Notes From The Margin – Meineke Car Care Bowl Edition
December 27th, 2008 by Jason Roberts
This year’s Meineke Car Care Bowl features the two dynamic offenses of the North Carolina Tar Heels and the West Virginia Mountaineers. UNC comes into the host city of Charlotte with an 8-4 record overall, 4-4 in the ACC, and featuring a high-powered passing offense led by quarterbacks T.J. Yates and Cameron Sexton and record-breaking wide receiver Hakeem Nicks. WVU, in the meantime, possesses the most productive rushing attack in the Big East, with Pat White under center and Noel Devine at tailback manufacturing 217 yards of offense per contest on the ground.
NFTM takes a closer look at both teams heading into Saturday’s matchup and uncovers Nicks’ potential for breaking yet another receiving record for the Tar Heels, the observations of West Virginia’s Alric Arnett about the UNC secondary, determines whether or not size does matter when it comes to the North Carolina defensive front, practices rumor control with WVU head coach Bill Stewart in regard to Devine’s mysterious benching against USF on December 6th, and analyzes the effects of challenges facing the Mountaineers in the defensive backfield.
The potential for a huge day for Hakeem Nicks . . .
The Charleston Gazette points that this weekend’s bowl game means potentially big things for North Carolina wideout Hakeem Nicks. Already the owner of the school’s career receiving yardage record, the 6’1”, 210-pound junior from Charlotte, North Carolina needs only five more receptions to set the university record for most career catches. “He’s a big-timer,” notes West Virginia Mountaineers defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel. “And really they have other guys, but he’s been their go-to guy.” Castell is right on the money in his assessment, given that for the season, Nicks has accumulated 62 receptions for 1005 yards. Yet, that the junior set the all-time career reception record this Saturday isn’t quite a sure bet; the Gazette explains after all that an analysis of Nicks’ performances this year show a dichotomy of production, eerily associated with whether or not the Tar Heels win or loss a given contest in which the wideout plays. In UNC’s eight wins, the article reports, Nicks averaged 5.4 catches for 93.9 yards and nine touchdowns. In the team’s four losses, however, the Tar Heels receiver averaged only 4.3 catches for 63.5 yards and did not reach the endzone one single time.
Noticeable on film . . .
Ask Alric Arnett was he’s noticed in all the time spent recently in the WVU film room preparing for this weekend’s bowl game against North Carolina, and he’ll respond, as discussed in the Christmas Day edition of the Charleston Daily Mail, the Tarheels “give up a lot of big plays in the passing game . . . . [they've] given up a lot of deep balls.” “I know,” Arnett continues, “it’s just a matter of going up and making a play against these guys.” That the Mountaineers’ junior receiver took notice of such a tendency isn’t surprising; after all, the Daily Mail points out, opponents completed at least 60 percent of their passes four times on the season and threw multiple touchdowns in the same number of contests. This, coupled with the fact that North Carolina surrendered between 204 and 383 yards eight times in 2008, highlights that the Tar Heels oftentimes play a seven- to eight-man front in order to defend against the run. “I’d imagine they’ll try to do that to us,” head coach Bill Stewart comments, adding, “I’d try to do that if I was an opposing coach. If they do to us what Cincinnati did, what South Florida did the last two years – and not this year – or what Pitt did to us last year and lock us down [in the secondary], we’re in for a long day.” Still, as Stewart and the Mail point out, West Virginia is a team “better passing the ball than people accept,” this even though the Mountaineers’ are 109th in the nation when it comes to throwing the ball. And given that the WVU offensive line has given up only 14 sacks the entire season – 15th best in the country – it is hardly far-fetched to believe that wideouts like Arnett might break lose against UNC’s corners and safeties and find themselves having a big day come Saturday afternoon.
Still, size does matter . . .
MSNSportsNet.com writes this week that the one thing which has offensive coordinator for West Virginia, Jeff Mullen, worried heading into Saturday’s bowl game against the North Carolina Tar Heels is how his interior linemen will be able to handle UNC’s physical defensive front four. With a pair of 300 pounders in junior Cam Thomas and sophomore Marvin Austin, Mullen tells John Antonik, “They’ve got two really good inside football players over our guards. Up the gut they are a really strong football team.” Offensive line coach Dave Johnson echos Mullen’s sentiments, stating, “They’re a base four-man front which is a front that gives you some problems inside. They’re big . . . [and] get great movement . . .” Even more troublesome, the same physicality present along the Tar Heels’ defensive line extends beyond the front four, stretching as far back as senior all-ACC strong safety Trimaine Goddard and free safety Deunta Williams. Thus, size and playmaking ability truly do make a difference on the field for North Carolina – and West Virginia recognizes it. Still, Mullen finds some solace in the fact that UNC isn’t “schematically . . . anything different than what we’ve seen all year long.” Johnson too doesn’t identify the Tar Heels “as a blitz team,” instead bringing pressure “whenever they think they can get to you.” That should help West Virginia’s cause Saturday, an effort only further assisted by the absence of second-leading tackler for North Carolina, Mark Paschal, who suffered a spinal chord injury during the loss to in-state rival, the North Carolina State Wolfpack.
All signs point to a touch of the Devine . . .
Given that sophomore tailback for the West Virginia Mountaineers, Noel Devine, was held out of the first quarter of the South Florida game on December 6th, some have wondered just how much of a roll he might have heading into Saturday’s Meineke Car Care Bowl. The Charleston Gazette attempts to provide the answer to such speculation, writing that though head coach Bill Stewart had told members of the media that he would wait until the end of the this week to decide on a starter at running back, “all signs point to Noel Devine.” The sophomore ball carrier, readers may recall, gained just 17 yards on 12 carries against Pittsburgh in this year’s edition of the Backyard Brawl, and in hopes of sparking competition amongst his backfield, Stewart explained that he held Devine out of the first quarter of the USF matchup in order to provide an opportunity for backup Jock Sanders to show what he could do.
Defending Devine to the end . . .
Speaking of Noel Devine, The Charleston Gazette tells readers that head coach Bill Stewart spent most of the evening Monday defending his sophomore tailback from he called a “media frenzy” looking to discredit Devine’s name heading into Saturday’s game. Stewart, the article notes, seemed unusually unruly with reporters, attacking suggestions by media outlets such as ESPN that Devine was going to be declared academically ineligible to play this weekend. “He’s fine,” WVU’s head coach snapped at a Monday night press conference. “Anything else you’ve heard or anything else someone has written is [garbage].” Stewart continued on: “There’s a media frenzy out there, or whatever, that wants to see young people not make it. You can call it sensationalism, you can call it hype, you can call it jealousy, whatever you want to call it. [Regardless] that’s a shame.” “We’ve got a kid who goes home to Fort Myers [Florida],” he went on to declare, “and his hometown media, they’ve been saying he might not be eligible and we’ll know by Monday. This is Wednesday night in the middle of finals, before he’s even finished with his semester. And then it’s picked up by ESPN and all of a sudden it’s across the whole nation. Now how would you like to be Noel Devine?” Reporters present fired back, pointing out that Devine was in fact held out of the first quarter of the Mountaineers’ game against USF on December 6th. But as mentioned above, Stewart answered that the only reason the sophomore tailback was benched for that period was in order to develop depth out of the backfield after a poor showing by Devine a week earlier against Pittsburgh.
Left to ponder on the state of Hogan . . .
The Charleston Gazette investigates the mystery surrounding the absence from practice of West Virginia Mountaineers cornerback Brandon Hogan. Told through the first part of the week that Hogan was “not feeling well,” head coach Bill Stewart changed his story when talking to reporters on Christmas Day, explaining that the sophomore was “dealing with some personal issues” and would be “evaluated day-to-day” leading up to Saturday’s matchup against North Carolina. Should Hogan not be available, cornerbacks coach for the Mountaineers, Dave Lockwood, has stated that he will likely move Keith Tandy into Hogan’s position.
Further challenges in the West Virginia defensive backfield . . .
Should Hogan end up a no-show for Saturday’s bowl game, it will only exasperate an already troublesome situation in the West Virginia secondary, as The Charleston Gazette reports that safety Sidney Glover’s hopeful return to the playing field this weekend remains in serious question. Glover injured his knee in WVU’s matchup against the South Florida Bulls on December 6th; expected to be recovered by the time the Mountaineers began practice in Charlotte, North Carolina, host city for the Meineke Car Care Bowl, WVU’s coaching staff was troubled to find the sophomore only able to jog and workout lightly along the sidelines. The loss of what the Gazette refers to as “one of the most pleasant surprises on WVU’s defense” could prove incredibly important, as the ten-game starter was this year outplayed by only Mortty Ivy and Quinton Andrews in number of tackles averaged per contest while Ellis Lankster and Brandon Hogan were the only two players to break up more passes. In preparation for Glover’s absence on Saturday, WVU’s coaches had Nate Sowers working in the sophomore’s place in the early part of the week.
Good news for WVU – “That’s the old Will Johnson there” . . .
Head coach for WVU Bill Stewart told The Charleston Gazette on Christmas Eve that fullback Will Johnson has returned to the practice field for the first time since suffering a severe quad bruise early on in the season. Johnson, readers may recall, was heading into spring camp listed as a wide receiver, but was moved over to add depth at tight end where he proved himself an outstanding hybrid of pass catcher and assignment blocker.
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