It kills Bunting not to have a big-time defense in Chapel Hill. He earned a living as an Eagles linebacker and before that was a darn good one for UNC. But his defensive team had far too many mental breakdowns against Boston College in a 37-24 loss in Charlotte last December.
"To be a good defense, you cannot be making mental errors," Bunting said. "In 2001, we were No. 1 defensively in the ACC and No. 12 in the nation."
That was then. This is now, and the Heels are near the bottom in the nation in defense. They haven't held an opponent to single digits in 40 consecutive games and haven't registered a shutout since blasting Duke 38-0 in 1999.
He's right of course. There are questions. But the way I figure it, there are three ways to describe a football program in the preseason: certain of a bowl season, uncertainty, and certain to fail.The Heels are in the middle. There are questions about offense and defense. The defense hasn't been great since 2001, and it would be nice to have some more experience returning. The offensive line will probably be better than last year (despite the loss of Jason Brown), but how good will the guy they're supposed to protect be? The backs and receivers are solid. If Ronnie is healthy and Barrington plays as advertised, there will be nothing to worry about in the backfield.
So the biggest questions really are at quarterback and in the secondary (I think the D-Line is showing some promise). Those questions will be answered September 10.
There are only two ways to go. I'm certain it won't take too long to find out which way our Heels will go.
