How ‘halftime adjustments’ have helped keep No. 10 North Carolina football undefeated
How many times have you heard a college football coach talking to a sideline reporter as he hurries to the locker room saying, “We’ve got some halftime adjustments we need to make.”
Meanwhile, on the other sideline, the other guy is saying the same thing.
There is no time for extensive film study. No time for Rockne speeches. But there is time for a game to be won or lost at halftime.
“I think it’s the most under-talked-about, important thing in college coaching,” North Carolina coach Mack Brown said this week. “Because when you look at when people are behind (and) how many win coming out in the second half, the numbers aren’t good. Some people are better at game plans than they are adjusting. Some people get stubborn.
“I always felt like you needed to be simple enough to know what to go to when what you’re doing is not working. What’s next? And you need to go fast. You don’t need to be saying, ‘We’re in trouble, man, we’re not blocking.’ That gets you beat.”
Flipping the game vs. Miami
Think back to Saturday night and UNC’s 41-31 win over Miami at Kenan Stadium. The No. 10 Tar Heels, for the first time in six games, were losing at halftime. UNC had wasted its last offensive possession of the first half, burning just 14 seconds off the clock, allowing the Hurricanes enough time to quickly move down the field for a field goal for a 17-14 lead.
The Heels headed to the Kenan Center to talk things over.
As center Corey Gaynor said Tuesday, “It was gut-check time.”
Coaches are hesitant to say exactly what was done or explain changes made. They don’t want to give away their football methodology.
But UNC outscored Miami 21-0 in the third quarter. The Canes had minus-6 yards rushing and 32 passing. Miami turned the ball over twice as the Tar Heels moved to a 35-17 lead.
In the first six games, UNC now has scored 71 points in the third quarter while allowing 24.
“Gene Chizik to me has been unbelievable in his third quarters,” Brown said of his defensive coordinator. “He totally shut down Miami in the third quarter. Some can do it easier during the game, some have to do it at halftime and just look at the whole picture.”
Chizik, in his second year as assistant head coach for defense, said it wasn’t so much about abandoning the game plan and making schematic changes on the fly as it was the players having a better grasp on what Miami was doing and how to handle it,
“Sometimes you have to go in and you have to really kind of settle down into what you’re seeing and adjust how you’re playing things a little better,” Chizik said. “At that point we had kind of seen what they were trying to do and how they were trying to attack us, so we didn’t really change any calls.”
Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke was hurting UNC, throwing for 180 yards in the first half. He had an 18-yard TD throw to Xavier Restrepo, then a 35-yarder to Jacolby George.
On the first, Miami had three receivers set to the left side and Restrepo was alone for the score as linebacker Power Echols tried to cover. On the second, Van Dyke was blitzed and hit but got off a nice throw down the left side to George.
“Our kids are very smart when it comes to understanding what’s happening and how to fix it,” Chizik said. “It was more of us just saying, ‘Hey, look, here’s what they’re doing and this is how we have to make sure we’re adjusting to it.’ And they did a good job of that in the third quarter.”
Protecting Drake Maye
Brown said he quickly spoke to his staff to begin halftime after going over the game stats. He noted quarterback Drake Maye had been sacked four times in the opening half.
“We can say we made great halftime adjustments, but why didn’t we have a better game plan?” Brown said. “That’s the question you ask. Part of it is because teams play you differently. The first quarter is always a new world because you’re wondering what they brought differently. Like on the blitzes (Miami) brought to us we’d never seen. And it just caught us off-guard.
“We said protection was going to be the difference and we had to take care of Drake. So let’s look at what we can do different. We’ve got to do some things differently and we’ve got to do it fast. And we did that. And we came out and did it.”
Maye, given more time to throw against the blitzes, twice hit Tez Walker for touchdowns against man coverage -- “Made them pay,” Maye said.
On the first, Walker sprinted past cornerback Jaden Davis for a 56-yard TD that gave the Heels a 21-17 lead. The second TD pass to Walker came after Gray picked off Van Dyke, recognizing the offensive formation, moving left in zone coverage and being in the right position for the interception.
“We came out on a roll, making adjustments to what they were doing,” Gray said. “We were flying around, playing dominant football.”
The Tar Heels host Virginia this week at Kenan Stadium. Odds are, more halftime adjustments will be made.
“That’s something we’re confident we’re able to do as a team,” Gray said.
North Carolina (6-0, 3-0 ACC) vs Virginia (1-5, 0-2)
When: Saturday, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill.
TV: The CW.
This story was originally published October 17, 2023 at 1:44 PM.
