This weekend I was out of the country for work so I unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, depending on your point of view) missed UNC’s game against Georgia Tech and Duke’s thrashing at the hands of defending national champion Alabama, but here’s my attempt to catch both me and you up on everything happening on both sides of Tobacco Road.
On UNC Football:
- Tar Heel Fan’s weekly “Good, Bad and Ugly” wrapup of the 30-24 loss to the Yellow Jackets convinced me I probably shouldn’t even go back and watch highlights of this game, since apparently Tech was gashing UNC’s front seven on every play. On the plus side: Johnny White goes for 115 yards on 17 carries??!
- UNC may be facing more than an emotional letdown after falling to 0-2; Carolina March passes along some interesting information via VT blog Gobbler Country that indicates teams may experience a bit of a defensive hangover after facing Paul Johnson’s triple-option offense. That would probably make fans more nervous if upcoming opponent Rutgers was ranked higher than 116th nationally in total offense, but it’s something to note nonetheless.
- After letting John Blake walk, it appears the Heels have replaced him with former NFL assistant Charlie Coiner, who will have an emphasis on helping improve UNC’s special teams performance.
On the NCAA and Academic Investigations:
- Everybody in the athletic department seems to be maintaining that there’s nothing to see here. Basically, the latest news is that there is no news to report lately.
- Meanwhile, Dick Baddour does admit that yes, Carolina probably needs to keep a closer eye on who is hanging around its players.
On UNC Basketball:
- Apparently Tyler Zeller would rather be called”unlucky” than “injury prone,” thanks. Also, CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish somehow relates Zeller’s wrist injury two years ago to getting hit by a drunk driver, which mayyyyy just be taking things a little too far.
- UNC is notorious for changing the system for how they distribute basketball tickets every year, so they finally decided to crowdsource the decision and are putting it to a student vote to see which option gets used this year. Somehow, “fight to the death” didn’t make the final cut as one of the choices.
On Duke Basketball:
- Congrats to Coach K for helping Team USA bring back the gold from Turkey at the recent World Basketball Championships, which basically earns them a bye into the 2012 Olympics. However, it does appear he made a new enemy while there in the form of Russian coach David Blatt.
- Looks like the Blue Devils will face another national champion in their exhibition opener, as Duke has scheduled a game against 2010 DII champs Cal-Poly Pomona on November 4.
Everything Else:
- A nice story about Carolina soccer player Rachel Wood returning to the field this week after missing the majority of last season with a serious illness.
