Before every football game this year, The Blue Zone will sit down with a football writer from the opposing school’s student newspaper to get the scoop on their team and season.
This week, The Chronicle’s Nick Martin spoke to the The Daily Tar Heel's sports editor Grace Raynor about Thursday's prime time battle for the Victory Bell between No. 25 Duke and North Carolina.
TC: Hi Grace, thanks for speaking with me today. So North Carolina went through that early season slump, losing four-straight games and everybody went through an all-hope-is-lost phase. But now, they've won three of their last four. And it seems like this has been North Carolina's schtick for the past two years—lose early, win late. What are the coaches able to get out of the players that they can't in the beginning of the season?
DTH: Most of it starts and ends with last season, UNC started out 1-5 and then right around the time Brynn Renner got hurt was when Marquise took over the sole quarterback duties. Then this year, they started out a little rough and I think Coach Fedora was so set on having Maquise Williams and Mitch Kavisky rotate in-and-out. He had this big plan where Kavisky would always come in on the third series, regardless. I can't remember when he stopped doing that—I want to say Notre Dame. But since then, Marquise has been playing the whole game, and since Mitch stopped coming in the third series, I think Marquise's flow has been smooth and he's just been able to build on what he does in games. I think he's a player that once he gets going and then he gets pulled out, he doesn't do a great job being able to start back up again. Now that he has sole responsibility, I think that he is hands down the heart-and-soul of this team. Now that he's flowing, the team is following.
TC: And the Tar Heels will get running back Romar Morris back [from his one-week suspension due to a DUI] this week, and although he hasn't had as much influence as I think he might have had in past years—which, of course, comes with their new stable of backs—what kind of advantage does he bring for North Carolina into Thursday's matchup?
DTH: The biggest thing that Romar's going to bring is some much-needed depth in this running back spot, because Elijah Hood had so many big expectations coming in and he's been hurt for the last four games. He hasn't played since Notre Dame. So Elijah Hood is out. Khris Francis tore his ACL on Saturday, so he's out. And so, really, the load is going to come to T.J. Logan and now Romar Morris. [Williams] can handle the rushing load by himself most of the time, but I think when those running backs help, it definitely makes his job a little easier.
TC: Now, let's flip over to the other side of the field for UNC—because I don't think scoring is going to be an issue for it. What's going to be an issue is keeping Duke from scoring. The Tar Heels are letting up 511 yards per game, 41 points. What about the defense is not working?
DTH: I don't think this is all of it, but UNC runs a 4-2-5 defense, and I think—honestly, in my opinion—I think it's a little too complex for the personal that they have. I think too that they are 10 games in now and they are finding a way, but at the beginning of the season, losing Kareem Martin and Jabari Price and Tre Boston [to graduation], they had to figure out how to do it without the three of them. So it's a young group running a really complex defense that I don't know if they're quite ready for yet.
TC: And going back to how the season has progressed for them, when the Tar Heels have lost, they do it up right—they've lost big. Notre Dame was the exception. The rest were two-plus touchdown losses. But when North Carolina wins, outside of Liberty, it has been eking out these five-point or less wins. Going into Thursday's matchup, how can they not let the game get out of hand fast?
DTH: The defense is going to have to step up, especially with how last year, Anthony Boone and Jamison Crowder killed them. I think that does fall on UNC. The big thing, and this might sound kind of cliche, but I don't think that they forgot what happened last year, with Marquise throwing that pick in the last 13 seconds. I think that in itself, if it was any other team, they might be able to get over, but since it was at home on Senior Day versus Duke and they threw a pick to lose it, I think they still remember that and that could be the "it" factor to keep them going.
TC: Alright, and to wrap things up, what's your final score prediction for Thursday?
DTH: I think it's going to be close again like it was last year. I do think Duke will win. I'm going to say 31-28.
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