Week Three: Coastal Division Previews

We've got four games in the Coastal this week including the ACC game of the week featuring Georgia Tech making the trip up to Blacksburg to take on the Hokies. The three remaining games are nonconference games against quality opponents. It'd be nice to see the ACC beat up on the Big East in the UNC and UVA games and Duke playing a successful Navy squad tough would surely elevate the profile.

Check for the Georgia Tech @ Virginia Tech full game break down and preview on Thursday, including match ups to watch and players to surprise you.

North Carolina @ Rutgers (7:30 pm Thursday)

The Heels get their national television debut all alone on a Thursday night after limping into the bye week following sneaking out of Kenan with a win over McNeese State. This Rutgers team is going to test the Heels and with Darrius Massenburg out for the game following a knee scope the Heels will be short one defensive lineman.

After losing to Fresno State in their opening week the Scarlet Knights have some of the same questions to answer as the Heels. Stopping the run, limiting big passing plays and running the football will be the name of this game for both sides. The Knights gave up 206 rushing yards to the Bulldogs while only gaining 106 yards. The Heels fared somewhat better giving up 152 to McNeese State while rushing for 163.

However, 106 of those rushing yards were gained by wide receiver Brandon Tate, not the Heels running back tandem of Greg Little and Shaun Draughn. Both teams will have to run the football and limit the big pass plays that hurt the defenses last season. With Butch Davis and Greg Schiano being former colleagues and exhibiting similar football philosophies this game should be a slugfest of skilled players competing for their first marquee victory of 2008.

Keys to a Tar Heel Win

-Running the Football. Greg Little entered the 2008 season as the definitive starter at running back. His 37 yards on 14 carries has left some question marks surrounding the Heels run game. Shaun Draughn's 30 yards on 7 carries should get the defensive back convert seeing more carries in this football game. Little and Draughn will have to play up to expectations for the Heels to dictate the pace of this football game.

-Get Brandon Tate Loose on the Edge. The senior had 397 all purpose yards against McNeese State, 198 of those were on punt and kickoff returns including an 82 yard punt return for a touchdown. Rutgers' special teams weren't tested too often with their inability to score and Ted Dellaganna pinning the Bulldogs deep with his punts. Tate needs to get a big return early in order to set the tone and shorten the field for the Carolina offense.

-Take advantage of mistakes. The Heels secondary is going to have to play exceptionally well to limit the touches of Kenny Britt and Tiquan Underwood, two solid receivers. Mike Teel will make mistakes under the defensive pressure and Kendrick Burney, Trimane Goddard, Deunta Williams and company are going to have to take advantage of his errant or hanging passes. This secondary and receiver match up should be a great Thursday night showdown.

Duke vs Navy (12:00 pm Saturday)

The Blue Devils looked solid beating James Madison 31-7 in week one but then returned to earth battling their Big 10 counterpart Northwestern to a 20-24 loss in week two. Coach Cutcliffe has got the Devils on the right track towards improving and this game against Navy is going to display two contrasting styles and test the Blue Devils defense.

Duke, led by the arm of Thaddeus Lewis compiled 472 yards of total offense against the Wildcats and out gained them in the loss by 144 yards. Navy is coming off a week in which they gave up 488 yards of total offense in a loss to Ball State including 326 yards in the air. This is a recipe for the Devils to be successful with their skill players hurting Navy on the edges.


The problem for the Cutcliffe's Devils will be stopping the Navy run game. The Midshipmen rumbled to 346 rushing yards in the loss and only attempted 11 passes for the night. Cutcliffe's defensive stoppers led by Michael Tauiliili and Vince Ohgobaase will have their hands full stopping the triple option anchored by Shun White, Eric Kettani and Jarod Bryant. It is going to be a war of wills Saturday in Durham.

Keys to a Blue Devils Win

-Get an early lead. The triple option loses its effectiveness when the team is forced to play from behind. The ball control, power running must give way to quick passing and reaching for chunks of yardage, something Navy's athletes aren't well equipped to do. Duke needs to get Thad Lewis taking shots early to get up by two scores in order to push Navy out of their comfort zone.

-Play assignment football. The core of Duke's front seven is a group of older, experienced and heady players. They're going to need to use their wiles to combat this confusing Naval assault. By staying at home and playing their rules the Devils should be able to limit the big play by making the sure tackle and making solid run fits.

-Get Leon Wright more touches. The defensive back is the Blue Devils most explosive athlete and Cutcliffe needs to find a way to get Wright touches in the return game. His 23 yard punt return was an electrifying effort and working him into a regular return role will give the Blue Devils another much needed weapon on the edge.

Virginia @ UConn (7:30 pm Saturday)

Abysmal. Right now that is the only way to describe the Virginia Cavaliers in the 2008 season. Overmatched by SoCal and only mustering 187 yards of offense isn't the worst of their doing rather the week two 295 yard effort against IAA Richmond was the larger disappointment. All-ACC caliber running backs Cedric Peerman and Mikell Simpson were only able to gain 96 yards and Peter Lalich completed only 53.8 percent of his passes against the Spiders.

UConn hasn't been much better, after blasting through Hofstra in week one the Huskies Big East title dreams were put in perspective with a 12-9 escape of the Temple Owls. Tyler Lorenzen threw for an anemic 86 yards and his inability to complete passes forced the Huskies to run the ball 55 times in order to salvage a victory. If ever two teams were on a converging path this game is it.

Two disappointing second games lead the Huskies and 'Hoos limping into Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut with more questions than answers on the offensive side of the ball. The defenses should be the stars of this ESPN evening show with Scott Lutrus of UConn and Clint Sintim of UVA leading their proud units to the field.

Keys to a Virginia Win

-Disrupt the line of scrimmage. The Wahoos had 10 tackles for loss and 6 sacks in last Saturday days game against the Spiders. UConn gave up 5 tackles for loss and 1 sack to Temples young defense. Matt Conrath, Clint Sintim and co. will have to take advantage of the UConn's inept offensive line to disrupt Lorenzen and stand out running back Donald Brown.

-Make UConn One Dimensional. Stacking the box, blitzing linebackers out of the 3-4 scheme and confusing the offensive line by bringing pressure from multiple directions will force the Huskies into second and long or third and long situations. Making Tyler Lorenzen beat them instead of allowing Donald Brown to continue his All-Big East campaign (currently averaging 180 yards per game).

-Use the power running game. The Huskies don't have an active defensive line and they are largely undersized compared to the Cavaliers massive big men upfront. By getting Mikell Simpson and Cedric Peerman pounding on the linebackers and leaning on the linemen the Cavs can suck up the safeties and the linebackers, allowing Lalich to hit solid receiver Kevin Ogletree with the vertical passing game.
Tomorrow AFN will break down the ACC Atlantic Games.