By Aaron Beard
Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL ó Don’t fault North Carolina for feeling confident about taking on Georgia Tech’s spread-option offense.
Sure, the No. 22 Tar Heels’ defense hasn’t let opponents move the football much through three games. Yet behind the size and fly-to-the-ball instincts carries another asset into Saturday’s game against the Yellow Jackets: the experience of having shut down an offense that typically frustrates defensive coordinators.
Last year, the Yellow Jackets reached the end zone just once in the 28-7 loss to the Tar Heels, one of only two games in which they failed to score at least 10 points in Paul Johnson’s first season. Georgia Tech’s rushing totals looked solid at first glance ó 54 carries, 326 yards ó but the Yellow Jackets didn’t push deeper than North Carolina’s 23-yard line except for a lone 85-yard touchdown run from Jonathan Dwyer midway through the fourth quarter.
The Tar Heels had an extra week to prepare for that game. They don’t have that luxury this time around, but coach Butch Davis said Monday the team has been reviewing the option since spring drills ó with much of that based on the experience from last year’s matchup against Georgia Tech (2-1, 1-1 ACC).
“It certainly is one of the things you talk to your football team about ó option responsibility,” Davis said. “You’re going to see it over the course of the season so you have to spend some time on it.”
North Carolina is brimming with confidence after its weekend win against East Carolina. The Tar Heels are off to their first 3-0 start since Mack Brown’s final team started 8-0 in 1997, which coincidentally was the last time they won in Atlanta.