Boston College at North Carolina: 5 Big Questions
By Joe Micik
3. Why has North Carolina’s run game vanished from above-average nationally to one of the nation’s worst?
There are a few things, but I think we can boil it down to two:
• Giovani Bernard is now in the NFL
• Their offensive line is more inexperienced
North Carolina has a few new guys on the line, plus guys who barely started any games prior to this season. Everyone knew coming into 2013 that rebuilding that line would be a project, and so far this is a team that has seen its run game cease viability. In other situations, the offensive line is also giving up sacks at a much higher rate than last season, which also speaks to its ineffectiveness and inexperience in general.
Bernard rushed for over 1,200 yards in each of his two seasons with the Heels, and about 5.9 yards per carry. North Carolina as a team is doing nearly half that this season. North Carolina’s leading rusher now, AJ Blue, has fewer yards on the season than Andre Williams did against Army, and averages about two fewer yards per rush than Bernard did last year. For what it’s worth, Blue was picking up 5.3 YPC in 2012. Some of that can be attributed to him and some to the five guys in front of him.