Rakes Report #195: But I held my breath and I kicked my feet and I moved my arms around (The North Carolina Review)
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~optional musical accompaniment~
1) Because we seek transparency and honesty in this space, I will let you know I was not feeling overly optimistic about our protagonists’ chances going into this game. When the Tar Heels punched in a touchdown on their first drive and the Irish responded by going three-and-out that did not do much to lighten the mood but from that point on, the defense sunk its teeth in just enough on a prodigious attack and the offense consistently moved the ball against a North Carolina side that is still somehow this bad and Marcus Freeman’s Notre Dame squad evened its record on the year, avoiding what could have been an exceptionally sullen bye week. Still so much work to do but there was much fun stuff to continue building on after a second straight win.
2) One of the main questions we were pondering coming into this season is how good of an offense could you build out of polymath running backs, one of the nation’s best tight ends and limited options at receiver. That rumination also factored in Tyler Buchner’s legs, which are no longer on the table, but at least against a sub-100 F+ defense it turns out you can do a lot of damage. After watching the Tar Heel defensive line play volleyball* with his passes early, Drew Pyne settled in and was really good the rest of the way: 70% completion rate and over eight yards an attempt, plus he kicked in some rushing yardage and seemed consistently comfortable and in control and not at all like First Half of Cal Drew Pyne.
* Spikeball Co-ed Summer Series, the program that was scheduled for ESPNews when the noon ABC game went to overtime and delayed the Irish starting there, is a real feat of the English language.
The running game, beautiful, averaging nearly six yards per carry. All three tailbacks went over 100 yards from scrimmage, with Logan Diggs having his best game of the season by far (oh, that throwback wheel route – gorgeous) even if he still doesn’t have his 2021 burst fully back yet, Chris Tyree running with purpose in addition to the flash and Audric Estime absolutely bodying the Carolina defense for his first 100-yard rushing game. Can you imagine being a reserve defensive back in the waning moments of a game that’s out of reach, starting to think about how you might be able to salvage your Saturday and then you have to deal with this sentient freight train lowering his shoulder into you? No thanks, not for me.
Michael Mayer was a monster, utilized to full effect when the result was still in doubt. Nothing but respect for a guy who has NFL millions ahead of him, knows his dream of a national title is dead and is still out there playing his ass off. Lorenzo Styles got on the board with a great touchdown we were eventually able to see, and Jayden Thomas was able to kick in a nice catch-and-run. After an opening three games short on anything resembling explosive plays, this game had a slew of them: All three running backs plus Pyne had carries of 10 yards or more, and five different receivers did the same through the air.* Turns out when your offensive line is getting a consistent push, it makes the work of a coordinator much easier, as Tommy Rees loaded up on the Good Plays.
* It wasn't nine different players because both Diggs and Tyree had a 10+ yard play via ground and air, but you know what I mean.
It really was a dominant performance, with an offensive success rate of 60%. After the first two drives failed to score points, this is how the Irish concluded the game:
Touchdown
Touchdown
Touchdown
Field goal
Touchdown
Touchdown
Failed fourth and short conversion after a solid drive
Touchdown
Fumble a few inches short of yet another touchdown
North Carolina is a very bad defense* and this is the Irish offense doing its job, but every weekend dozens of teams absolutely do not do their jobs so be happy. I have to imagine this entire team and particularly the offense are flying so high after being unable to get out of their own way for the first two and a half games of the season. Wonderful work by Tommy with his hype man in the booth cheering him on.
* F+ Defense ranks going into Week 4: Ohio State 15th, California 22nd, Marshall 58th, UNC 112th.
A drive I’m viewing with particular fondness: After the failure to convert on the fourth and short Pyne sneak, Carolina immediately hit on a long bomb to make it 38-20 with nearly a third of the game remaining. It was a Heels team capable of scoring in bunches and if the Irish had a quick punt or bad turnover things could have gotten a little dicey. Instead: 12 plays, 75 yards, short Tyree touchdown and order restored.
Only negative note before we move on: Tight end Kevin Bauman, who had done quality work as Mayer’s running mate, will miss the rest of the season with an ACL injury. Mitchell Evans should be back from his offseason injury soon but this team needs every ambulatory skill position player possible so it hurts to lose Bauman for the second straight year. Best of luck to him on a speedy, clean recovery.
While very happy with the result, there is certainly a part of me that’s bummed out the Irish couldn’t prod the Tar Heels into a full-on collapse, as they were teetering even in the third quarter, with sniping among the players and dire sideline reports from ESPN. What makes this performance even funnier is that in addition to having so much talent on that side of the ball, North Carolina also has three defensive coordinators, with two official co-coordinators and then Gene Chizik, who’s the assistant head coach for defense. Always nice to see Mack Brown, though – he remains a warm presence, although a slightly overwhelmed football coach at this point. Here’s a quote of his from June:
“When you introduce Gene to your defensive staff and say he was the defensive coordinator that won the national championship for us when we were in Texas. And he was the head coach that won the national championship at Auburn; most people never win a national championship - here’s a guy who’s won two. So he walks in the room with a swagger, a confidence and credibility that every player in that room says wow.”
3) Do not let a couple busted coverages distract you from what was a great effort by the defense, as the line continues to look like what we had hoped/assumed it’d resemble prior to the season. The primary avatar of that destruction on Saturday was Rylie Mills, who took advantage of a Tar Heel front that had allowed pressure all season to notch two sacks and generally look very scary. Drake Maye and company really had to work for that first touchdown, which ended up boding well: In six first-half drives, the Heels scored twice, yes, but also had three three-and-outs and a five-and-out. Then when the offense had done its job coming out of the break, J.D. Bertrand and Justin Ademilola got them the ball back on the very first play for the first turnover of the season. Complementary football!
The defensive backs are good. If you can hang with Ohio State (put 52 on Wisconsin’s defense on Saturday night) and this Carolina receiving corps, that’s a simple statement of fact. Doesn’t mean they won’t have a bad day or a bad series or somehow give up a bomb on fourth-and-21 but Mike Mickens* and Chris O’Leary are doing a great job back there. We had noted the limited impact from the linebackers last week but Jack Kiser and Marist Liufau led the team in tackles Saturday, with Liufau again looking like an absolute terror back in the friendly confines of Kenan Memorial, just as he did during his breakout game on Black Friday 2020. (Carolina’s lead tailback: 10 carries for 28 yards.) There will be a tricky test in the desert next and then some more hurdles on the way to the finale in the Coliseum, but feeling good about what Al Golden has built here.
* Interesting snap count note: Clarence Lewis was in for only 10 plays, while freshman Benjamin Morrison got 51.
Unsolicited but friendly advice: Don’t shift the goalposts on your own happiness here. Yes, the way things were going in the third quarter, a 52-20 score would have looked awful pretty, but before the game there wasn't a single Irish fan who wouldn’t have immediately signed their name in blood with whatever entity of ill repute was offering 45 points, a two-score win and a relatively clean bill of health. Any time you’re on a winning streak going into a bye, however meager that streak may be, you take it.
4) For the first time in the Marcus Freeman Era, we had a clean, productive, not (that) weird end of the first half! After Notre Dame went up 21-14, the Heels got the ball with two and a half minutes left until the break. Three straight incompletions later the offense had possession again and Pyne drove down into scoring range. Now, was calling a timeout only to kick the field goal a little odd? Sure, but given the Irish were set to start with possession after the break (Good deferral! Ideal always, but particularly in an expected shootout!) go ahead and formally make it a two-score game. Giving that whole sequence a B+, dinging only for the lack of a touchdown, but no one did anything blatantly wrong process- or result-wise and that’s progress.
5) Winning Is Hard/Schadenfreude Round Up: This was a weekend where we were so close to complete chaos at the top but had to settle for one major upset and a lot of fun stuff down the card, which is still an idyllic Saturday when coupled with an Irish win. No. 6 Oklahoma lost at home to Kansas State (who lost to Tulane last week in a real lookahead spot), unable to corral Adrian Martinez, living the wonderful life of a man who transferred out of Nebraska. Texas also lost its Big 12 opener in Lubbock, meaning both sides of Red River will be coming in maimed in their attempt to make the title game. Not Big 12 but regionally relevant: No. 10 Arkansas blew a 14-0 lead against Texas A&M and lost at Jerry World, and now they’ve got Alabama coming.
The close calls: In its first game of the season, No. 4 Michigan had its hands full with Maryland. No. 5 Clemson needed a fourth quarter rally and overtime to make it past Wake Forest. No. 7 Southern Cal needed a late touchdown and bevy of picks to survive Oregon State. No. 8 Kentucky only beat Northern Illinois by eight. Not close-close but interesting, No. 1 Georgia was only up 10 points on Kent State in the fourth quarter, which considering what they’ve done to everyone else is a commendable effort from the Golden Flashes.
Miami lost comfortably at home to Middle Tennessee State as a 25.5-point favorite (that’s a lot of field goals) for their second straight defeat. The Blue Raider quarterback had 16 completions for 408 yards, which is delightful. Some of these ACC games down the stretch are going to be Real Sad and I’m excited to rubberneck.
What else? Tennessee almost blew it at home against Florida. Washington State did blow it at home against Oregon, succumbing to Bo Nix Magic. Ole Miss and Penn State had their hands fuller than expected with Tulsa and Central Michigan, respectively. Matt Campbell and Iowa State lost at home as a short favorite to Baylor. Sparty is paying their coach a small fortune to lose at home 34-7 to Minnesota.
My beloved App State Mountaineers blew a 28-3 lead at home against James Madison. Missouri missed a chip-shot field goal at the end of regulation and then fumbled at the goal line in overtime in a loss to Auburn. Northwestern lost at home to Miami (OH) a week after losing to Southern Illinois and they could plausibly finish the season on an 11-game losing streak. Purdue almost lost at home to Florida Atlantic. Boston College got immolated at Florida State, cannot stress how much they stink. Marshall scored just seven points in a loss to Troy, which at this point is a pretty good cosmic bit, you almost have to tip the hat. Georgia Tech lost again and Geoff Collins was fired - I feel like last November’s nationally televised 55-0 walkover by the Irish contributed in some way?
6) Extremely happy for the locker room and also for we, the fans, that it’ll be a peaceful, cheery bye week of cheeseburgers coming off a fine performance and the record evened out at 2-2. I spent a decent amount of last week visualizing how miserable a fortnight of 1-3 with the looming potential for 1-4 would be and I’m so glad that torturing of myself was entirely in vain as the lads came through and then some. This is still far from a perfect team and the offense cannot afford much in the way of injury or this situation could get dicey, but the product for the last three halves has felt much more like what we had been accustomed to watching.
The season is already a third over! I know it wasn’t a lot of fun to start but I still hope you’re appreciating it, warts and all, as it’ll be over before you know it. BYU is a quality team and should/could have some key contributors back from injury by the time the Shamrock Series rolls around, but if the Irish lines play like this the rest of the way they have a shot to win every game remaining. Will they? Probably not, just because the margin for error on offense is so thin, but it’s in play, which didn’t seem possible a week ago. And to have that scintilla of hope going into the bye week is a wonderful gift. Take care of yourselves and each other – there might be an edition next Monday but also perhaps not.
If you’ve read this far, bonus recommendation for how to spend your bye week: The song used at the top was featured in the second episode of this season’s “Reservation Dogs,” one of the best shows on television and available to those of you with Hulu (and perhaps FX on demand? I’m not sure). It’s so funny and so sweet, featuring a great ensemble that meshes well together and solo episode journeys that all work wonderfully. I get great acting, great insults and an exploration of a community, all with a dash of magical realism? Sign me up, even if it’s frustrating to see the awards circuit snub it for lesser fare. Listen to Academy Award winner Guillermo Del Toro, he’s correct, both on this and “Better Call Saul.” And while we’re recommending stuff on Hulu (this is not spon, but if Hulu wants to pay me, they’re welcome to), one of the episodes features Amber Midthunder, the lead in “Prey,” which is badass and worth your time. “A Predator fights a Comanche hunter and her cool dog” is simply a very good idea for a movie and I think you’ll enjoy it.
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