Extra Points: The Bounce

By Lee Pace

"I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom."
General George Patton

In the span of 24 months Carolina football has enjoyed the splendorous highs of blowing arch-rival N.C. State out of its home den by a 35-7 margin after one quarter, seeing its Carolina blue plastered all over ESPN for a week leading up to the ACC Championship game and riding the Landon Turner-inspired "We got your back" moniker to the school's first-ever 11-win regular season.

"You guys are special," Larry Fedora told his players after their season-ending rout of the Wolfpack two days after Thanksgiving 2015. "You've done something that's never been done, never at this university. Talk about a legacy for you seniors. Wow. Wow. It's everything you ever dreamed about."

The scene was decidedly different in the Tar Heels' dressing quarters early Saturday evening. Only three sophomore starters from that game two years ago were still around—tackle Bentley Spain, cornerback M.J. Stewart and defensive end Dajaun Drennon. Another starter, linebacker Andre Smith, had not played since the Louisville game in week two, joining fellow linebackers Cole Holcomb, Cayson Collins and Ayden Bonilla in street clothes in a storm-of-the-century onslaught of injuries affecting this 2017 team.

In a microcosm of the Tar Heels' just-completed 3-9 season, Carolina stood eye-to-eye with the talented Wolfpack squad for three quarters, the Tar Heels nursing a 14-12 lead with one minute left in quarter three. A defense relegated to playing nickel and dime packages due to its dearth of linebackers (one safety, Allen Artis, was moved to emergency duty for Saturday's game) had held admirably tough despite State controlling the ball by a 2:1 time-of-possession margin. An offense led by QB Nathan Elliott had carefully protected the ball—no turnovers since the Miami game back in October—and used its deep-ball threat of Anthony Ratliff-Williams and a sweet little gadget pass from Elliott to tailback Michael Carter to score a pair of touchdowns. But the Tar Heels were finding it a tough and onerous slog on the ground—just 45 yards rushing on 18 attempts against State's senior-laden and productive front seven.

After 59 snaps of jabs and crosses and dancing around, the Wolfpack and its lightning-fast running back, Nyheim Hines, hit with a pair of haymakers. First came a 54-yard run for a touchdown that was blocked well at the line of scrimmage but should have been a 10-yard gain if either safety J.K. Britt or Myles Dorn could have converted a tackle. Then Elliott threw his first interception since being thrust into action in the Miami game—a freak deflection by a cornerback and opportunistic snare by a linebacker—and State took over at the Tar Heel 48 yard-line.

Hines then found the tiniest sliver of daylight around the right side, sliced through a battery of Tar Heels, cut back against the grain and eluded a diving Drennon to race 48 yards for another touchdown. It was now 27-14 State, the Wolfpack fans were howling and 20 State seniors could sense a signature win for what would be an 8-4 season. Hines would finish with a career-high 196 yards on 22 carries.

In a subdued voice afterward, Fedora spoke of his team "running out of gas" and the likelihood the knock-out blows resulted from gap "misfits" by the Tar Heel defenders. Britt said one of the big plays resulted from the Tar Heels not communicating and shifting quickly enough. Stewart said that despite the lapses, "This team is full of fighters and full of young guys who love to compete. They've got that passion and fight, that's why I love them so much."

The Tar Heels certainly hit rock bottom this year in their 59-7 annihilation Oct. 21 at Virginia Tech and, over the last month, staged a noteworthy bounce. Taking Miami deep into the fourth quarter helped the Tar Heels' mindset. The long-needed off-week was a godsend. Finally they put it all together with a turnover-free offensive performance and opportunistic defense in a win at Pittsburgh.

"This season will be remembered for hurt, a bunch of guys hurting, especially the seniors," Britt said. "It also shows a bunch of guys fighting. You can't pull up a tape and show where we just gave up."

Ironically in a season of an unprecedented onslaught of injuries that sidelined a dozen or more starters or potential starters, it was health issues of quarterbacks Chazz Surratt and Brandon Harris the following week that forced Elliott into action. The sophomore from Texas lacks the strongest arm or the quickest feet, but his control of the nuances of making good decisions and not forcing the ball into harm's way helped ignite the offense into a respectable home stretch. Still, there was only so much the offense could produce given the exodus of five seniors on the line over the last two years and the staff's desire to redshirt what is thought to be a quality recruiting class from last February, led by book-end tackles Marcus McKethan and Jordan Tucker. Having to scramble to import a pair of graduate transfers who would start doesn't auger well for the strength of a blocking front.

"We just didn't score for awhile and kept getting three-and-outs. We have to be more efficient than that," said Elliott of a mid-game string of five possession of no more than six plays and zero points. "We knew eventually we were going to get a score. It was just taking too long. We just couldn't get going fast enough in the second half. If we did, maybe it would have been different."

With no bowl to prepare for, Fedora is left with the tasks of recruiting and serious reflection. Can he find the right buttons to push as Mark Dantonio did at Michigan State, flipping a 3-9 season in 2016 to 9-3 this year, and as Brian Kelly did at Notre Dame, flipping a 4-8 ledger to 9-3 this fall?

"We'll go back and we'll evaluate everything, everything that we do in this program," he said. "We never stop doing that. We'll try to tweak things to make things better. Hopefully we're going to get a bunch of guys healed up, and then we'll be ready to go."

In the same postgame interview room where two years ago Marquise Williams flashed his megawatt smile talking about an 11-1 season, Stewart was asked if he regretted not turning pro after his junior year as teammates Mitch Trubisky, Nazair Jones and Elijah Hood had done.

"No regrets at all," he said. "God puts people through things. You never know why, it's always for a reason. I think he wanted to test my character and see how I could lead the guys this year."

Nearby, the freshman Carter marveled at the intensity of the rivalry, the joy of making big plays, the promise of better times to come in 2018.

"It's a physical game," Carter said. "I love it. That's why I signed up for it when I was four years old."

The circle of life in Tar Heel football, M.J. Stewart exiting with his head held high, Michael Carter catching his breath with three years left. The round trip of Raleigh-to-Raleigh over two years is a stark reminder of the challenge of building a successful football operation in Chapel Hill—first to build it, second to sustain it.

Lee Pace is in his 28th year covering Tar Heel football through "Extra Points" and 14th as the sideline reporter for the Tar Heel Sports Network. His book, "Football in a Forest," is available in bookstores across North Carolina and online at www.johnnytshirt.com. Email him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @LeePaceTweet.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Allen Artis

Ayden Bonilla

J.K. Britt

Michael Carter

Cayson Collins

Myles Dorn

Dajaun Drennon

Nathan Elliott

Brandon Harris

Cole Holcomb

Marcus McKethan

Anthony Ratliff-Williams

Andre Smith

Bentley Spain

M.J. Stewart

Chazz Surratt

Jordan Tucker

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