It finally appears that the University of North Carolina Football team is beginning to find out exactly which players they will be without for the rest of year. After the relative “black eye” the program received on Monday following news of the dismissal of Marvin Austin and permanent ineligibility of Greg Little and Robert Quinn, the Tar Heels received some good news as senior Ryan Houston was cleared and will play on Saturday.

Entering Saturday’s match up against the Cavaliers, it has been 29 years since UNC won a game in Charlottesville. For UNC to stop that streak they must continue to play with the same aggressiveness and precision that has allowed them to rattle off three consecutive victories. Going up against the number ten ranked pass defense in the country , UNC needs to establish the running game early with running backs Johnny White, Shaun Draughn and Ryan Houston, in order to take pressure off T.J. Yates and the Carolina passing attack.,

As for the defense, North Carolina needs to continue being able to get pressure on the quarterback with it’s front four and allow defensive coordinator Everett Withers to dial up some coverages to confuse the UVA passing game.

This embattled North Carolina program, which has certainly gone up against more than they bargained for this year, looks like they are finally ready to surprise some people and the ACC. With the addition of the bruising running style of Houston, look for UNC to pull this one out in Charlottesville 20-7.

This Saturday the North Carolina Tar Heels host the Clemson Tigers at Kenan Stadium, as both teams continue to search for their first ACC Conference win. Clemson is coming off a 30-21 loss to Miami, where the Tigers committed six turnovers and allowed four passing touchdowns to Miami’s Jacory Harris.

The Tar Heels on the other hand, are coming off their best performance of the season as they dominate East Carolina 42-17 as Shaun Draughn and Johnny White both rushed for over 100 yards on the day. The key for the Tar Heels in this game is to get pressure on Clemson quarterback Kyle Parker. The more Carolina can hit and pressure Parker, the better the chance the Heels will have at slowing down this Clemson offense.  Offensively, the Heels must continue to establish the running game in order to allow T.J. Yates the time to make smart decisions and keep playing like he has been.

PREDICTION: In this game, I see a defense of battle where the Clemson defense is able to effectively stiffen the Carolina running attack and thus put the onus on T.J. Yates. With the return of Deunta Williams in the UNC secondary, Carolina will be able to induce a few coverage sacks and allow that front four to get enough pressure on Kyle Parker to force a few mistakes. I think UNC pulls this one out simply because they will make fewer mistakes as UNC pulls this one out. I see the final score being UNC 23 Clemson 17.

The North Carolina Tar Heels defeated the East Carolina Pirates 42-17, behind the strong running duo of running backs Johnny White and Shaun Draughn, who rushed for a combined 277 yards on Saturday. This marked the first time in six years that UNC had two runners finish with over 100 yards in a game, for a school that once had over twenty consecutive years with a player surpassing 1,000 yards in a season. The last runner to do so was Jonathan Linton in 1997.

With East Carolina leading 17-14 with just over nine minutes left in the third quarter, the North Carolina running game responded. As White and Draughn continued to run through hole after hole created by the North Carolina offensive line. Draughn finished the day with three touchdowns, all in the second half, for the Tar Heels.

The UNC defense faced with the challenge of taking on the spread passing attack of the Pirates, receive an extra boost earlier in the week as starting safety Da’Norris Searcy was cleared to return to game action. Searcy did not disappoint in doing so, as he picked off a Dominique Davis pass in the second quarter and ran it back for a 46-yard touchdown to even the game up.

This game is a huge win for the Tar Heels, who are now 2-2 overall as they welcome Clemson next weekend to Chapel Hill. Also boosting the Heels will be the return of the other starting safety Deunta Williams. This Tar Heel team, which everyone discounted after the early suspensions, is slowly putting things together and playing much improved football as a result.

Led by All-American performances by “freakish” linebacker Bruce Carter and defensive end Quinton Coples, the North Carolina Tar Heels defeated the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 17-13.

North Carolina received the ball first to start the game and immediately drove right down the field as T.J. Yates very efficiently operated the short passing game by taking what the defense gave him.  The Carolina drive was halted thought on a 4^th and 1 at the Rutgers 30 yards line when they stopped UNC’s Johnny White right in his tracks. Rutgers promptly responded with 10 points of their own on their two subsequent drives. Rutgers, obviously after watching a lot of game film of how Georgia Tech’s Josh Nesbitt repeatedly gashed the UNC defense, had athlete Mohamed Sanu take a lot of snaps out of the wildcat. Everything was going Rutgers way as they were poised to extend their lead even more until North Carolina’s Bruce Carter made a fantastic play to intercept a Tom Savage pass and return it nearly 50 yards. Only five plays later, running back Johnny White punched it in from a few yards out to make the score 10-7. UNC went ahead early in the second half as T.J. Yates found tight end Ryan Taylor in the front of the end zone to give Carolina all the coring they would need. Casey Barth added a field goal later in the 4^th quarter to give Carolina their 17-13 win.

You certainly have to give plenty of credit to Butch Davis and that North Carolina coaching staff as the Heels, who came out very flat on both sides of the ball in the first half, became extremely active as the North Carolina defensive front four continued to hit the quarterback almost every single play. Quinton Coples finished with 3.0 sacks and four tackles for loss.

This was a game that North Carolina should have won. Unfortunate turnovers on Rutgers’ side of the field eliminated early scoring opportunities, and the lack of push by the offensive line didn’t allow the running game to ever get started. On the bright side however, this North Carolina defense looked the best they have all year and are finally beginning to gel as a group. This group will only get scarier as suspended players begin to reappear on the Carolina sidelines starting in just a few weeks.

The North Carolina Tar Heels travel to Piscataway, New Jersey Saturday afternoon to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, after finally receiving some more information regarding the statuses of a few of the players whose eligibility are in question. With the investigation still ongoing and the statuses of the rest of the players in question still pending, the Tar Heels now know that Safety Deunta Williams will rejoin them in two weeks and Cornerback Kendric Burney in four games.

Looking back to their last game, UNC is coming off a 30-24 loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. In that game, the Tar Heels’ offense played extremely well early in the game as Johnny White rushed for over 100 yards and Quarterback T.J. Yates continued to play turnover free football. However, the North Carolina defense was unable to stop the Georgia Tech running attack as Georgia Tech’s Josh Nesbitt and Anthony Allen each rushed for over 100 yards in route to exposing a young and suspension-riddled defense.

As the Tar Heels prepare for the match up against the Scarlet Knights, there are a few keys of the game that stick out for the Heels. First off, the Tar Heels must continue to be able to run the ball using Running backs Johnny White and Shaun Draughn to keep the offense balanced. Also, T.J. Yates must continue to protect the football like he has been and make smart decisions.  On the defensive side of the ball, Carolina has to be able to get pressure on the quarterback with their front four. If Defensive Coordinator Everett Withers is forced to blitz his linebackers in order to get pressure, then the defense will have plenty of problems stopping this Rutgers offense.

I think you are going to see a North Carolina team that will come out extremely focused and play hard, and live up to those early season expectations. I believe UNC will defeat Rutgers 27-17 on Saturday. I am expecting Quarterback T.J. Yates to have a very good day for the Heels as they pickup invaluable win number one.

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets improved to a record of 2-1 on the season today with a 30-24 victory over the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. The Yellow Jackets were led by the rushing duo of Quarterback Josh Nesbitt and Running Back Anthony Allen who both rushed for over 100 yards on the day.

Georgia Tech, coming off a 28-25 loss to Kansas last Saturday, took control of the second half after capitalizing off a UNC turnover on their side of the field late in the 3^rd Quarter.

To start the game, UNC drove straight down the field against the Yellow Jackets before settling for a Casey Barth 20 yard field goal at the end of the eight minute opening drive. Both teams then alternated touchdowns for the next four drives that saw UNC’s T.J. Yates connect with Erik Highsmith on a 52 yard Touchdown along with Yates one yard touchdown run. Georgia Tech then responded with a 20 play 87 yard drive that ended with a Scott Blair 22 yard field to conclude the first half with both teams tied at 17.

After forcing a Josh Nesbitt fumble, UNC’s Johnny White rushed the ball three consecutive times before punching the ball in from four yards out to put the Tar Heels ahead 24-17. That would prove to be the last time the Heels would lead in the game as Georgia Tech’s running attack began to wear down the depleted North Carolina defense. With Georgia Tech leading 30-24 with just over six minutes left to play the Tar Heels offense, which had been slowed for the majority of the second half, began driving down the field. Carolina was able to convert a fourth and short, along with a 2^nd and 18 after pass interference call on a pass intended for Tight End Zack Pianalto. Once UNC advanced the ball past the 50, the Heels were unable to convert a crucial 4^th and 10 and thus turned the ball over on the downs and fell to 0-2 on the season and their second consecutive 30-24 loss.

Not all was lost with this game for UNC as Senior Running Back Johnny White had 113 yards on only 17 carries. Also, Quarterback T.J. Yates played extremely well again, and more importantly made no crucial mistakes. At this point for the Tar Heels, they continue to be snake-bitten by the fact that they are still missing so many bodies on defense that impacts not just that side of the ball but the Special Teams Units as well. As UNC progresses towards their next opponent Rutgers on next Saturday they have to continue to work on their consistency, because at this point they have played two fantastic halves this year. The second half against LSU and the first half against Georgia Tech. Now they just need to put those two together against Rutgers next weekend, in what has certainly become a must win game for Butch Davis’ Tar Heels and their season.

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets enter this game against UNC on Saturday, coming off a disappointing 28-25 loss to the Kansas Jayhawks last Saturday. Whereas the extremely shorthanded Tar Heels, playing without 13 players including offensive stars Greg Little, Ryan Houston and Shaun Draughn and their entire starting defensive secondary, lost 30-24 to the LSU Tigers in a valiant comeback attempt by the Heels.

Luckily for the Heels this week, starting running back Shaun Draughn rejoins the team as they continue to look for a consistent running game to Quarterback T.J. Yates. Yates played extremely well in the opener by completing 28 of 46 passes for 412 yards and 3 Touchdowns.

Ultimately, the keys of the game this week for UNC against Georgia Tech are to establish the running game early in order to take some pressure of Yates. The last thing the Tar Heels want is to become one-dimensional on offense and allow that Georgia Tech front four to get consistent pressure on the quarterback. Also, offensive coordinator John Shoop needs to continue to a good job of getting the ball to his playmakers on offense such as Jheranie Boyd, Erik Highsmith and Zack Pianalto.

As for the Defense, it is extremely important for UNC’s young defensive ends Kareem Martin, Donte Paige-Moss and Quinton Coples to stay disciplined against this deadly Georgia Tech triple option offense. Georgia Tech Quarterback Josh Nesbitt has top-end speed and is now in his third season as a starter for the Yellow Jackets. It will also be interesting to see of course how the Tar Heels perform on special teams this week after being burned on them multiple times by LSU in the season opener.

All in all, I feel fairly confident that the UNC defense will be more than up to the challenge against Paul Johnson’s triple option offense and that the young defense will play exponentially better after the bye-week. I also think the Tar Heels have some budding young starts at the Wide Receiver position and I am excited to see the passing game continue to improve throughout the year.

The Yellow Jackets are going to pose quite the challenge though for the Tar Heels, and I see this game being extremely close throughout. My prediction is that UNC will pull this one out 24-21 over the Yellow Jackets. I have a feeling that Erik Highsmith is going to have a big day for the Heels.