The Good, Bad, & Ugly Report: Georgia Tech

A fairly accurate description of UNC’s trip to Atlanta summed up in one picture — Photo by Hyosub Shin, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Welp.

The Ramblin’ Wreck of Georgia Tech ran into the train wreck that has become the 2017 UNC football season with a sadly predictable 33-7 result on Saturday in Atlanta. Carolina entered the game with a glimmer of hope after a better-than-expected defensive effort against Duke last week, but with 19 players on the injury chart, 13 of them out for the season, it was only a matter of time before the Jackets ground the Tar Heels into a nub and blew open a relatively tight game in the third quarter.

There were unconfirmed reports that the defense was in Orange County District Court on Monday, suing the offense for lack of support. UNC’s defense, which was sieve-like in the first two games, played as absolutely well as could be expected in the first half. Carolina held Tech to 170 yards and only 10 points in the first 30 minutes, including three 3-and-outs. The Tar Heel offense repaid the favor with three 3-and-outs of their own and a pair of missed field goals, despite some pretty decent field position. The back-breaker came after Carolina forced a fumble on Tech’s first possession of the second half, only to promptly give the ball back on an interception on the very next play. On the Jackets’ next snap, Kirvante Benson broke off a 63-yard touchdown run and it was game over. Tech put up nearly 300 yards in the second half, most of it on the ground, against a Carolina defense that the offense couldn’t help out by staying on the field.

So, with that in mind, here is this week’s GBU Report:

GOOD

Jordon Brown: Brown was pretty much the sole bright spot on offense for the Heels, rushing for 41 yards and catching 9 passes for 57 more.

Tom Sheldon: You know it’s not great when your punter is in the Good category, but Sheldon continues to shine among the league’s best and was UNC’s best weapon most of the day with his ability to flip the field.

Defensive effort: As bad as the defense looked in the first two weeks, in the last two they have played well enough to keep the Heels in the ball game. This week the defense had 3 sacks and 5 tackles for loss.

BAD

Chazz Surratt: These are the kinds of games you’re going to get with the freshman ups and downs. Surratt was only 18-30 for 141 yards and a soul-crushing interception. Moreover, he never looked comfortable and made some questionable decisions. Only problem is, Brandon Harris showed that he cannot spell Surratt for any meaningful time with a dreadful interception of his own on his only pass attempt of the game. Then again, what exactly is Surratt supposed to do with most of his returning firepower, particularly at receiver, sidelined due to injury?

Offensive line: A weekly staple in the Bad section, the O-line had a particularly poor effort against the Jackets. Defensive tackles and ends must drool when they have the chance to line up against the poor, overmatched Charlie Heck at right tackle. But for all the injuries that have forced guys like Heck into action early, the experienced players UNC does have, such as Cam Dillard and Khaliel Rodgers (a combined 39 career starts between them coming into this season) can’t keep hurting Carolina like they did on Saturday. Rodgers picked up a stupid 15 yard penalty after a play and Dillard was flagged twice for a total of 15 yards.

Freeman Jones: UNC’s junior kicker missed both of his kicks on Saturday and appears to not have range outside of 40 yards. UNC fans have seen this movie before, where Larry Fedora’s lack of confidence in his kicker leads to the imaginary green field goal line in ESPN games being much closer in real life than on the screen.

UGLY

Injuries: What are you gonna do? Carolina has 13 guys out for the season, 6 more out for this game, and a couple of guys got dinged up on Saturday. And with the bye week not coming until the end of October, there’s not going to be a chance for anyone to get healthy soon.

3rd down defense: Again a staple this season in the Ugly section, UNC continues being among the worst in FBS in 3rd down defense, as the Jackets were 8-16 on 3rd down and a perfect 3-3 on 4th down, for an effective percentage of 58%. Tech also converted on 3rd and 8, 9, and 13 yards. Carolina simply has to get off the field when they get the offense behind the sticks.

As the losses pile up, the disgruntlement of the Carolina fanbase will continue to rise, much of it directed at Fedora. However, as GoHeels.com’s Lee Pace tweeted:

https://t.co/hH6E8NYVer—
Lee Pace (@LeePaceTweet) October 02, 2017

That’s a pretty stout list of losses to graduation and injury. All the Heels can do is continue to soldier on and all UNCFan can do is try to understand how the team got here and hope that the offense finds a spark to match the defensive effort of the past few games.