Another interview with "The Pulse of the South"

After a great game played by the North Carolina Tar Heels and what I have to believe was a great game plan installed by the coaching staff, Butch Davis and his team are now ranked. I went and found my good friend "The Pulse of the South" to ask him about the game and what he thought was good (and bad) about Saturday's match up against the Huskies. In all I thought he said things I was waiting to hear, but he also touched on some things that I wasn't thinking about, and now will be watching for.

A.E.M. Thoughts on the game between the Heels and the Huskies?

The Pulse Good game plan, great work by the defense to get Connecticut in third and long situations, good work by Cam Sexton in keeping it simple and working with what he was given by the UConn defense. In all the team that won was the one that played the game closest to what they had envisioned would win them the game. Getting the lead and making Edsall's team play the pass more had to be Davis' game plan. That is what happened and that is why UNC is now 4 and 1.

A.E.M. Did you think at any point that Connecticut could come back and take control of the game?

The Pulse There were three drives that if Notre Dame had gotten touchdowns from any of them, and score on all of them, could have changed the game. Instead in the three drives they got six points from them and not one touchdown.

First drive of the game, long/sustained drive, they come out with three points on the road. That to me is like giving the home team momentum. You drive most of the field, you need to score that touchdown. Second one, last drive of the half, where they are once again driving and just like that a bad play by the receiver, interception, and no points. Then, the last one is the first drive of the second half, again, nice drive, three points only. At half the score was 17 to 3, a touchdown before the half, and the field goal after would have made the game 3 points difference, this way it was a two score difference.

That to me was the key for the game. Three drives that should have netted a lot more than six points.

A.E.M. There were a lot of good things for the Heels, what did you see that this team still has to improve.

The Pulse North Carolina gave up in all 12 points. That is two field goals and one touchdown. Thanks to penalties 9 of those 12 points were scored, that is 75% because of silly/dumb penalties that need to stop, because in a much tighter game they can be the difference between winning and losing. I am sure that the coaching staff is going over this with the defense side of the team, because, from what I remember of the last couple of games, the one drawback of this team is the penalties.

A.E.M. Could there be a quarterback contreversy when T.J. Yates comes back?

The Pulse I would say no in one way, yes in another. The no part is that I believe everyone, both on the staff and on the team, know that unless Sexton is doing superman like things, once the starter is ready to play once again, he will step in and play. I would say this would change if the six weeks turned into more, than maybe Yates might sit because too late into the season.

The yes part is the fact that I might be nitpicking, but to have who you thought would be the back up qb not get a snap when the game is in control would have been a good idea in my opinion. With one qb already out why keep the guy who is doing so well as a back up stay in when winning by over three scores. I am not saying that Paulus is going to be upset with it, I am just thinking, you have the possibility to play him, why not do it.

A.E.M. What about the running game. Is it set now or does it need to do a lot more to be a factor?

The Pulse The running game is there for as much as it can be. This team has the playmakers on the receiving core. The run is the support to that. Of course you want the run to work, in order to have the play action in the arsenal as well, but right now, the things are working and why mess up with something that is getting you the win.

A.E.M. You and I had a small discussion about off the field things for this team. Want to share that, or not?

The Pulse Sure, would love to. We talked about the blog on ESPN, I read what you said and the other web site you sent me to. I read what the blogger wrote and all the comments. I think you said it best when you said "you hate to pay attention to what the ESPN blogger is saying, but not to pay attention to it means that they can do as they please". I also admire the guys like you that do these blogs, putting time, effort and heart into them, while others, who are paid, just put in words to fill up pages. Take it from someone who had a job in a newspaper for over a decade and a half and now still writes, it is pretty easy to see who writes from the heart and who writes for a paycheck.

Editor's Notes: The other blogger is Tar Heel Fan, the ESPN blogger is Heather Dinich, and the piece he read from me is this one.

Very interesting interview. Watching the game again today I did think about the penalties called on the Heels on defense and the points they caused. I guess it is true that winning hides a lot of the problems. Hopefully, good practices get rid of the problems altogether. The game against a non ranked Irish squad isn't going to be easy, as they all believed they should have been in the Top 25, and will try to use this game to prove their point.