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Mac & Bone Show - Rodd Baxley Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: He is Rod Baxley from the Fayetteville Observer, and he
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: joins us here to talk about the Heels win, how
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: they do it, what does it mean moving forward. And
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Rod joins us here on the Mac and Bone Show. Rod,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: thanks for coming on, man. How you doing?
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm adjusting, man. It's, what, 2 p.m. in Ireland
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: and 9 a.m. here at home. I'm just time traveling
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: all over the.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: World, man. How was the experience of being over there
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: in Ireland? How much of a blast was that? That's
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: a cool assignment for you.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Man, it was a blast. I mean, I really only
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: had one day to explore because we obviously have to
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: get work done. But I think UNC Athletics Director Steve
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Newmark said it best when he kind of compared it
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: to a Final Four weekend. I got that feel with
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: all the logos and fans and obviously the locals embracing everything.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: It was just a good, fun Irish time.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: Rod, what element of the win, outside of just in
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: general the Eagles winning, what element of how they got
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: it done surprised you the most?
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: I think I have to go to the discipline because
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: of how bad it was last year. We came in
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: thinking this thing was going to be a classic Bill
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Belichick program that centered around defense and discipline, and that
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: just didn't happen last year. In their last two games,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: I think they had more than 200 yards in penalties.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: In this opener, which you always expect to be sloppy,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: just three penalties for 20 yards. TCU had double-digit penalties,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: I think, for more than 100 yards So I would
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: say that was probably the most surprising thing to me,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: given how last year looked at times. They let TCU
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: make the big mistakes, and Carolina took advantage of them
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: to get to the finish line.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: A texter says, this guy doesn't sound like he has
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: an Irish accent. No, we're not saying that Rod is Irish.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: We're saying Rod wasn't Irish. He's from here, man. All right,
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: settle down there. He didn't pick up the leprechaun voice.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: No, he did not.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: That's not Irish, Rod, that you're talking about. Rod.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: No, no. Southern accent through and through, guys.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Can't change that. One trip to Ireland is not going
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: to change that. He is Rod Baxley, Fayetteville Observer, fresh
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: back from Ireland and covering the Tar Heels. So what
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: did you think about Bobby Petrino's first game as an O.C.?
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: And and Edwards first game as a quarterback. I was
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: praising them earlier. I got some backlash, maybe from bitter
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: state fans. They only score 15 points. Why are you
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: praising those guys? But I was impressed. I think it
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: I think it was promising from both those guys. What
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: did you think?
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, you only have to score more than the
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: other team, right? That's true. And last season's opener against TCU,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: they had three turnovers, two that went for defensive touchdowns.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Billy took care of the ball. Bobby put him in
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: situations to get it out quick to playmakers like Ohio
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: State transfer Jelani Thurman and then returner Jordan Shipp. And
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: he put the team in position to– move the chains
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: when they needed to move the chains, and they had
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: a four-minute drive to win it. So I was pretty
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: impressed given the sloppy conditions and the newness of having
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Petrino and Edwards, but... I mean, you obviously want to
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: see more moving forward in a normal setting, but given
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: the conditions and everything surrounding that game, I thought they
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: were pretty good aside from the two fumbles from the
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: wide receiver and running back.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: Rod, how vintage of a performance was that from Belichick
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: in the adjustment part of coaching, especially with what they
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: did defensively to slow down TCU's running attack in the
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: second half?
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, right out of the gate, it looked
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: like TCU was going to have about 400 rushing yards
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: with Jeremy Payne. I think they had 111 at halftime,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: 26 after the break. So, yeah, Belichick was in his
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: classic vintage bag calling defense there. And it started up front.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, the defensive line just dominated TCU's front as
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: the game went on, starting with Melkart, Albujaude, who I
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: think we'll probably see on Sundays. And then Xavier Lewis,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: who had eight tackles last year and had seven in
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: that game, including four for a loss.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: We got to talk about Xavier Lewis. This kid was
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: a four-star recruit, Roseville High School. And I mean, he
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: shocked the whole country. Everybody watching that game was raving
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: about him on social media. What a story he could become.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: And I mean, Leroy Jackson as well. I mean, I
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: was kind of worried about what they lost up front.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: They kept Melcar, but what they lost up front, I
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: was kind of worried about. Tyler Thompson, some of those guys. Man,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: that defensive front as the game went on, those guys
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: were getting it done.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and they're really excited about Jalen Harvey, too, another
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: one of those young guys who came from Penn State
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: out of the transfer portal, one of those 70 newcomers.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Xavier Lewis, I think he was going to be an
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Austin Peay walk-on before he ended up coming to Carolina
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: last year. Just an incredible story there to end up
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: being the MVP of that game. Not last night, but
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: two nights ago now.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: Rod, how much has that performance changed maybe what your
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: outlook was for the season? Or is it still kind of, hey,
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: we need to wait and see what they do next?
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: Or do you now think, hey, this team might be
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: pretty good?
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I try to keep a level head about these things.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: I know a lot of the national folks love to
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: bury Belichick in the offseason. And I just wanted to
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: see the games, man. Let's get to the games and
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: see what happens. I will say I feel a lot
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: better about this group after seeing them Saturday. I mean, heck,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: last year they didn't have a win against a Power
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: 4 program until Halloween against the Syracuse team that had
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: a lacrosse player at quarterback. So just in that scenario...
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: I think we're already ahead of where we were last season.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: And Bill and his players have said this is a
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: different group with a different attitude, and I think we
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: saw that, and we've consistently heard it from the seven
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: captains throughout the offseason. So time will tell, obviously, but
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: it's obviously a good early step forward for the program.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, think about where they are. Ray, you talked about it,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: where they are now after one game compared to last year.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Feels like night and day. All right, Rob. Well, hey,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: we appreciate you. Good luck getting adjusted fully. Back to
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: the fact that you are in North Carolina, no longer
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: in Ireland. But great job on the interview, man. Appreciate you.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: I appreciate y'all. Thanks for having me.