University of North Carolina Athletics
Woody: Game Went The Way Torbush Thought
September 3, 2000 | Football
Sept. 3, 2000
For the first time in three years, Carolina is 1-0 at the start of a new season, and Saturday night's 30-9 triumph over Tulsa went about the way Carl Torbush thought it would go.
When the head coach and his staff reviewed the game tape, the Tar Heels didn't play as well in the first three periods as Torbush thought Saturday night, and they weren't quite as bad in the fourth quarter. "The great thing about it is we were able to win the ball game," Torbush explained, "but, at the same time we've still got a lot of work to do."
One of the question marks going into the game was the offensive line, and for the most part he thought that group blocked well. "Tulsa had a very aggressive, blitzing, attacking defensive front. They gave us some problems we probably won't see any more the rest of the year, but it will enable us to get better."
Torbush thought James Wagstaff, the offensive right tackle, had an outstanding game. "That's real exciting for me because he's come a long, long way, and hopefully this will help him get better."
The Tar Heel football boss also thought his young running backs picked up most of the blitzzes that were thrown at them. "I was impressed with what they did as freshmen. They didn't gain many yards, but they ran hard and did some good things."
Quarterack Ronald Curry generated 261 yards of total offense, and Torbush thought he got about 130 yards that not many quarterbacks or athletes could have gotten. He was drained a little bit in the fourth quarter, and went out briefly before going back into the game. "Honestly, I didn't think he played as well then as he did early." Torbush expects the Tar Heels to make their most improvement before next week's second game at Wake Forest, and he thinks Curry will make tremendous improvement. "I can't say enough about Ronald and what he has overcome to get to where he is right now. His ability to lead the team has improved, and his athleticism will make him a special player and help us get better."
The head coach was pleased with his wide receivers, but thinks they need to make catches and make big time plays. Tight end Alge Crumpler didn't catch a pass, but the tape showed he blocked as well as he has in any game at Carolina. The coaching staff thought he has some domination blocks.
"We could have scored more points, but we got the job done," Torbush said. "And, all the mistakes we had are correctable."
He thought the defense was tentative at the start, but then became aggressive. "We dropped way too many possible interceptions, even though all of them weren't as easy as I thought." And, there was a break down on one play. "We had a guy fall down, and they hit a 78-yard touchdown pass. If they don't get that play, they have less than 150 yards of total offense."
For the first game, the Carolina kicking game was a plus. Jeff Reed and Chris Bender handled the placekicking, while John Lafferty and Blake Ferguson took care of the punting chores.
"Overall, we played well enough to win, but we were a long way from playing as well as the football team we need to become." The next test comes Saturday at 6:30 PM in Winston-Salem against Wake Forest.
