For most of Saturday’s game, the North Carolina Tar Heels were looking at a 3-0 start to the season, including a big Atlantic Coast Conference win on the road. They led 17-3 and even had chances to extend that lead. But they let Clemson hang around, and the Tigers made them pay. Clemson outscored UNC 22-3 in the second half for the 28-20 win for the Tigers. It left UNC dejected, and it feels like a big missed opportunity for the Tar Heels to get that first conference win and some momentum. Holding a lead in the fourth and the ball, a weather delay of over two hours ended up being important.UNC’s drive stalled, and they only got a field goal. From there, Clemson scored two touchdowns to get the home win. After the game, UNC head coach Bill Belichick met the media to discuss what went wrong for the Tar Heels in the game, among other things. Quotes via Inside Carolina.Opening Statement “Proud of the way our players competed. Clemson’s a good football team. In the end, they made a few more plays than we did in the last eight minutes of the game. We missed a couple of opportunities on offense and missed some tackles on defense. Had a couple long runs that obviously hurt us, so, you know, disappointing again. But we’ve just got to keep working and keep getting better, which we are. So there’s really not too much to say. Give Clemson credit; they made the plays at the end of the game they needed to make.”Difference after the fast start?“We ran the ball consistently. We didn’t finish in the end zone a couple of times when we got down there. But again, you know, we’re playing against a good football team.”On fourth-down play at the end of game“I feel like it was a good play.”Scheme changes for Clemson?“I think they pretty much did the same thing most of the game. They gave us a lot of different pressures, which we expected, and mixed it up and went to some odd front. But it’s what they normally do.”Out of weather delay, was plan to run it twice?“We missed an opportunity down there. I’ll just leave it at that.”What can team learn from this game?“Every game is a learning experience. Win or lose, we learn from all of them. Things we do well, we want to keep doing. Things we need to do better, we need to improve them. That’s all the way across the board. Players, coaches, everybody.”How you guys handle Clemson QB Tait Reynolds?“He did some good things. He threw a couple of interceptions. One counted, one didn’t. You know, the receivers did a good job running with the ball. He made a couple of good runs. Good, competitive game.”How did the secondary play?“We had our moments. We completed some short passes, and we gave up a couple down the sideline on play actions or fake slip screens. Overall, not bad. I mean, just two really good receivers. Those guys are hard to tackle, and they got us a couple times, and I thought we covered them pretty well and tackled them pretty well at times.”Concerns with vertical passi
Content Source: Yahoo News
Image Credit: Getty Images
All rights to the news content and images belong to their respective copyright owners.