Fans–and even some folks with even tighter ties to the UNC Football program–probably couldn’t help but be leery of Saturday’s game at Washington State, but the Bears did a nice job of proving that, yes, they can make things happen against the upper-tier of the FBS.
With a rushing attack that racked up 216 yards, the Bears were able to manage over 35 minutes in time of possession for a second straight game. The flaw became the fact that there wasn’t enough ball control as running backs lost four fumbles on the contest, capitalized upon by the Cougars.
However, reiterating that football is by far a game built on teamwork, while Milo Hall ran 31 times for 213 yards, it doesn’t happen without great blocking up front. UNC stayed with the run, even after falling behind, because they were picking up large chunks on the ground and likely could have kept pace with Wazzu without the turnovers.
The passing attack was limited, but that was as much by design as it was a failure on the offense. In many ways, there hasn’t been much shown of the passing game in either of the first two games UNC has played. Without having specifically addressed that with the coaching staff, it may well be that there’s been an attempt to limit what’s been used through the two games, with a full FCS schedule beginning this coming weekend at Sacramento State.
Defensively, this was a bad matchup for UNC because of Washington State’s heavy-set offensive line and their speed on the outside. To give up nearly 600 yards of offense to the Cougars, especially given the four possessions added because of turnovers was about what could be expected.
From a discipline standpoint, the Bears hurt themselves with the turnovers as well as 12 penalties through the game. The majority of those penalties were on the offensive side of the ball–illegal procedure accounted for 10. Some of that may be attributed to playing in front of a solid crowd and some may have just been anxiety playing against a strong FBS club. It can’t happen again, however, for the team to be successful.
Next up: Sacramento State, Saturday 7pm MT.