CHAPEL HILL — In the heat of the moment and particularly the live-wire intensity of a football game, it’s better for North Carolina defensive coordinator Jay Bateman to be tasked with reining in rather than ramping up.
That became the situation early on last week during the Tar Heels’ season-opening loss to Virginia Tech.
With a full house of more than 65,000 spectators packed into Lane Stadium, an ESPN audience looking on nationally, and the electricity crackling for a much-anticipated first game, Bateman quickly found himself reaching for a figurative brake pedal, as if channeling some driver’s education instructor.
“We hadn’t played in an environment like that in a while,” Bateman said this week. “I’ve told Coach (Mack) Brown this, too, the first two drives I was trying to calm them down. You never want to have to say, ‘sic ’em,’ you’d rather have to say, ‘whoa.’
“I was saying, ‘Whoa, calm down, we’re going to be fine.’ Look, our kids, they wanted to play. They were excited to play. They were ready to compete, and I think once we kind of got them settled down and got the communication a little bit better, I thought we played better.”
Bateman’s whoa-then-go directive helped provide the foundation for a defensive turnaround against the Hokies, an improved effort during the course of last week’s game that serves as a confidence builder for No. 24 North Carolina ahead of Saturday night’s home opener against visiting Georgia State.
After falling behind Virginia Tech 14-0 by halftime, the Tar Heels allowed only three points and three first downs in the second half of their eventual 17-10 loss.
“I think it just took a little bit to settle in,” North Carolina defensive lineman Ray Vohasek said. “That was the first time with the crowd. Obviously, Lane Stadium’s a very loud stadium. I think it was just kind of settling in, getting a feel for the game. That was a lot of guys’ first reps in the game, so I think that was a big part of it. But once we settled in, I think we really showed what we can do as a defense.”
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Virginia Tech’s first three drives of the season opener covered 32 plays and piled up 211 yards, with quarterback Braxton Burmeister guiding the Hokies to convert six straight third downs to start the game. The Tar Heels, off balance defensively early on, didn’t give up another third-down conversion after the 3:07 mark of the second quarter.
It was, in effect, a calming down and clamping down for North Carolina. Defensive backs Ja’Qurious Conley and Trey Morrison and linebackers Eugene Asante and Jeremiah Gemmel produced the top statistical contributions, as the Tar Heels held Virginia Tech to 93 yards on 27 plays during the second half.
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“We had to get our kids straight and get them figured out,” Bateman said. “So I think the biggest thing was communication. They were amped up. I think they just kind of got into the right mindset to go play and execute, and I think once we did that we played at a pretty high level.”
Bateman said he fought off the urge to rely exclusively on starting players as the North Carolina defense struggled to find its footing in the early going. The Tar Heels have developed defensive depth across the board during Bateman’s two-plus seasons under Brown, and Bateman said that benefit showed up in the later stages against the Hokies.
“Those kids have worked really hard, the kids that maybe don’t start the game,” Bateman said, “and I said in the fourth quarter, we’re going to need these guys. And I think we were fresher in the fourth quarter than the opponent, and I think that helped us with some of the run fits.
“Later, Ray had had some snaps off, and (defensive lineman) Myles Murphy had had some snaps off, and (linebacker) Des Evans had had some snaps off. We’ve got kids that we think are good players. We tell them all the time, if you give us whatever you’ve got and you play with high effort and you have a skill that you can use, we will put you in the game to use it.”
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The sophomore Conley’s athletic package delivered playmaking from the strong safety position. His seven tackles tied for the team lead. He went full extension in the fourth quarter, with North Carolina trailing 17-7, to snag an interception off Burmeister, before landing on his back. Gemmel’s backside pressure bothered Burmeister’s release on that throw, and Conley dived to reel in the wobbler.
Conley collected both turnovers the Tar Heels forced last week. He added the interception to the fumble he recovered in the first quarter, derailing a lengthy Virginia Tech drive that reached North Carolina’s 10-yard line.
“He’s a big presence,” Vohasek said of Conley. “He made some great plays and I think he’s just at the tip of the iceberg of what type of player he can be.”
Adam Smith is a sports reporter for the Burlington Times-News and USA TODAY Network. You can reach him by email at asmith@thetimesnews.com or @adam_smithTN on Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on Times-News: Whoa then go: UNC defense coming off encouraging effort after calming down to clamp down
