University of North Carolina Athletics
GAME DAY LIVE with Lee Pace
September 2, 2000 | Football
Aug. 29, 2000
TarHeelBlue is pleased to launch "Game Day Live with Lee Pace" this evening during Carolina's season-opening battle with Tulsa.
Lee Pace, long-time editor and publisher of Extra Points, will be online from the press box to provide commentary on the game as well as to answer your questions via email to tarheelblue@uncaa.unc.edu .
So while you listen to the game with Woody and Mick on the Tar Heel Sports Network, be sure to also log on to TarHeelBlue.com and join Lee Pace for his analysis, commentary and a chance to have your very own questions answered on TarHeelBlue.com.
6:10 p.m.
Due to storms in the area, kickoff has been delayed. We look to be underway within the next 10 minutes. We'll keep you posted.
Lee Pace: Greetings Carolina fans from the Kenan Stadium press box. We got off to a slow start here with some thunder storms in the area, but I'm glad to be here and look forward to being with you throughout the game.
LP: Tulsa just got on the board with a 41-yard field goal at 9:25 of the first quarter by Chris Earnest. It was an 11-play, 49-yard drive that took 5:35. Tulsa obviously went after cornerback Michael Waddell on four passing plays with good success. It was Waddell's first series of college football. I think he'll settle down and do well though.
LP: We've had a question come in from Tony Harris in Lawrence, Kansas. Tony has asked about the offensive line and my thoughts on how the line will look this year. The coaching staff is really looking to find tall, lean, athletic kids that they can put weight on over time. If the last two recruiting classes are any indication, they're doing a good job of that. The O-line of the future looks very good.
LP: Chip Venable in Atlanta has asked how bad the weather is and what the condition of the field is. The rain has been on and off, but it looks ok right now. The field is in fair condition because of all the rain the last few weeks. I don't think it's going to be a very fast track tonight. The Tar Heels have just recovered the ball at the Tulsa 47 after a dropped punt by Tulsa punter Casey Lipscomb.
LP: We're midway through the first quarter here and it looks like the Tar Heels are trying to get the kinks out of the option. Half of our play calls have been off the option, and with two freshman tailbacks, I think we'll have mixed results. Mike O'Cain is committed to the option being a part of the offense, so there will be some growing pains. That was evident in our first series of the game, when Ronald Curry called an option to the left and freshman Brandon Russell ran right. Curry pitched the ball to air and Tulsa recovered.
LP: Tony Harris from Lawrence has also asked about the special teams. I think special teams have been shored up over the last couple of years with Ken Rucker overseeing that unit. I don't forsee Carolina having nearly as many blocked punts as in 1996 and 1997. The new kickers should be fine with time.
LP: The Tar Heels are on the board with a one-yard TD run by Willie Parker. Antwon Black led the last part of the touchdown drive after Curry lost a contact lense. So at 3:03 in the first quarter, UNC leads 7-3. The drive was exactly what UNC needed after that fumble on the first drive. It was slow, steady and solid -- five or six yards at a clip. One thing I liked from Mike O'Cain was when there were a couple of third-and-mediums, he went with short, quick routes that got Carolina just the yardage it needed. He's not trying anything too difficult yet.
LP: Carolina has just held Tulsa to two good three-and-out series after that Tulsa scoring drive early in the quarter. Carolina has had a batted pass, a sack and they've clogged up the middle against the run. So it's a good start for the Carolina defense as the first quarter expires.
First Quarter Quickie Stats
UNC 7, Tulsa 3
Curry--30 rushing yards, 40 passing yards
LP: Kory Bailey is now 3-for-3 catching the ball. That should give him good confidence. Carolina really needs Bailey to be a good, sure-handed receiver for Curry to throw to.
LP: Carolina fumble, charged to Curry. Tulsa has recovered at the 26-yard-line. This is the first game that Curry and Adam Metts (center) have played together. People may take the QB-center relationship for granted, but it's easy to get a little antsy when you've got two guys working together for the first time. These are first-game, breaking-the-system-in kind of problems we're seeing right now.
LP: Mike Sundheim, from Durham, is in Canada on business and has asked questions about the crowd size, the offense and how Brandon Spoon looks in his return from injury last year. Mike, Brandon looks great out there. It's great to see him back in Carolina Blue. He's at middle linebacker calling the shots. It's a move that's best for the defense and Brandon feels very comfortable with it. As for the offense, I wouldn't say that Curry is sputtering, it's just the first-game kinks to work out that we've referenced earlier. And our crowd has been announced at about 44,000, which I think is a little disappointing to be honest. But the weather and holiday weekend does not help. Thanks for the questions.
LP: David Gray in Richmond, Va. has emailed in to ask about whether the Carolina coaching staff is going to go with a "tailback-by-committee" type offense or whether they will settle on one back. The coaching staff would absolutely like to have a go-to guy, a No. 1 guy, but it's going to take some time for that situation to work itself out -- to figure out who is going to be the best player. Tonight, there hasn't been a lot of running room, but there is definitely some speed there that we haven't seen in some time.
LP: Mike Pringley, former defensive end at UNC, has actually just emailed in. Mike, thanks for writing. He has asked about whether the defense is looking like the defense of old. Not quite. Tulsa is attacking young Michael Waddell with good success, with passes to the right side so his debut has not been as impressive as that of Dre' Bly in 1996. But otherwise, Carolina does look pretty solid on defense. Three of four series have been three-and-outs, and the one first down Tulsa got was by spreading the Tar Heels out in four-wides and running the ball up the middle. Overall Mike, so far so good on both sides of the ball.
LP: Question from Brad Whitaker in Jacksonville, Fla. about how the future Carolina linebackers look. He mentioned that while this year's starters are all seniors, he hasn't heard much about the young linebackers. Good question. Carolina definitely has to develop and recruit hard at that position. Two freshmen to watch are Kitwana Jones and Clarence Gaddy. Jones may well get in there to play on special teams this year.
LP: Greg Hudson in Raleigh has emailed in to ask about how Julius Peppers is looking, and whether any Tar Heels are getting double-teamed. He also has asked about the quality of our running plays, why Carolina is not getting longer runs up the middle. First, Peppers is playing very well and is one of two players getting double-teamed quite often -- the other being Ryan Sims. As for running the ball, any running play that gets three yards or less is one that is blocked poorly, period. Breaking tackles by the tailback is a part of it as well. Those are two things Carolina is working diligently on to improve.
LP: Well, we're at halftime here at Kenan. Carolina leads 10-3 at the half. I still have several questions out there to answer, but I'm going to take a quick break and be back with you in a few minutes with more answers and some halftime stats.
First Half Stats
UNC 10, Tulsa 3
Rushing: UNC 117, Tulsa 22
Passing: UNC 73, Tulsa 66
Total Yards: UNC 190, Tulsa 88
LP: For those of you listening to the broadcast either right here on TarHeelBlue.com or on the Tar Heels Sports Network in your local area, you may just heard my first half thoughts. For those of you just following along online, I'll recap those thoughts for you here. The most significant thing is the speed and game-breaking ability that Carolina has now with the return of Curry and Bosley Allen. Those were weapons that were sorely missed much of last year. If Curry and Allen were healthy all of 1999, there's no way Carolina goes 3-8. Defensively, UNC was very impressive with four three-and-out series. The kicking game, as we expected, has had its ups and downs. I think the Tar Heels are in good shape to have a dominating second half.
Tulsa has just kicked off to Carolina and we're underway here in the second half.
LP: Let me get to a couple of first-half questions I wasn't able to answer before halftime. William Davidson emailed in to ask what happened to last year's sideline reporter Rick Steinbacher. William, Rick left the Tar Heel Sports Network at the end of last season to join Coach Torbush's staff as his administrative assistant. Rick did a great job on the sidelines for us and we were sad to see him go, but he's also now doing a tremendous job for Coach Torbush and his staff. Stephen Gates is our new sideline man, and we think you'll enjoy his perspective on the game.
LP: Ronald Curry just scrambled and connected with Jamal Jones for a 55-yard TD to give Carolina a 17-3 advantage at 12:44 of the third quarter. Again, great athleticism by Curry to escape the Tulsa rush and to set up and throw the ball at least 45 yards in the air to a wide-open Jamal Jones, who had gotten behind the defense.
LP: Following the TD, Carolina's defense continues to look sharp. After Michael Waddell was picked on earlier in the game, he's settled down and is playing very well. Tulsa went after him on consecutive throws, including a hitch-and-go, and they were unsuccessful. Then on third-and-long, Waddell did a great job covering a slant pattern and broke the play up.
LP: James Downing in Gaithersburg, Maryland has emailed in and asked that while everyone has heard about Bosley Allen and Ronald Curry, is there anyone else out there who may be a dark horse to have a big year on offense for the Tar Heels? Just in this game, Jamal Jones and Sam Aiken are two receivers who are showing that they'll be threats for the future.
LP: DB coach Ron Case's son David has sent us a message and asked about the performance of the defensive backs. Overall, the DBs are playing well. We've talked about Waddell as the game has progressed. Dexter Reid and Kevin Knight are the new guys who are standing out. Dexter has played a lot in nickel situations.
LP: Ted Johnson has emailed in from Tokyo. Great to hear from you from the other side of the world. Ted wonders about the second-team offensive line. He asked whether any of the red-shirt freshman have seen playing time. Ted, four second-teamers have played on the O-line. Tackles Greg Woofter and Bryant Malloy and guards David Stevenson and Jupiter Wilson have played. It's hard to tell about those guys so early in the season, but they have gotten on the field and seen some action. Ted also asked about Kitwana Jones, who has not played tonight. I believe the only true freshmen who has played is tailback Brandon Russell.
LP: Mike Jones from Neenah, Wisc., has asked about Julius Peppers. We mentioned earlier that Julius has in fact been getting double-teamed, so we'll see how he adjusts over the course of the second half.
LP: Carolina has pulled ahead 24-3 with Willie Parker's second TD run of the game, a three-yarder at 4:25 of the third.
LP: James Stikeleather in Oxford, Miss., has asked about Ronald Curry's performance and wonders whether he will be overshadowed by Michael Vick, a similar type QB. Ronald has had a great game overall. Late in the 3rd quarter, he 226 total yards of offense, 157 yards of that passing. He's thrown the ball well, he's improvising well and he seems to be leading the team very well. As with Vick, Carolina must get back into the national spotlight before people will hear about Ronald the way they do Vick.
LP: Curtis Atwell, a former Carson Newman teammate of Coach Torbush and Coach Rucker while Ron Case was the coach has emailed us. He was wondering how Carolina's offensive line has looked. Curtis, it's been a mixed bag. Just on the last two drives, Curry's had wonderful protection on downfield completions to Jamal Jones and Sam Aiken. But there have been some breakdowns as well. The Tar Heels have played 10 guys on the O-line. Every one of them will be better next week for having been in a "real" game and seen live game action.
LP: At the end of the third quarter, Carolina leads 27-3. Jeff Reed connected on a 39-yard field goal with 13 seconds remaining in the quarter to extend Carolina's advantage. As we head into the fourth quarter I just wanted to say thanks for all of the great questions that have been coming in. I'm doing my best to get to as many as I can. We'll get through as much as we can in the fourth, but with 5 minutes left in the quarter I will have to sign off and head to the post-game interview area for Coach Torbush's press conference. Anyway, back to the action. Tulsa just got a first down, its first of the second half and only it's second following the game-opening field goal drive.
LP: We just got an email from the aunt and uncle of offensive lineman Don Peters. Thanks for following along with us on the internet. Don has not played tonight. He is sick and did not dress out.
LP: Reid Dalton asked about O-lineman Adam Metts and Skip Seagraves. Adam Metts has played a fine game. Skip Seagraves is a true freshman and probably will be red-shirted and not play this year.
LP: The Tar Heels were probably hoping for a touchdown shutout, but Tulsa has just scored a TD to cut the score to 27-9 (they missed a two-point conversion). The Golden Hurricane connected on a 78-yard TD pass play after Errol Hood slipped in the backfield and left Tulsa's WR wide open for the score.
LP: An Atlanta fan, 91Heel, asked about the offensive package tonight and about the running game. The package has been pretty basic tonight. There will be a lot more to come as the season unfolds. We mentioned earlier about the running game that as the blocking goes, so goes the ground game. It will be a work-in-process as the season goes on.
LP: Kevin in Jonesborough, Tenn., asks "Is Willie Parker the 1,000-yard back Carolina has been looking for?" Kevin, every 1,000-yard rusher in Carolina history has had some all-conference and/or all-america linemen in front of him. If Parker gets the blocking, he certainly has the speed and hopefully the instincts to gain a lot of yards in his Carolina career. He definitely has the desire and the internal intangibles you need to excel.
LP: Greg Sandlin in Washington, D.C., has asked about whether there are any major uniform changes this year other than Carolina's switch to white shoes. No, and in fact I'm glad to see for the 13th year now, the helmets are essentially the same. The great football programs never change their helmets.
LP: Fans, as I mentioned earlier, I'm going to have to sign off and head down to the field. Time is winding down in the fourth. I'm disappointed that we haven't been able to finish with more of a flourish and put them away better. Overall, it's been a successful opener for the Tar Heels. There have been positives on both sides of the ball and obviously there's plenty to work on. The defense can be really good this year. I like what I've seen from Mike O'Cain. I think he and his offense can be effective and we'll look forward to seeing more and more of the offensive package in the coming weeks.
It's nice to not lose on a last minute field goal like Carolina has the last two years.
That's all from the Kenan Stadium press box. I've enjoyed it.
e sure to check back Monday morning for the lastest edition of my newsletter Extra Points. EP is available Mondays throughout the fall now on TarHeelBlue.com.
Players Mentioned
