University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Run Game Too Much For Tar Heels
October 12, 2002 | Football
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Oct. 12, 2002
By Adam Lucas
Saturday's game started with the Tar Heel players gathered around the Kenan Stadium midfield logo and ended exactly the same way, and in between those two events North Carolina State showed that they simply aren't what they used to be.
And the Wolfpack should take that as a huge compliment.
Especially over the past few years, there's been a sneaking suspicion that the Pack might out-trick you, and they might out-pretty you, but they definitely wouldn't out-tough you. When Chuck Amato's team came out looking especially stylish in the latest in bright red panty hose and then proceeded to march down the field using a variety of trick plays, unique formations, and late substitutions, Carolina fans watched with a smile. Let 'em run their fleaflickers, their Emory & Henry formations, and then watch the bag of tricks run empty in the fourth quarter for another Tar Heel victory.
When you do this eight out of nine years, you get to know the formula.
But then something completely unexpected happened -- the pass-happy Pack turned into three yards and a cloud of dust. Only it wasn't just three yards. It was more like six here, twelve there, eight there.
"In the second half, particularly with the perimeter run, we just did not get enough people there," John Bunting said. "I am really surprised. We were tackling well in the first half and making a lot of plays. We stopped them on third down and we didn't do it in the second half."
Over the past couple of years, after falling behind 17-7, State would have curled up and gone to plays you usually only see in PlayStation football. On Saturday, they didn't curl up, they bore down.
The Pack ran the ball an astounding 13 times in a row, and by the time the drive was over, it wasn't Philip Rivers that looked like a Heisman Trophy candidate, it was T.A. McLendon.
The freshman rolled up 64 of the 70 yards on State's drive to pull within 17-13, and although the subsequent Darian Durant fumble near the goal line was important, there was already a sense in Kenan Stadium that the physical show of force by the Wolfpack had turned the momentum of the game.
"They get the momentum behind them and that helps them," linebacker Doug Justice said. "It puts a little bit of a damper on what we're doing."
McLendon consistently limped off the field. On several occasions, he looked to be out for good, but instead he decided to continue to torment the Tar Heels. That's the kind of back John Bunting wants to punish his opponents with, and although transfer Rikki Cook and others may have that kind of potential down the road, for now the Heels are too dependent on their passing game to establish any kind of offensive momentum.
When it was over, even before the clock read all zeroes, the Carolina players headed toward midfield with a purpose, determined not to let the Pack rip up the midfield logo as they did two years ago. It was a nice gesture, and it looked for a brief moment like the State players were a bit baffled. The two teams stood there like the Jets and the Sharks, and you halfway expected Dexter Reid to start snapping his fingers and Dantonio Burnette to start executing ballet moves.
The moment passed, however, and the Tar Heels trudged off the field. State, meanwhile, got off the field the same way they won the game.
They ran.
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Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.
