Holliday: Triangle football teams off to an historic start

By Bob Holliday, WRAL Sports contributor

You have to go back to 1994 – almost 30 years! – to find a football season where NC State, Duke and UNC began the campaign with such a flourish.

That was the year Mike O’Cain took over as head coach at State and started 4-0 en route to a 9-3 season capped by a bowl victory. Duke, then coached by Fred Goldsmith, started 7-0, finished 8-4 and made the school’s only postseason appearance in the entire decade. UNC won two, lost to No. 3 Florida State by the respectable score of 31-18, and then won another three straight. The Tar Heels also finished 8-4 with a bowl trip. 1994, what a season!

Now 2014 might also warrant statistical comparison in that NC State and Duke both started 4-0 and UNC won its first two. But UNC was routed by East Carolina 70-41. Plus State lost four straight after the good start.

Meanwhile, this September of 2022 affords the potential for more wins as State hosts Texas Tech and Connecticut, while Duke plays North Carolina A&T and Kansas. UNC gets a week off, then welcomes Notre Dame, which is suddenly 0-2 after losing at home to Marshall.

Throw in Wake Forest’s 2-0 start, and 2022 looks even more promising. Moreover, Wake routed Vanderbilt, giving the ACC a 2-1 record against the SEC and a 4-3 mark against Power Five competition overall.

Then consider that ECU routed Old Dominion which beat Virginia Tech and that Appalachian won at #6 Texas A&M. By the transitive property of football, NC State and UNC can now feel better about their narrow escapes in Greenville and Boone on Labor Day weekend.

The three Triangle teams have winning in common. But their paths to victory last Saturday varied mightily.

Wolfpack locks down Charleston Southern

NC State’s defense performed as expected Saturday against an inferior opponent. The Wolfpack tackled crisply, holding Charleston Southern to 36 yards rushing and 150 yards overall. The Pack forced three turnovers and kept the Buccaneers out of the end zone.

For me, the big developments occurred on the offensive side of the ball. Devin Leary ran in the red zone. In fact, Leary ran for two scores before he even thought about throwing a touchdown pass.

Leary’s first run capped a 95-yard drive. The Pack faced a third-and-10 at the CSU 12, on the brink of a second possession that would end with a field goal attempt. Leary had other ideas, pile driving his way to the first down and then carrying two Buccaneers with him into the end zone. On the next series, Leary kept the ball on the zone read, turning a third and one at the two into six points. The Carter-Finley crowd, mindful of this team’s goal line futility at ECU, went crazy over this new wrinkle in Tim Beck’s offense.

Leary also looked more like his normal self passing, connecting on 16 of 25 for four touchdowns and no interceptions. The quarterback continued to look for new targets and not just rely on Thayer Thomas and Devin Carter. Leary threw touchdowns to wide receiver Anthony Smith and tight end Chris Toudle. He also hit Jordan Houston and Delbert Mimms out of the backfield for scores.

Dave Doeren began to substitute after Toudle’s touchdown put the Pack up 45-0. NC State continued to spread the ball around. A whopping 14 different receivers caught passes vs. CSU.

And there were special teams’ bright spots. Chris Dunn kicked his 70th and 71st career field goals. Thayer Thomas put together two terrific punt returns of 21 and 38 yards, shortening the field for Leary and the offense.

Much was good about State’s 55-3 victory, but it wasn’t perfect. The Wolfpack lost a fumble at its own 36, leading to the Buccaneers’ only score of the day. And State committed seven penalties for 59 yards, many of those infractions coming on drives in the first half. Offensive yards may be a little more difficult to come by Saturday night against Texas Tech. The Pack can’t be making mistakes that get the offense off schedule and cause drives to bog down.

Fast start for Duke in Elko's first season

Mike Elko’s new-look Duke Blue Devils picked up where they left off against Temple and even turned it up a notch against a Northwestern team that piled up 543 yards in its opening victory. Defensive back Cam Dillon put a good hit on big running back Evan Hull on the Wildcats’ first drive forcing a punt. Defensive end Vincent Anthony smeared Hull for a seven yard loss at the Duke 25 on the Cats second possession. That led to an Adam Stage field goal that missed. On Northwestern’s third series the Blue Devils held the Cats to two yards in three plays, producing another punt.

While Northwestern was struggling, Duke was scoring touchdowns. Riley Leonard threw a nice misdirection pass to Jordan Calhoun on the first possession. This set up a 16 yard run by Jaylen Coleman. And Duke responded quickly after the Wildcats’ missed field goal. Leonard ran for a first down, then gave the ball to Jordan Waters on the zone read. The now quarterback-conscious Cats missed Waters, who used a good block from Jacob Monk to break off a 42 yard touchdown. Then came the Blue Devils’ biggest play-Leonard’s pass to Eli Pancol. Pancol shook off defenders and raced 81 yards to the Northwestern five-the longest non scoring pass in Duke football history. Waters then ran twice, reaching the end zone on a great effort from the three. So 15 ½ minutes in, Duke led 21-0.

After this, Northwestern came roaring back, moving up and down the field as it did in Ireland against Nebraska back in Week Zero. And, the Wildcats took a two week break after that game. Maybe they were rusty to start? Northwestern on the day rang up 29 first downs and 511 yards of total offense. But resilient Duke would not surrender the lead.

Jordan Moore’s touchdown catch made it 28-16 in the fourth quarter. Then the Wildcats drove to the Duke 38. On fourth and four, Joshua Pickett broke up Ryan Hilinski’s pass-the 11th PBU by the Duke secondary.

Northwestern did score on its next possession and then started a potential game winning drive with 4:23 to go. But Brandon Johnson picked off Hilinsky’s pass. This set up a Charlie Ham field goal and Duke led 31-23. New coach Mike Elko had an opportunity to go for a game clinching touchdown, but took the safe route. Northwestern’s last minute drive demonstrated the need to have more than a five point lead, which is what Duke would have had if the fourth down touchdown try had failed.

The Wildcats drove 74 yards in just over a minute, mostly on Hilinsky’s passing. Hull then surged toward the goal line from 12 yards out. Defensive backs Jaylen Stinson and Darius Joyner hit Hull near the goal line, forcing a fumble. Brandon Johnson pounced on it, and Duke held on to win.

Duke has beaten Northwestern four straight times, even last year when the Blue Devils could not win a single conference game under David Cutcliffe. But Northwestern is much improved in 2022. Saturday’s win in Evanston feels different than the others. And it’s the ACC’s only win against the Big Ten versus losses to Rutgers (Boston College) and Illinois (Virginia). Duke should have a winning record when it begins conference play in three weeks and could even be undefeated.

Heels survive another Sun Belt adventure

Mack Brown thought his offense lacked intensity in the first half. And that was BEFORE the Tar Heels started turning the ball over. Certainly Carolina’s offensive line got whipped most of the day by Georgia State’s stunting, physical defensive front.

The aggressive Panthers tackled Tar Heels for losses seven times. They sacked Drake Maye three times with two more quarterback hurries. I even think there might have been something of an undercount on quarterback hurries.

Carolina scored three first half touchdowns, but each one required perfect execution on big plays. Maye found Kamari Morales in a seam, the tight end breaking a tackle on this 55 yard score. Second quarter, Maye hit tight end Bryson Nesbit (yes tight ends are important this year for UNC) for nine yards, then quickly marshaled his offense to the line of scrimmage before the Panthers could get lined up. The faster tempo produced a six yard touchdown run by D. J. Jones. Then Maye threw 28 yards to a diving Kobe Paysour-a touchdown catch that had to be seen on replay to be believed.

So once against UNC built a big lead on the road against a Sun Belt Conference opponent. What could possibly go wrong?

To this point, UNC’s beleaguered defense had played well, limiting GSU to a mere field goal. But that began to change in just three minutes, as the Panthers marched 75 yards-all but 9 of those yards coming on the ground. Gene Chizik’s defense would be challenged again and again during the final five minutes of the first half and the entire third quarter.

There were some successes. Noah Taylor and Kaimon Rucker sacked Panthers quarterback Darren Grainger to stop one drive. Then after Maye was sacked on fourth and two from his own 39 – a pretty big gamble in my view during a 21-10 game – the defense stood tall again, drilling Grainger on third and five at the UNC 26 and then blocking the ensuing field goal attempt on the stout pressure of Myles Murphy.

But as the offensive woes got worse. Maye’s first interception of the year, a fumble and a punt characterized the first three possessions. The defense began to give way. Grainger found Robert Lewis for a 49 yard touchdown as Lewis beat the corner back and safety Cam’Ron Kelly was late providing help. Next possession, Michael Hayes kicked a 45 yard field goal. And then in spite of Ben Kiernan’s 71-yard punt, Georgia State drove 98 yards on 10 plays for another touchdown.

The tired Tar Heels defense was on the field for all but three minutes in the third quarter and struggled to tackle 220-pound back Tucker Gregg. And Grainger picked on UNC’s underperforming secondary again, hitting Lewis for a 29 yards score. The Panthers added a two-point conversion, and took a 28-21 lead. This sequence produced a flurry of internet traffic calling for Chizik’s immediate dismissal and also led to heated arguments, even some bickering among UNC players on the sideline.

But UNC’s offense, after a period of futility spanning more than 20 minutes, came back to life. Maye found Nesbit for eight yards on second and nine; then, using a quick tempo, sent Omarion Hampton ahead for eight yards and a first down. And UNC’s downtrodden offensive line, reshuffled after the loss of a starter, opened a huge hole for Hampton on the next play. The freshman raced 58 yards and never looked back on the most important touchdown run of his young life.

Maye directed the go-ahead touchdown drive on UNC’s next possession, hitting John Copenhaver (yes another tight end!) for 47 yards. The Panthers committed two pass interference penalties, and Hampton did the rest, powering for 12 yards, 11 yards and the 2- yard touchdown.

Meanwhile, UNC’s defense, led by Power Echols and ACC Linebacker of the Week Cedric Gray, regrouped. The Tar Heels prompted the Panthers to punt the final three times they possessed the football, holding Georgia State to 31 yards on its final 10 snaps. Chizik’s bunch even survived one last turnover challenge when D.J. Jones surrendered the football at the Tar Heel 45. But after Gray blew up an option play on third and ten, the Panthers punted. And Hampton ran out the clock.

So yes, UNC’s defense gave up 235 yards rushing and got torched through the air on two occasions. But most of the damage occurred in that rough 20 minute span in the middle of the game. Over the course of the full 60 minutes, there was more good than bad. Also the Tar Heels committed fewer defensive penalties. That’s another positive.

As to the offense, Brown noted: “It’s pretty good when we can play bad and still scored 35 points.”

UNC is 3-0 for the first time since 2011 and now has two weeks to prepare for Notre Dame.