The Tar Heels walked into Kenan Stadium with a chance to turn their season back in the right direction after a brutal couple losses in the past two weeks. Despite putting up a fight, the Tar Heels suffered a third consecutive defeat and the first ever at home to the Pittsburgh Panthers. Here are our takeaways from the 34-24 loss on Saturday.
Third Downs Lost This Game
The Tar Heel defense wasn’t bad in the second half of this game, but the inability to get off the field on the money down was what ultimately lost them the game. The team held the Pittsburgh offense to 1-6 on 3rd down out of the gate, but had no answers following that. Pittsburgh converted eight of the final ten third downs, including four that came on 3rd and 6 or longer. That was certainly not something that was expected considering the defense came in allowing just a 28.6% conversion rate on third downs. On the other side of the ball, the Tar Heels, who came into the game converting 40.9% of their third downs, were only able to convert five of their fifteen opportunities, causing the team to go for it six times on 4th down. This is not a recipe for success, especially against teams with the type of offenses that Pittsburgh boasts.
Decision-Making from Mack Brown Was a Major Factor in the Loss
Brown hasn’t exactly been nailing decisions these last few years, but this was one of his worst performances as a decision maker since he’s been back. Going for it on 4th down twice inside the Pittsburgh 10-yard line was rough, especially because it could have given you a chance to win the game on the final drive. The worst decision of the day came on that final drive, though, where he decided to go for it on 4th down instead of kicking the field goal that could have made it a one score game and at least given them a chance with 1:11 to go in the game. Instead, he chose to basically take the loss, which is simply unacceptable. At this rate, it’s hard to believe that this team will be able to win close games with Brown on the sideline.
Lack of Communication Was a Major Issue for the Defense
The lack of communication was a big issue for the team two weeks ago and it popped up again on Saturday. There were way too many players out of position again today, especially when it came to taking away the running back out of the backfield in the passing game. It seems like the communication has been in shambles since the James Madison disaster and they need to get it back on track if this team is going to find a way to rebound and get to a bowl game.
Secondary is a Lost Cause
As expected, this Tar Heel secondary was absolutely shredded by Eli Holstein and it’s a unit at this point that we have to understand won’t be a serviceable unit this season. While the linebacking corps was certainly part of the issue with the pass defense today, this secondary continued to give up big plays down the field and in the redzone that were costly. The safeties continue to be the most frustrating part of this unit with their coverage and tackling issues and there seems to be no appetite to play Will Hardy or DeAndre Boykins more to see if they can provide more than Jakeen Harris and Stick Lane are. With some dangerous passing games still on the horizon, it’s hard to see the Tar Heels not being torn apart through the air.
Nate McCollum Might Have Found Himself
McCollum had been incredibly quiet since last year’s game with Syracuse, but he broke out on Saturday. He caught ten of his thirteen targets for 128 yards, easily the best performance that we have seen from a Tar Heel receiver this year. Hopefully he can carry this over into the rest of the season and give this offense a chance to win games and scrap their way to a bowl game.
Tylee Craft Needs Our Prayers
The most important thing that we need to take away from Saturday is that Tylee Craft needs our thoughts and prayers right now. Mack Brown was brought to tears in the postgame while telling reporters that Craft had to go to the hospital today after originally planning to be on the field with the team for the game. We at the Heel Tough Blog are sending our thoughts and prayers to Tylee and the Craft family. #TyleeStrong