’ve matured as a program.”
Featured image via Associated Press/Mike Caudill
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