Three words to sum up UNC’s lose to Virginia

We did three words to describe North Carolina's loss to Virginia. I chose stayed on brand. I hate using that, but afraid of success.

Maybe that's another one. Somebody who played at North Carolina and is the smartest football mind I know, Mike Felder, football analyst, college football analyst, battle rapping about the college football world joins us on the Adam Gold Show. I read it right from your Twitter at in the bleachers. How would you characterize losing a game to I think the worst team in the ACC? Winning is hard. That's three words, too.

Very nice. Yeah, listen, I'm trying to stay on brand for you. Winning is hard, and it's it's one of those. I think here's the thing. If you look at the numbers, the stats, right?

UNC. Wow. Look at the look at the look at the numbers.

Wow. And then you watch the game. And it's not about the numbers. It's about the money gaps. It's about money downs. It's about like these teams have the same amount of first downs, right? So same amount of first downs. You wouldn't see obviously much more passing.

You'd be a more rushing. But at the end of the day, what you're looking at is money down. When you look at money down, you've got to deal with turnovers, but you also have to deal with third down conversions. Fourth down conversions as well. I was talking to Roddy Jones actually earlier, and he's like, Hey, man, they did have 10 conversions. UNC had four.

Mm hmm. And so you can have all the yards you want, but if you don't convert and you don't convert those into scores, then you're gonna have problems. And UNC obviously has some problems.

Mike Felder is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. It did come down to what Carolina did on third and a couple of times fourth downs. Virginia was, I believe, dead last in the ACC on defense at getting off the field was almost 42%. They were allowing third and fourth or third down conversions. I didn't see fourth down conversions, and Carolina was bad for 13 on third down. That's less than 33% for 15.

Overall, that's by 27%. So those were the downs and Matt Brown talked about Virginia ran so many more plays than North Carolina did that we can forget that, man, all those plays you don't get makes it hard. I mean, they probably almost maxed out scoring 27 points based on how many plays that they had. I think I'm even more surprised that Carolina's defense that just wasn't the same unit we had watched.

What did you see from them or didn't see from them? So I'm gonna start with the offense first. They had 10 points in the red zone. I only had three red zone trips, right?

That's a thing you have to look at. The only other game they had three red zone trips was Minnesota, and that was not even a close football game. So you don't have to worry about it in that game. But four against South Carolina four for four in terms of scoring eight trips against that state where, you know, you've got to score some points. Then you get to pick and you know, you want to do that for their seven against Syracuse five against Miami and three again against UVA. And again, you only get 10 points out of that.

So I want to start on that side, but then you flip it over. And the biggest thing that stood out to me, um, was looking at, yes, they had five tackles for loss, but they didn't feel impactful in terms of tackles for loss. They weren't drive killers. They weren't those the same titles for us, or even the two sacks weren't the sacks that ultimately sank a UVA. The way that we saw them sink Miami, the way that we saw them sink, South Carolina, the way that we saw them sink Pittsburgh, these were, they, they got set.

They did. They did get two sacks. That's good.

That's a good number. But at the end of the day, if you're part of the stacks and the pressures and the QB hurries and the titles for walls, if they're not super effective, if they don't, if they can recover those yards. And that's the part that we've always, that I've talked about this season with UMC is they are gambling. And when you gamble and the other team wins every now and then, all of a sudden you give up explosive plays.

And that's the part that really stood out to me. Mike Felder joining us here on the Adam Gold show, college football and NFL analyst, although we're going to, we're going to stay on college football here. Um, I want to go to, first of all, their season's not over the Tar Heels. They can still, I mean, they're good enough to win out. Not saying they will, but they're, uh, I still think they'll be favored in all maybe, but one of the games, they might not be favored at Clemson. They probably won't be favored at Clemson, although Clemson ain't that great either, obviously.

Uh, so we'll get to them. Uh, but, so it's still there if they can win out and then beat Florida state in the ACC championship game, how much of a scar will a home loss to Virginia leave? Uh, if it comes down to it for a college football playoff conversation, that's probably a big deal.

Yeah, I would think we're going to be like, yeah, but what about this? Um, I mean, the reason I asked that, the reason I asked that was you, you remember the season they lost the opener to South Carolina, right? And then they won out, they won their next 11 games, but they had two FCS opponents that year and all people could talk about at the end, not was that they lost their opener against the mediocre South Carolina team was that they, they, they hadn't beaten anybody and they played two FCS teams. So depending on who you are, I think the, I think the college football world ignores the, the, the bad mark depending on who you are, but I just don't think they'll ignore losing to Virginia at home.

Yeah, I think that's, I think that's the key. I think it's the, you said it perfectly, but the, depending on who you are and who they are as a team that nobody really expects much from it as a team who I'll be honest with the exception of like draft people, I don't think a lot of folks are watching UNC play football. Like I don't, like I know ACC fans are like I did, I talked to Roddy Jones and EMAC today and uh, for, for their show and I like we talked about the ACC and we talked about it as a whole and the whole deal and I talked to you about it, uh, whenever we get a chance. But like when I do like radio in Arkansas, when I do radio in, in, in, in Seattle, when I do something in LA, they're not like, they're not talking about UNC there. They, they want to talk about the PAC 12 obviously because they're out West and I don't think there's a lot of eyeballs. Even when I do something in the big tent, there's not a ton of eyeballs on this and it's kind of the reverse problem that the PAC 12 had, right? Where people weren't watching. And I think UNC is kind of fallen victim to that, but there's a lot of draft people that are watching directly.

I can tell you that for sure. Like Nate ties over at the athletic and my main kind of Rogers. Uh, but he's got like, they're watching and they're like, what's happening here? Like he's good. The numbers look good.

And then you have to start watching the film and you gotta kind of just, you gotta, gotta sift through a lot of things to get there. So it's going to be interesting. They got Georgia tech. Campbell should win both of those football games on their Georgia tech.

Wow. They've got, they've been able to surprise some folks. And then you have Duke is that's going to be, that could be a barn burner at Clemson is interesting, especially after this past weekend, because corn said, Ooh, buddy. Yeah. And then you throw in North Carolina state, which is always going to be a tough game, especially when you got to go to car. Oh yeah.

Absolutely. Look, those last three games and we're going to get to Duke right here. Those last three games are going to be phenomenal.

Uh, if Carolina wins all three of those man, kudos, because those, that, that is a gauntlet. I thought for, I said this before the game, if Riley Leonard is fully healthy, I thought Duke would win. But if Riley Leonard was not, then Duke should not play him. They almost got away with it. When he left the game, they were done. Um, whether it was emotionally or mean, you know, in terms of their offense, but man, I think Duke surprised Florida state with how good they were defensively. And I don't understand why you'd be surprised by Duke up at the half. You feel good about that.

Obviously he's not healthy. We, I think we all could see that. Yeah. So you got to put Henry in the game.

Okay. Rough go of it for him. Uh, one to six, obviously they, they, they can't, and now that he's in the game, you know that Florida state's going to load up against the rug and then they just overwhelm them in the back end of the game and Florida state just overwhelmed Duke in the back end. Like they just, they kept going and going and going and going and going. And it just, it was hard. Like they couldn't, they, there was no, they could not stop them.

Like it got to the point where you just, you hit them hard enough and these guys can't like, they, they can't keep getting up off the mattress. And that's where, uh, that's where off the mat. And that's where Florida state was able to get this winning. The wind looks bigger than it was to me. Oh yeah.

Looks bigger. 38 to 29. Oh, you lost by 18. I'm like, they scored 21 points in the fourth quarter. There was no points in the third quarter. Duke had a lead going into, and it was just one of those things where they just, you get exhausted.

I think we saw the same thing. Uh, I know I don't want to take it out of these, but I think we saw the same thing against Tennessee, Alabama, where Tennessee realized, Oh, these guys are here to fight for 60 minutes and it's going to hurt. And I think Florida state, I will say this though. I know obviously you're in the triangle, but to flip it to the Florida state standpoint, it has to feel good. If you're an old fan to see that your team has a little bit of, Hey man, you know what?

Let's put our hands on these dudes and let's get real rough. And that was something that we hadn't seen from them for a little while. And they do it in this, they did it against LSU, but they've all, they've also done it in a league game.

And I think that really matters. I, I really believe that Florida state looked across the line of scrimmage and saw Duke and thought, well, okay, they're good, but they're good for Duke. And then they played three quarters of football and realized, no, they're not good for Duke.

They're really good. And the truth is that Duke had the ball 20 to 17 up. Riley Leonard is now out of the game and they had a fourth down. I think they needed three yards or something for a first down. And I credit Mike Elko for the guts to go for it probably was the right move to kick a field goal there, but they went for it. Bless him. They didn't get it.

And that was it. But I mean that, that, that could have been, I mean, if they score a touchdown there, I've all of the, to, to use a phrase that our friend Bomani Jones uses all of the lemon booty shows up in Tallahassee, if that's the case. And it wouldn't have been so much about Florida state as it would have been proof that Duke is just legitimately good, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Now quickly to Florida state, because I saw it again this week, uh, that nobody believes if, if things are as they are four weeks from now, five, we, whenever, whenever we come to the point where we're making decisions on the playoff, that Florida state would be the odd team out.

What are your thoughts on Florida state as a college football playoff participant winning? You're in winning. You're in.

That's what I think winning you're in and it's going to be interesting. I mean, let's fine, let's do it. Let's run this all the way out, run it all the way up to the five. I, I, you know that I hate this, but I love it. Do it to me all the time.

You know, I love that you do it to me. The reality is we end up with what Georgia undefeated or we end up with Georgia undefeated. I'm trying to put all this in the worst case scenario for who has to make this decision, Ohio state or Michigan, Ohio state or Michigan undefeated. So we have, we have one for basically essentially the power five, right? Yeah.

Oh, by the way, we can also end up with an undefeated air force. Yeah. Okay. That's fine.

That's that's adorable. We ended up with Washington. It's when we're looking at what Washington, Ohio state or Michigan, we're looking at Georgia and then we throw Florida state in Oklahoma. Okay. What are we doing? Who who's the odd man out of five.

We're never going to have it because it won't happen because it won't happen. Right. But if we have five major conference on beatings, is the odd, is the odd team out Oklahoma? Gotta be Oklahoma.

Even with the thing. Okay. LSU is going to go in there.

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Call 1-888-S-O-T-Y-K-T-U to learn more. Well, they could I don't I don't think we're not talking about vintage Alabama. We're also not talking about vintage LSU. Well, I think we're talking about vintage Alabama. Honestly, I think we are talking about vintage Alabama. This is not new age Alabama. This is vintage out there.

Okay. They play football like it's supposed to hurt and I love it. No, this is not Alabama with with Jalen Hurts, especially Alabama with with two. So no, I but what the reality of it is they win that football game. They play a tight game against Georgia. That win for Florida State counts more and more and more and more.

Oh, I say yes, absolutely. Yeah, Oklahoma. I don't think they have anything like that. Which is why I'm picking that's why I'm saying that because they don't have anything like that. They don't have they don't have a win like that and they won't get one and I listen to that Texas. They'd have to beat him again.

They'd have to beat him again. But man, let me tell you something. Houston should have won their football game. Okay.

Yeah. So I'm I think Texas is going to stumble again along the way like this is a team that they got some real issues. And they're gonna it's gonna be interesting to watch the way they finish down the stretch. If Houston can put you on the spot like that. You're lucky you don't have to go to Provo because if you had to go to Provo, that is a terrible place to play football.

And I'm not gonna say take it from me because I didn't make the trip. But we played in Salt Lake City and Salt Lake City. Provo is obviously a Salt Lake City but we when we when USC went to play at Utah and that was urban Myers year. All my teammates came back and they were like that place.

It's horrible. It's a beautiful city. I loved I spent about four days in Salt Lake City covering a basketball tournament. I loved Salt Lake City. They have a nice trolley in downtown.

Oh, it's gorgeous. But yeah, it's I don't know if I want to play there. All right. Final thing for you, Mike Felder. I appreciate your time at in the bleachers because we kind of brushed over Clemson. Yeah, they're they're a mess. I think we're finding out that whether whatever the reason Cade Klubnick either isn't the answer or needs help to be the answer. And what a monumental waste of Will Shipley.

This is becoming, you know, they just can't they just can't put points on the board. So a couple days one, I've talked to a couple Clemson fans that aren't high on Shipley. Okay.

And I was listening to I was listening to a show. I think I got Seville Newton who played at South Carolina. He said this might be the worst running back rooms that Clemson and South Carolina have ever had. So folks are there's a lot of folks are out on Shipley. Okay. And here's the other thing with Shipley. He's hurt.

Okay. He's he's he's hurt right now. Like you can see when he when he limps off and he needs he needs more breaks than ever and they need him for more things than ever.

And he can't do both. So it's going to be really interesting to see how what this looks like. But ultimately that offensive line is going to have to do something right like you can't let you can't let Miami's defensive line get hands on Shipley in the backfield.

And that's what's happening. 15 cares for 44 yards, 2.9 yards per carry as a team. They average 0.9. I know that's a couple club mix in the set club making the sacks. But at the end of the day, 2.9 and 2.8 out of Martha and Shipley, that's no good. And that also falls on the offensive line.

Brining still had a coming out party, which I thought was pretty cool. But at the end of the day, somebody else got to come with him. You're Clemson, your tight end has never been your go to guy, you need a wide receiver. So the tight end can stick behind. And now the tight end becomes the go to guy.

So this is going to be interesting how this shakes itself out. I think the lack of great offensive line play as they try to transition into a more power forward offensive line, they're having a rough time of it. Because usually they play a lot of shield blocking and those are two different things.

There's two different concepts, two different ways of teaching it. I also think honestly, between CJ Spiller and Taj Boyd, I think they are far less experienced on staff. This is a team that the teaching isn't nearly to the level that it used to be. They make mistakes. And I was talking to Eric McLean today and he said, Hey, the craziest thing to me was their defense. They give up 200 yards on the ground in Miami.

How? Well, they kept trying to play man to man, they kept trying to like line up and like they didn't, they didn't work to get for use Emory Williams. They didn't work to make it seem like one thing was the other thing.

They didn't change the landscape of the whole thing. And they just kind of sat back and just sat in zone sat in there, but it was all very clear what they were doing defensively. And so they've got to get better at that. And they've got to have more impactful plays and we talked about it with UNC with respect to third downs. I think Clemson's got defensively. They that's where they missed on this defensively. They didn't get a chance to really shut them down defensively because they really played extremely vanilla football thinking we're just good enough to get the win.

It's a it's a what a what a time to be alive. The Clemson Tiger. This is almost like when Dabo took over.

It's a different version that was kind of finesse. Not very good Clemson. This is right now.

They clearly don't have the offensive pieces to really be a high level team. Clemson Mike Felder, who he has all of the pieces at in the bleachers. Also check out its fell to the newsletter. You learn about sewing and cooking and dryer lint and all of that stuff. All the stuff that makes a man a renaissance, man. Mike Felder has that on lock.

I appreciate your time as always my man. It's always great. We didn't even get to talk about Mike Houston because he's in trouble too. Oh my gosh, I get to talk to Mike tomorrow and I'm I'm dreading it because there's nothing good right now about ECU football and it's depressing on every level.

My folks both went to ECU. So this is a thing that I pay attention to a lot. Oh man. Hey, thanks man. I appreciate your time. Take it easy. You got it.