University of North Carolina Athletics
Car-O-Lines: Tar Heels Must Slow Down Dantzler on Saturday
October 17, 2000 | Football
Oct. 17, 2000
By Rick Brewer, SID Emeritus
Read More Car-O-Lines from Rick Brewer
I wouldn't say Carolina's football team discovered Woody Dantzler for the Clemson Tigers, but he certainly had his coming-out party against the Tar Heels.
Dantzler is the Clemson quarterback who is the centerpiece for one of the most wide-open offenses in college football. He is the man Carolina must slow down this weekend if they hope to upset the Tigers in Kenan Stadium.
A year ago when these two teams met in an early-season game at Clemson, Brandon Streeter was the Tiger signal-caller. But, when he suffered a broken collarbone late in the first quarter, Dantzler came off the bench as his replacement.
He finished that game with 11 carries for 82 yards and one touchdown. He also completed seven of 15 passes for 131 yards and another TD.
With Carolina leading, 17-10, early in the third period, Dantzler faced a second-and-15 at his own 40-yard line. He completed an 11-yard pass to Rod Gardner and then threw a 49-yard scoring strike to Gardner to tie the game.
Clemson took the lead on its next possession after a Carolina turnover at the Tar Heel 29. An 11-yard pass by Dantzler was the big play in that scoring drive.
Carolina cut that lead to 24-20 early in the fourth quarter, but Dantzler then scrambled 56 yards for a 31-20 lead with just 8:35 to play. That proved to be the final score as the Tar Heels could never mount a serious threat after that.
Prior to that game Dantzler had thrown just six passes and run the ball only four times all year. In fact, he had played in just one of the Tigers' first three games.
Dantzler had started six games as a red-shirt freshman in 1998, including the game in Chapel Hill against Carolina. But, he was lifted for Streeter after completing just two of six passes and gaining eight yards on 14 carries. The Tar Heels won that game, 21-14, by rallying for two touchdowns in the final period.
Today Dantzler, a 5-11, 200-pound junior, is leading an offense that ranks second nationally in total offense. Individually, he is the country's ninth-leading passer and 11th-leading rusher. He's completed 91 of 147 passes for 1,271 yards and nine touchdowns. Plus, he only has four interceptions. He has 122 carries for 819 yards and 12 touchdowns.
The Tiger quarterback is sixth nationally in total offense, averaging 298.6 yards a game.
"Actually, we knew we were going to have problems when he went in the game last year," says Carolina Coach Carl Torbush. "Streeter was basically going to throw the ball, but we knew Dantzler could hurt us either running or throwing.
"Clemson has excellent athletes and Coach (Tommy) Bowden has put together an offensive scheme that is difficult to defend. Their offensive linemen aren't as big as some you'll see, but they run very well. They do a great job of cutting you at the line of scrimmage or pulling. They run a lot of quarterback draws and misdirection. We won't see an offense like this all year."
Carolina has faced quarterbacks who were threats as both runners and passers in the past. Players like Duke's Mike Dunn, Florida State's Charlie Ward, Joe Hamilton of Georgia Tech and Virginia's Shawn Moore immediately come to mind. However, none of those players are quite the threat that Dantzler is running the ball.
"It's like having Leon Johnson at quarterback," says Torbush. "He is an excellent runner. He's strong and capable of breaking arm tackles. Plus, you can't just worry about him because Travis Zachery is a very good tailback.
"Defensively, it's a typical Clemson football team. They're quick and have good depth. With all due respect to Florida State, this may be the best team we'll see all year."
Carolina goes into this game after two disappointing losses to N.C. State and Georgia Tech. But, Torbush thinks his team will bounce back.
"No one has been able to slow Clemson down yet, but I think we'll give a great effort," he says. "I'm not saying that we're going to shut them down because I'm not sure anybody can do that. They aren't going to play many 10-7 games.
"But, I do think we will play hard. We've got to play with more consistency that we've shown in the last couple of games.
"We could be facing the best quarterback in the country. He's certainly a guy who's going to be deserving of Heisman Trophy consideration if they continue to play as they have so far this year."
Carolina should go into this game in fairly decent shape from an injury standpoint. The only player who is definitely out is wide receiver Chesley Borders, who has a pulled hamstring. Defensive end Julius Peppers, who was shaken up last week, should be ready to go.
"We need Julius because he is so talented and because we simply are going to have to rotate our defensive linemen as much as possible," says Torbush. "Even the way Clemson often plays with a no-huddle offense and snaps the ball as quickly as possible, we should have time to get substitutes in the game."
With the offense the Tar Heels will be facing it will be a necessity to keep fresh defenders on the field. It's obviously difficult to slow the Tigers down anytime and it will be impossible to do so with a tired defense. That, of course, is one of the goals of the Tiger attack.
Carolina needs to offset that by keeping its own offense on the field as much as possible. A big day by Tar Heel quarterback Ronald Curry will thus help his defense in trying to slow down Dantzler.
The way the Tiger quarterback has been playing, slowing him down would seem to be the best hope anyone has.
