Should UNC make a change at QB?

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There are a lot of reasons UNC suffered a dispiriting 28-20 loss to Clemson last Saturday. The defense that was so stout in the first half wore down in the second and couldn’t get a big stop. Clemson QB Tait Reynolds found his footing as both a passer and a runner, flashing why so many Tiger fans were calling for him to start. Even the weather seemed to conspire against the Heels; UNC had momentum when the game was paused in the 4th quarter due to lightning in the area. There is no way of knowing how the game would have turned out if there hadn’t been a delay, but it felt like UNC was marching towards a potentially game-clinching TD when the refs (rightfully) cleared the field.

Still, the biggest issue for UNC on Saturday was clearly the passing offense. Billy Edwards Jr. had a bad game, completing only 13 of his 30 passes for 135 yards; he threw a TD and a pick as well. Much of the criticism has centered on his decision to throw a long (and ultimately incomplete) pass to Jelani Thurman instead of running through the huge hole that had opened up in front of him, but Edwards was having a shaky day even before that play. Taking a longer view of Edwards’s play, he’s been serviceable when he’s not asked to be more than a game manager. The defense dominated TCU to the point that Edwards wasn’t asked to do much more than hand the ball off, make some high percentage throws, and not commit any turnovers. To his credit, he looked good against ETSU, but so did most of the roster against an FCS opponent. Against Clemson, Edwards’s lack of big play ability wasn’t a liability while the running game was chewing up yards while protecting a lead. Once Clemson scored their go-ahead touchdown, Edwards’s stats for the rest of the game were: 3-7, 22 yards passing and an interception.

I assume Edwards won the job in training camp for a reason, and one bad game won’t undue that decision. Bill Belichick is nothing if not loyal; he stuck with Gio Lopez last season long after it became apparent that it wasn’t working. That being said, the bye week is traditionally a good time to make a quarterback change; it gives the new starter a chance to get two weeks of reps with the starters before their first game. Of course, there’s a huge caveat to that with UNC’s schedule: Carolina’s first game after the bye is against third-ranked Notre Dame. Nor does the schedule ease up much from there; two road games and a home game against Miami make for a rough schedule for a newly promoted quarterback, particularly if your QB of choice is true freshman Travis Burgess.

Our Question of the Day is simply: Would you like to see UNC make a change at QB during the bye week? While I may be pessimistic on Edward’s ceiling, it’s probably premature to make a QB change three games into a season that started with a 2-1 record*. I’d like to get a look at Burgess at some point this season, but that’s probably a change you make in October if/when it feels like the Heels are out of ACC and potentially bowl game contention.

What are your thoughts in UNC’s QB situation?

*I wrote this knowing full well that Clemson made a QB swap to a freshman QB at 1-1 and saw it work out pretty well, at least for one game.

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