Who’s the Real Deal? North Carolina or Notre Dame? It’s a Well A”davis”ed Answer

If I had the answer to that question, I would probably be in the Florida Keys sipping on a passion fruit smoothie right now.

Alas, I am in a college computer lab and I have no answers.

And how could I?

Both UNC and Notre Dame give up more yards than they gain. And both teams have lost the one game that could have given them at least a shred of credibility.

So here we sit, with two teams that are 4-1 after posting disappointing records a year ago (and many years before that if you’re UNC). Both teams have feasted upon weakened opposition. Both teams have found ways to win other than by playing awesome offense.

Starting from the top, Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen is now officially the chosen one. He will be Notre Dame’s keystone for this weekend’s game and the next three seasons.

In the weekend’s coming of age win against Stanford he passed for 347 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INTs. Lest we forget, leading RB Armando Allen only got 33 yards on the ground — no help. With the help of WR Michael Floyd Clausen took the Cardinal defense and hung it out to dry.

Clausen now has 12 TDs as opposed to 6 picks and his QB rating is up 30 points from a year ago.

Last year was a nightmare, but now the kid’s a year wiser. He’s got an improved set of playmakers around him. And he’s got a huge fan base praying for him to succeed (which, as I now realize in retrospect, is probably literal).

Yes, he can thank a considerably weaker schedule. But do you really think Evan Sharpley could have hung 350 yards on Stanford? Clausen can ball.

On the other side of the ball, QB replacement Cameron Sexton has performed adequately in relief of T.J. Yates. He probably won’t light up the sky, but he’ll be able to take care of the ball for the Tar Heels. He proved in a 4th quarter comeback against Miami he has the poise to make throws under pressure. Will he be able to do that against a better team? Good question. Will he be able to do that against a Notre Dame defense that gives up 237 yards in the air? Probably.

The Tar Heels got one good game out of RB Shaun Draughn, but they’ll need him to bring the heat consistently. As long as they can keep the ball moving on the ground, they have a good enough QB to make a few timely passes to playmakers Brandon Tate and Hakeem Nicks.

Notre Dame still struggles to run the ball. And that will pose a huge problem against any team with a better than bad secondary. The Irish WILL BE exposed. Case in point, Michigan State held the Irish to an amassation (not a word, I know) of 16 yards on the ground. A great rushing day for Armando Allen against Purdue is the only reason Notre Dame even averages triple digit rush yardage.

As for the defensive units, both sides are relatively untested an inconsistent. And for this reason it’s hard to get a read on how well the Tar Heels and Irish will do.

We know that UNC can make special teams magic. We know that Notre Dame can make Michigan cry. But we just don’t know if both defensive units can hang with an offensively talented team. Notre Dame failed against Michigan State. UNC has yet to see a good offense.

Both teams have provided a consistent, although not overpowering and at times unbalanced, offensive effort throughout the season. But they’ve consistently been outgained. And there will come a time when teams won’t make costly turnovers or miss assignments. There will come a time when the QB is having a bad day or the running game won’t click (see UNC/VT and ND/MSU). And that’s when the losses start to come.

So we go into Saturday’s game looking at a “Test for the Untested.” There are two defenses that definitely bend and there are two offenses that have the ability to plug along in consistent fashion.

But if we just get down deep and look at the root of it all and ask ourselves…

Who’s the real deal? And who wins this game?

UNC

Why?

Butch Davis.

On paper, most things are equal between UNC and Notre Dame. Both offenses are average to good. Both defenses are hovering around average and inconsistent. But coaching will get you a very long way. And Butch Davis is without a doubt one of the best coaches in the nation that nobody seems to talk about. He’s taken a program at the bottom of the barrel and made them, at least for a moment, credible.

He’s in it to win it. He spurned Arkansas for the hundredth time to continue establish his legacy at North Carolina. He’s getting support to upgrade facilities. He’s molding his program his way. And we know what happened the last time he molded a college program — many many wins.

Clausen will continue his improvement, UNC will definitely feed off of a rowdy home crowd, but in the end the coaching battle will win it.

And in a battle of Butch Davis vs. Charlie Weis, I’ll take Butch every time.