University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: A Bowden Sweep
October 21, 2001 | Football
Oct. 21, 2001
By Adam Lucas
TarHeelBlue.com
Riding down Clemson Highway at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday, listening to the Tiger Tailgate Show on the radio.
"Duane, how many yards do you think Woody is going to get today? Do you think it's fair to say that he's the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy, and that if he puts up another 400-yard effort today that he will be the clear choice?"
Woody Dantzler is "Woody" in Clemson. It is like Madonna or Cher or Gerardo, who has had exactly as many hits--one--in the past 20 years as UNC has had victories in Clemson.
This particular radio show is not all talk. They also have clever songs, such as the one set to the tune of "Sweet Home Alabama" that includes the following line:
"What is a Tar Heel anyway, I don't know but it sure sounds gay."
Inside Memorial Stadium, which also goes by the name of Death Valley, things weren't much more pleasant. It was Homecoming and Parents' Day, a combination usually reserved for the lowliest opponents on the schedule. The Tigers had already played Central Florida and Wofford, with a game against Duke still to come, but they reserved homecoming for UNC.
Clemson held Tigerama Friday night, a large pep rally that can attract upwards of 30,000 orange-wearing fanatics. An aerial view would reveal it to appear to be the world's largest highway worker gathering.
There was good reason for optimism at Tigerama. After all, Clemson was 26-2-2 on Homecoming since 1971.
Did anyone really think that little ol' Carolina was going to come in and spoil the party? After all, as my buddy Duane from the Tiger Tailgate Show said, "They played some pretty good teams early in the season, but during their four-game winning streak they really haven't played that same type of team."
One of those "lesser" teams was Bobby Bowden's Florida State. That 41-9 win was bad enough, but after Saturday's 38-3 whipping of Tommy Bowden's Clemson, John Bunting can probably expect a call from Mama Bowden. Isn't that what usually happens when a bully takes turns beating up on multiple family members?
So it's a Bowden Sweep for the Tar Heels. Beating Tommy was an especially important step, since many Tar Heel fans have constantly harped on the fact that UNC could have hired the boy wonder from the Bowden family tree when they instead picked Carl Torbush to replace Mack Brown.
Tommy Bowden preaches a fun offense that scores lots of points. John Bunting preaches a tough offense that scores enough points to win.
On one third-down play Saturday, Bowden's Tigers lined up in the Emory & Henry formation with the tackles split wide. Dantzler, er, "Woody" then took the shotgun snap and tried a quarterback draw that went nowhere.
Just a guess, but when Bunting and offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill line up their team in the Emory & Henry formation on third-and-four, it is time to doublecheck the batteries in the coaching headsets.
To answer the pregame radio show question, Woody wound up with 116 total yards and also threw an interception that Julius Peppers tipped, dove, caught, and then replaced the football just to prove that he really can do it all. Bunting's email inbox immediately lit up with, "Why don't we move Peppers to cornerback?" emails.
Woody was also yanked from the game in the third quarter, and backup Willie Simmons entered the rout to raucous cheers from the fickle Tiger faithful.
Carolina's less-heralded freshman quarterback, who still has to use both his names, had a pretty decent day as well. Darian Durant racked up 103 yards and three touchdowns, and as usual did nothing to hurt his team while directing the Heels to the victory.
Riding down Clemson Highway at 4:45 p.m. Saturday afternoon, with much less traffic to battle due to the fact that most Tiger fans evacuated Death Valley beginning in the late third quarter. Listening to the postgame Tiger radio show.
"Duane, Woody just didn't have it today."
"You're right. It's pretty obvious that when he struggles, the rest of the Tigers are going to struggle."
Orange is ugly.
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