Not much reason for Clemson fans to pay a whole lot of attention to North Carolina this season. The Heels aren't on the schedule, and thanks to sanctions there's no chance of facing them in Charlotte with a conference title at stake.
But the Larry Fedora narrative has been interesting to follow because Fedora is introducing the Hurry Up, No Huddle that Chad Morris introduced at Clemson last year.
You might have noticed that the hurry-hurry thing is driving defensive coordinators crazy. Kevin Steele hated it when he was here. Ellis Johnson hated it when he was in Columbia. Bud Foster suddenly looks ordinary because of it. And Al Groh didn't create the impression he's a member of the HUNH fan club last week when he discussed it before what turned out to be his last game at Georgia Tech.
The hurry-up thing has been a part of football for a long time, but only now are teams making it a way of life. It is the latest wrinkle in offensive innovation, and sometimes it can be almost unfair if fused with exceptional talent and skilled play-calling that makes defenses cover every blade of grass on the field. We've seen it at Oregon for years, and now we're seeing the phenomenon at Clemson.
A lot of college football followers, including yours truly, are salivating over the thought of Alabama versus Oregon in the BCS title game. Such a clash of styles and cultures. Does the Ducks' dazzling collection of crotch rockets hold up against the torque of the Crimson Tide's screamin' eagle V-8?
It'd just be one game, but no doubt our sports culture would read way much more into it than that. It'd represent a bold-faced referendum on whether Oregon's system is legit or a total farce. The truth, of course, would like somewhere in between.
But the value of a system isn't necessarily measured by how it fares at the highest level. Sometimes it can be the best thing for a program that isn't yet at that level, and certainly that's the case at Clemson.
It appears to be the case at North Carolina as well. The most notable number from the Tar Heels' 48-34 smashing of Virginia Tech last week was 339 rushing yards on 45 carries.
The most appealing part of the Morris/Gus Malzahn system is its basis in physical, between-the-tackles running. As we've seen some this year, new dimensions are opened when you can establish a running game and run all the funky play-actions off that.
It's key to be able to wear down the opposition, as we saw in the opener against Auburn and last week against Georgia Tech. In those two games Clemson racked up 180 plays to 124 for the opposition while running for 524 yards.
Here's a look at some of the stats North Carolina has compiled this year:
Total offense: 486 per game (up from 393 last year)
Yards per play: 6.64 (up from 6.29)
Rushing offense: 200 per game (up from 138)
Yards per rush: 5.1 (up from 4)
Plays per game: 73.3 (up from 62.5)
Total defense: 312 per game (down from 363)
Yards per play: 4.52 (down from 5.23)
Rushing defense: 86.3 (down from 123.9)
Yards per rush: 2.60 (down from 3.56)
Plays per game: 69.1 (down from 69.7)
Six games is a small sample size from which to make firm judgments on a system and its impact. And some of North Carolina's opponents to date -- Elon, East Carolina, Idaho -- haven't exactly been juggernauts.
But so far in Chapel Hill, up-tempo offense and solid defense are coexisting.
LW
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