One teams enter the season trying to prove that they’re worthy of the low Top-25 rankings they’ve now been assigned, in the hope of climbing higher by day’s end.
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Freshman quarterback Jacob Eason had an encouraging debut, even though he didn’t start. Star receiver Ryan Switzer and senior Bug Howard are back, and of course there’s Hood.
“Really the biggest deal for us is he’s been a starter on all four special teams, so you’re talking about four different units that you’re having to prepare for”, UNC coach Larry Fedora said Monday at his game-week news conference. The game is also airing on a live stream online. “There are a lot of things I can’t control outside that, that have nothing to do with the outcome of the game”.
“He’s probably the best quarterback that nobody knows about, because in my mind it’s nearly like he’s a returning starter because of what he played early in the year”, Smart said, “and the guy does a really good job with offense”. Those numbers were skewed by Baylor’s 645 yards in the Champs Sports Bowl, but the Tar Heels held only one opponent (Miami) under 100 yards and gave up over 300 in matchups against Duke, NC State and Clemson.
The biggest defensive play of the game came on Roquan Smith’s third quarter safety on North Carolina running back Elijah Hood.
Through the air, Georgia chose to start the second quarter with true freshman quarterback, Jacob Eason, after benching starter Greyson Lambert.
UNC tied it early in the second quarter on Trubisky’s bootleg run from a yard out, and Eason entered to replace Lambert amid a roar from Bulldogs fans anxious to see the prized recruit. A year earlier, they held a fourth-quarter lead over SC.
Nick Chubb once again stood front and center for the Bulldogs as they opened the Kirby Smart era with a 33-24 over North Carolina. Let us take a look at the top five takeaways from this game. If the Tar Heels have any hope of making the college football playoffs, then they will need to improve this part of their defense.
By winning the little games – even if, yes, there are no little games – by moving steadily forward, they earned the right to open the season in an National Football League stadium against an SEC opponent two years in a row. If Chubb stays healthy, he can build on this performance, and he has a solid chance of contending for the Heisman at the end of the year. That could spell bad news for a North Carolina defense that has struggled mightily against the run in recent years. No matter. On the first play of the drive, Chubb busted off the game-winning 55-yard touchdown run. Starting inside its own 10-yard line, UNC was stymied on three plays, the last of which was a first-down completion overturned by an official review. UNC ranked 13th in the ACC in total defense (435.9 yards per game) and last in run defense (247.4 yards) in 2015.
Chubb’s play pushed the Bulldogs to victory, and when Georgia needed a play to seal the win, it turned to Chubb. With the uncertainty surrounding Georgia’s quarterback situation and a lack of proven playmakers on the outside, can North Carolina crowd the box to stop Chubb and force Lambert or Eason to win this game through the air? William Ham missed a 42-yard field goal in the second quarter, which could have been huge if the second half had gone differently.
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“I think we’re going to win by more than just a field goal”, Weiler said. Chubb is Bama strong, but Smart wants that to turn into a new Georgia strong for his entire team. Chubb and senior Brendan Douglas, with a little bit of Brian Herrien, handled the running back duties in the first half. “It was a big swing in the game to get the momentum back”.
