UNC football team's offense hopes to step up

You don't need to explain the difference between North Carolina's offense and its defense last season to T.J. Yates.

The Tar Heels' quarterback, perhaps better than anyone, realizes why UNC won eight games and made a second straight bowl trip.

"We know the defense carried us for a substantial part of the year," Yates said. "To go where we want to, we have to pull more of our weight and even it out."

Yates will get a chance to face his teammates on the ACC's top defense in today's Blue-White game Kenan Stadium.

Statistically, the gap between the Heels' two sides couldn't have been much wider in 2009. Out of 120 teams, UNC ranked No. 6 in the country in total defense and No. 108 in total offense.

Yardage rankings, even with a 102-spot gap, don't necessarily concern offensive coordinator John Shoop, but the overall consistency and efficiency of the unit does.

"We've got to get better as an offense," Shoop said. "There's no doubt about that."

Improvement starts with taking care of the ball, Shoop said, and that starts with Yates, who threw more interceptions (15) than touchdowns (14) as a junior, his third season as the team's starter.

With 29 takeaways, UNC's defense — which returns nine starters, including four first-team All-ACC players — ranked among the country's leaders. So did the 27 giveaways by the offense, on the wrong end of the rankings.

It wasn't necessarily the number of interceptions by Yates, who has thrown 37 in 32 career games, but the timing. With a group of new receivers, including three freshmen, there were bound to be mistakes in the passing game, especially without Hakeem Nicks.

But Yates had a propensity for making the wrong decision at the worst possible time. A third-quarter interception against Florida State last season, at the Seminoles' 1-yard line, helped FSU erase an 18-point deficit and rally for a 30-27 win.

A second-quarter pick in the Meineke Car Care Bowl against Pittsburgh, again near the goal line, kept at least three sure points off the board in what turned out to be a two-point loss.

Change just two throws, or the decision force those throws into coverage, and UNC's looking at a 10-3 finish, instead of 8-5.

"I've got to show my teammates and coaches that I can make better decisions with the football," Yates said.