University of North Carolina Athletics
Car-O-Lines: Resilient Tar Heels Now face Marshall
September 22, 2000 | Football
Sept. 22, 2000
y Rick Brewer, SID Emeritus
It's amazing what a young person will go through to play the game of college football.
If it were just the games themselves each Saturday, it would not be quite as difficult.
But, the practice sessions, off-season training and pre-season drills in the heat and humidity of August make the game so hard to play.
Many of the attributes needed by a college football player are obvious. Intelligence, quickness, speed, strength, agility and instincts for the game are a must.
However, one often overlooked trait that is just as important is resiliency.
The ability to bounce back from setbacks of various kinds is a necessity.
Those setbacks may come in the form of injuries, defeats-- such as the nightmare North Carolina suffered last Saturday at Florida State, loss of playing time or even off-the-field problems.
Young people who play this game are often unbelievable in the resiliency they possess.
Players such as Brandon Spoon, Alge Crumpler, Bosley Allen and Ronald Curry have shown that in coming back from serious injuries to be key members of this Carolina team.
The Tar Heels displayed that late last season when they refused to quit in their final two games, despite possessing just a 1-8 record. A young team, shredded by injuries, somehow found a way to beat N.C. State and Duke in those last two weeks.
Resiliency.
Carolina will certainly need all they can find Saturday night when they face an outstanding Marshall team here in Kenan Stadium.
"We know we're going to be playing an excellent football team," says cornerback Errol Hood. "Maybe it would have been better if we were playing a weaker opponent this week to get back on the winning track. But, when you're facing a team like Marshall, you know you can't think about what happened last week. You've got to get ready for one of the best teams in the country.
"Playing somebody like this helps get you ready. But, so does the memory of last week. If you can't get ready to play again after that, there's something wrong with you as an athlete."
Spoon, the star middle linebacker, agrees.
"We're 2-1 with eight games to play," he says. "We can't let our season be 
uined by one game. Sure, you look at all your mistakes at Florida State and you try to learn from them. We know we've got out hands full with Marshall. If we're not mentally, emotionally and physically prepared, we'll get beat again."
Marshall comes into this season after winning more games in the 1990's than any other school in the nation. The Thundering Herd has won three straight Mid-American Conference titles since joining that league. Marshall is 1-1 this fall, but was beaten, 34-24, at Michigan State in its last game two weeks ago. So like Carolina, Marshall will be trying to bounce back from a loss when the two teams face off here tonight.
The last time Marshall dropped back-to-back games was over eight years ago in October, 1991.
Using a potent passing attack, the Thundering Herd has posted impressive offensive numbers in recent seasons. Quarterback Byron Leftwich has completed 41 of 63 passes for 437 yards and five touchdowns in the first two games of the year.
Carolina will rely on a young offense, that is still developing and improving, and a defense that had not played poorly until the game in Tallahassee. Terrible field position, turnovers, a quick-striking Seminole attack and poor Tar Heel tackling started an avalanche of touchdowns there which resulted in a runaway win for Florida State.
Coach Carl Torbush had no excuses for his team's performance.
"We were defeated by a better football team who has beaten a lot of other people the same way," he says. "That was a terrible way to learn lessons, but we treated it that way. We graded the film just like we do after every game.
"I've heard some coaches say the best thing to do is forget a game like that. I don't feel that way. If you're going to become a better football team, you have to learn from your mistakes. I don't want our guys to forget what happened down there. I don't want them to dwell on it because we have eight other games to play, including a very difficult opponent, Marshall, this Saturday night.
"But, don't ever forget it. Learn from it. Grow from it and then try to bounce back this week."
In other words, he wants his team to show the resiliency he knows it has.
Other schools responded in that type of positive manner just last Saturday.
Stanford, a loser to San Jose State two weeks ago, staged an improbable late comeback to stun an outstanding Texas team, 27-24. After blowing a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, a backup quarterback engineered the winning drive with only 1:12 in the game.
The Longhorns had beaten the Cardinal, 69-17, in 1999. That's the same Stanford team that had also lost to San Jose State, but ended up in the Rose Bowl.
Southern Mississippi, which dropped a 19-16 decision to Tennessee in its first game of the year, bounced back to topple Alabama at Legion Field in Birmingham.
Resiliency.
To play college football, it is a necessity. Carolina has displayed it in the past, as a team and individually. The Tar Heels will need to do so again to have a chance of beating a Marshall team that is explosive on offense and under-rated on defense.
This is a key game on the Tar Heel schedule, coming after the loss to the Seminoles and before Atlantic Coast Conference play begins in earnest. Bouncing back from the loss in Tallahassee against a team like Marshall would be a tremendous boost to the rest of the season.
Players Mentioned
