But Clemson’s defense has been practicing all season, Lawson said, against its own high-flying attack, which leads the ACC in total yards and can be as quick-strike as the Tar Heels.
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“From the second quarter on, we started to execute better”, graduate transfer Juston Burris said. If this keeps up at a consistent level, they could very well finish the season how they were rated in the preseason: at No. 1. Let’s get you ready for the showdown.
N.C. State outscored UNC 27-10 and outgained the Tar Heels 380-245 in total yardage after the opening quarter, though that hardly mattered since the Tar Heels were in complete control. And they’ve been that way for how many weeks?
This was a unusual game.
Postgame in one of the Bank of America Stadium locker rooms, UNC linebacker Jeff Schoettmer said he gathered the Tar Heels and began explaining that they lost a close one, 17-13, because they’d made some mistakes, but those errors were correctable.
While the Detroit Lions haven’t exactly been the high watermark of offense this season, former Lions’ OC, Lombardi is available and brings with him years of NFL experience and worked with Drew Brees while in New Orleans during some of his most productive seasons in the league. He has a dominant running back in Hood, several receivers – Hollins, Switzer, Bug Howard, Quinshad Davis – capable of stretching the field and then Williams weaving it all together.
“It obviously wasn’t a flawless season by any means”, Deichmeister said. But right now, with everything still riding on every play, Carolina is showing signs of strain.
“It just kind of gives you a measuring stick of where you’re at”, he said. But there is some suspense for the ACC, and it all centers around an upset in the championship game on Saturday. Now, the Heels are wandering in. North Carolina’s tough, but manageable task will be to play the lockdown defense in the passing game they have played all year while limiting the damage that Watson and Gallman can do on the ground.
Put it this way. Logan’s 40-yard run pushed the edge to 28-7.
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And while the offense ranks among the nation’s best, none of that would have been possible without the resurrection of a defense that was historically bad only a year earlier. They became only the fourth team to match the program single-season record of 11 wins, last set in 1997 in Mack Brown’s final season before taking over at Texas. If Jake Layman has more rebounds than shot attempts, the Terps should be in good shape. The first three games were played at Gonzaga with the Zags (4-3) beating West Virginia and Grand Canyon before losing to USC. After getting off to a slow start Jackson has come on lately as he leads the team with 14.7 points per game and has gotten his shooting percentage up to 51 percent. Clemson enters with undefeated pressure and a championship on the mind, while the Heels, still being told a win won’t get them into the top four, will play with nothing to lose.
