UNC Preview

I'm starting to think we may be pretty good.  That was a sloppy game, and I don't think Pitt is very good, but still - that was a fairly dominant performance.  We gave up a punt return for a TD, and lost 4 turnovers while only gaining 1, and still the game was not in very much doubt down the stretch.  Ultimately we won by 18.  I think we would have scored a TD on about 80% of our drives if we hadn't fumbled.  As it was, we scored 35 points on 12 possessions (excluding the late 3 and out trying to run clock when up 35-17 with 3 minutes left, and our backups in).  That's excellent offense.

Again, to be clear, I think Pitt is bad.  Maybe very bad.  So let's not get carried away.  But, depending on what happens with Tennessee this year, we may eventually look back on that week 1 loss as a game that ruined what could have been a pretty great year.  Of course, what could make it a great year would be accomplishing something like winning the ACC Coastal, but if we do that and lose to UGA, that tends to ruin that achievement.  At least for me.  And should that happen, I probably won't really care about an overtime loss to Tennessee in Week 1.

But I'm getting way ahead of myself.  What I like about this team is the offense looks very efficient, and Marshall has played great.  The defense looks bigger and faster than we are used to seeing, and has been getting stops (let's just ignore the 4th quarter and OT against Tenn - that's the only real counterpoint so far).

What I like about UNC is basically nothing.  They haven't really looked good doing much of anything.  They lost at home to California, in a noon game (usually a tough time slot for west coast teams).  They lost at home to Duke.  We don't know how good either of those teams are, but my guess is they are both mediocre-ish.  UNC was very competitive with Louisville, but I don't think Louisville is nearly as good this year as they were last year.  UNC has also been devastated by injuries.

As always, this early in the year, its hard to say anything definitively, but this looks like a game that GT should win without too much trouble.  We all know our defense, if it plays poorly, can let just about anyone hang around.  And further, if we keep turning the ball over, we could certainly lose.  But hopefully, we will hold on to the ball, and play a solid game, and if that happens, I don't think UNC will put up much of a challenge.  Having lost three in a row to these guys, I really hope we play well and don't make this more interesting than it should be.

Let's go Jackets!