(Sports Network) - The 22nd-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels jump
into ACC play this weekend, as they invade Atlanta to take on the Georgia Tech
Yellow Jackets at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

The Tar Heels swept their first three opponents of the season and that
includes a recent 31-17 triumph of East Carolina this past weekend.

"On all three phases, we did enough good things to give ourselves a chance to
win," said head coach Butch Davis. "I was just proud of the effort that our
team showed."

UNC's 3-0 start is its first since 1997, when the Mack Brown-led Tar Heels
began the season with eight straight wins. The Tar Heels now turn their focus
to the ACC, where they went an even 4-4 a season ago.

As for Tech, it has already played two league games and the results of those
two contests varied. After nipping Clemson, 30-27, in a thriller, the Yellow
Jackets were downed by nationally-ranked Miami-Florida, 33-17, on Thursday
September 17th.

"I am disappointed in the way we played Thursday night and the way we
coached," said head coach Paul Johnson. "It was a group effort. It didn't turn
out the way we would have liked."

Now at 2-1 overall and out of the Top 25, the Jackets must regroup, as they
can ill-afford another league loss this early in the season.

Rebounding against a tough club like UNC is easier said than done, though Tech
has won five straight meetings between the schools at Bobby Dodd Stadium
dating back to 1997. The Jackets hold a 23-18-3 lead in the all-time series,
although the Tar Heels captured a 28-7 victory in Chapel Hill last season.

The Tar Heels did a good job moving the ball against ECU last weekend, as they
rushed for 148 yards and threw for 285 more. T.J. Yates continued his solid
play under center and he completed 19-of-24 tosses for 227 yards and two
scores in the 31-17 triumph.

"I thought T.J. Yates was outstanding today," said Davis. "His composure, his
poise, his percentage of completions was very good. He was smart with the
football. He was keeping everybody in their routes."

Yates has now completed 67.1 percent of his tosses on the year and that is
pretty impressive considering he has an entirely new group of wideouts this
season. Several true freshman wideouts came on strong for UNC last weekend,
helping the team forget about the three receivers it lost to the NFL draft
this past offseason. Erik Highsmith made his first start and he led the team
with six receptions for 113 yards and a score, while fellow rookie Jheranie
Boyd hauled in his lone reception for 59 yards and a touchdown.

"Each one of those kids is finding little bitty things that they can add to
try to help our offense," said Davis about his group of freshman receivers.

In the backfield, Shaun Draughn leads UNC with 223 yards on the season, while
Ryan Houston has all four of the team's rushing touchdowns, including two last
weekend.

While the offense has showed a lot of promise, the Tar Heels are built around
their defense, which returned nine starters from a year ago. The unit
certainly hasn't disappointed thus far, holding foes to just 198.7 total ypg,
including only 52.3 rushing ypg.

"A rock solid core of this football team, clearly, is our defense," stated
Davis. "That's the anchor that you hang on to. You know that they're going to
go out and that they're going to compete."

The defense certainly competed last weekend, as the unit limited ECU to just
247 yards of total offense. The unit surrendered only 55 rushing yards on 30
carries, while recording a pair of sacks and a takeaway.

Defensive end Robert Quinn accounted for both sacks and the sophomore now has
three sacks on the season and five for his career. Corner Charles Brown also
had a nice game, finishing with nine stops and a fumble recovery. Brown has
shown a nose for the ball and has two picks and a pair of fumble recoveries on
the season.

Tech's spread-option offense has produced 243.7 rushing ypg on the season, but
the unit has struggled with consistency and that was evident in last week's
loss to Miami. The Jackets did very little in a big game versus the
Hurricanes, managing only 228 total yards, with only 95 of them coming on the
ground.

"Can we be better on offense, you bet and we need to be better" said coach
Johnson. "We need to block the perimeter better, which was atrocious the other
night."

To make matters worse, tailback Jonathan Dwyer left last game with a shoulder
injury and did not play in the second half. The reigning ACC Player of the
Year has amassed just 168 yards on the ground thus far, but is expected to
play despite being listed as questionable.

Quarterback Josh Nesbitt hasn't exactly found his stride yet either for Tech
and last weekend he had just 29 rushing yards on 14 carries. He however, did
have one of his better passing games with 133 yards and a score on 6-of-15
tosses. The multi-dimensional quarterback is more of a runner than a passer,
and he leads the ground attack with 213 yards on the year.

Demaryius Thomas is clearly the team's main target, as he has accounted for
327 of the team's 412 receiving yards on the season. The 6-3, 230-pound
wideout with good speed is a matchup problem for any corner and last weekend
he caught all six of Nesbitt's passes for 133 yards and a score.

Defensively, the Jackets offered little resistance against Miami, which rolled
up 454 yards of total offense without a single turnover. Tech allowed Miami to
convert 20-of-25 pass attempts and rack up five plays of at least 20 yards.

"The guys who have played need to bring the energy to the defense," said
Johnson. "Good players make plays. That is the bottom line. If you want to
bring energy, you need to make plays."

Tech didn't make any big plays last week and finished with no sacks, while
allowing Miami to hit on 8-of-13 third down chances. The Jackets have come up
with just four takeaways through the first three games and they certainly need
to improve on that.

Derrick Morgan has been one of the few bright spots for the defense, as he
leads the way with five sacks and 6.5 TFLs. He however, was limited to just
one tackle in last week's loss.






Copyright 2009 The Sports Network
All rights reserved

 Email To Friend