It’s obvious this year’s North Carolina squad is not even close to what it was a year ago, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
Last year, the Tar Heels allowed 39.0 points a game. They gave up 497.8 yards a game, including 257.4 through the air. But that was last year.
At the end of the year, head coach Larry Fedora said good-bye to Vic Koenning and brought in former Auburn head coach Gene Chizik to be his new defensive coordinator. It has proven to be a good move.
One of the many reasons No. 8 North Carolina has made it to the ACC Championship Game is due to its tremendous improvement on the defense side of the ball.
“I think the biggest thing is they have not given up nearly as many big plays,” said Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, whose No. 1 ranked team will play the Tar Heels next Saturday in Charlotte. “They gave up a lot of big plays last year. We had a bunch of big plays on them.”
Clemson had four plays that went for touchdowns. Quarterback Deshaun Watson threw touchdown passes of 74, 50, 24, 33 and 33 yards to Germone Hopper, Mike Williams and Artavis Scott as he set a Clemson record with six touchdown passes in the game.
Watson threw for 435 yards—the second most yards in Clemson history for one game—while completing 27 of 36 passes.
But again, that was last year. This year, the Tar Heels are keeping everything in front of them. Their pass defense ranks 19th in the country, and is yielding just 186.7 yards per game. Overall, opponents are averaging just 20.8 points, which also ranks 19th nationally.
“We have very much cut down on giving up explosive plays,” UNC head coach Larry Fedora said on Sunday. “We have done a really good job of that and a good job of keeping people out of the end zone.”
Overall, North Carolina still has some issues. The run defense, though improved, is still giving up 208.3 yards per game on the ground, which ranks 106th nationally. They also don’t put much pressure on the quarterback – getting just 23 sacks.
But they have forced 24 turnovers and they rank 16th nationally in turnover margin.
“They have been very sound in what they have done. I think (Chizik) has really done a great job of giving them the best chance each and every week to be successful. They are very disciplined and sound and are playing with good fundamentals.
“They have not given up nearly the amount of big plays.”
Most win. Clemson comes into the ACC Championship Game next week with a 12-0 record, while the Tar Heels are 11-1. The 23 combined wins between the teams heading into the game is the most in the history of the title game.
Players of the game. Swinney announced Deshaun Watson was the Tigers offensive player of the game for the South Carolina game, while Kevin Dodd got defensive player of the game honors and longer snapper Jim Brown was named the special teams player of the game.
Still No. 1. Clemson was again ranked No. 1 by the Associated Press on Saturday afternoon. It is the fourth straight week the Tigers have owned the top spot in the writers’ poll.
Clemson is also ranked No. 1 for a third straight week in the Amway Coaches Poll. The College Football Playoff Rankings will be released on Tuesday at 7 p.m.