University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Deacs Add To The Pain
November 11, 2001 | Football
Nov. 11, 2001
By Adam Lucas
TarHeelBlue.com
Talking about it is supposed to make it better. That's what the therapists say. And if you're a North Carolina football fan, you're eventually going to need a therapist.
Rumor has it that football comes easy at some schools. Out on the plains in Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, places like that, the teams just roll through their season, obliterating conference opponents and suffering only the occasional loss in big bowl games played in January.
Let this be said, though: fans at those schools don't have nearly as much character as Tar Heel fans, who have become so relaxed about the whole football thing that they can do the wave when the offense has the ball in the second half of a close ACC game.
At Carolina, the past decade has seen games that have come to be known as "Badge of Honor" games. If you have a full set of tickets from these games, consider yourself a true fan:
1990, NC State 12, Carolina 9. Damon Hartman kicks a 56-yard field goal as time expires. When that ball sailed through the uprights, you had to wonder if Mack Brown's luck would ever turn.
1993 Gator Bowl, Alabama 24, Carolina 10. This was supposed to be the game that vaulted the Tar Heels into national prominence. Instead, it wound up taking another couple years.
1996, Carolina at Virginia. Enough said.
1997, Florida State wins the Judgment Day showdown 20-3 at Chapel Hill.
1999, The wind magically changes with seconds left in the game, just in time to carry a Virginia field goal through the uprights as time expires for a 20-17 loss.
1999, Furman whips the Heels 28-3 in Kenan Stadium.
And now, almost unbelievably, you can add the 2001 Wake Forest game to this list.
"Two weeks ago we played at Clemson and it was one of the most complete games I've ever been around in my entire career as a player or coach," John Bunting said. "Today was perhaps the most complete collapses I've ever been around."
He didn't say this, but you get the feeling that Bunting is not planning on having too many more of these types of games as long as he continues to be the head coach.
Cruelly, the rest of the events of the day only made the loss hurt worse. Virginia upended Georgia Tech, which meant that a Tar Heel win might have effectively sealed a Peach Bowl slot. And then N.C. State surprised Florida State in Tallahassee, which potentially could have thrown the ACC title race back into question and created another logjam at the top.
As this is written, there is still a scenario--involving losses, wins, moon phases, and tiebreakers so complicated that the ultimate deciding point is a round-robin "Rock/paper/scissors" tournament--under which the league championship could end in a five-way tie. In that situation, one team could simultaneously print "ACC Champion" t-shirts and also be banished cross-country to the Seattle Bowl, which sounds more like a special coffee than a football game.
On days like this, it seems like being a Carolina football fan causes nothing but agony. It's easy to forget the excitement of the 1993 Peach Bowl, or the 45-0 rout over Clemson in 1996, or the dual wins over Clemson and FSU this year. It's tough to remember that two months ago, being invited to any bowl, up to and including the Tupperware Bowl, would have been cause for a Franklin Street celebration.
John Bunting still has plenty of plans for Tar Heel football. Imagine the heartbreak you felt on Saturday as the seconds slipped off the clock, multiply it by ten, and you've come close to how strongly he feels about Carolina.
Now, he's got his first badge of honor as the UNC coach. His task is to make sure he doesn't get any more.
PREVIOUS FOOTBALL COLUMNS BY ADAM LUCAS
Adam Lucas is the co-publisher of Basketball America. He is a lifelong observer of UNC sports and can be reached at JAdamLucas@aol.com.
