University of North Carolina Athletics
Pace: Tar Heels' 'Storm' Leaves Devils Capsized
November 25, 2002 | Football
Nov. 25, 2002
The following is an excerpt from Lee Pace's latest edition of Extra Points. To read more about the Duke game, click here.
By Lee Pace
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"We had plenty of time," offensive line coach Hal Hunter said.
"We had the game under control," receiver Sam Aiken said. "I told them that big-time players make big-time plays, and that's exactly what we did."
"We knew we had to drive down and get a field goal," tackle Jeb Terry said. "We'd moved the ball on them all game long but had shot ourselves in the foot."
Meanwhile, place-kicker Dan Orner was itching for a chance to redeem himself after missing field goals of 44 and 50 yards as well as an extra point earlier in the fourth quarter. He hit ball after ball into the practice net behind the Tar Heel bench, concentrating on moving his hips through the kick and following through with his right leg.
"I just kept saying to myself, 'I'm going to get another opportunity, it's not going to end like this, your next kick is the most important, this is what you live for, this is why you want to be a kicker,'" Orner said.
Offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill spoke to quarterback Darian Durant on the headphones before the offense took the field.
"No sacks, no interceptions, we're playing for a field goal," Tranquill said.
What ensued was a precise six-play drive which netted the Heels exactly what they needed -- enough yards to get Orner past midfield and time for just one play.
Tranquill gave Durant as much protection as possible on five of the six plays, keeping seven men in for pass protection -- the five down linemen, tight end Bobby Blizzard and tailback Jacque Lewis.
The first two plays were the identical call, "Devil" in the Tar Heels' nomenclature, with outside receivers Aiken and Chesley Borders running downfield 17-18 yards, turning and coming back toward Durant, with slot receiver Jarwarski Pollock crossing the middle of the field.
"We needed a chunk of yards to get going," Tranquill said. "We max-protected and tried to get 15 or 20 yards."
Durant found Aiken on the right side for 17 yards on first down. On the next snap, a Duke end got free through the middle, flushing Durant outside the pocket. As he'd done so often all day, he pulled the ball down and kept for 12 yards, getting out-of-bounds at the Duke 46. (Durant would gain 71 yards rushing on various scrambles but give back 48 yards on five sacks.)
The next two plays saw Durant passes fall incomplete and put the Tar Heels in a bind. Heeding Tranquill's directive to avoid the sack or risky throw at all costs, Durant found no one open on first down and chucked the ball out-of-bounds. On second down, he threw over the middle to Lewis on a short-crossing route with four receivers running vertical routes downfield -- the same play which had netted 30 yards to Willie Parker in the second quarter -- but Lewis was hammered and stripped of the ball as he tried to catch it.
That left the Tar Heels at third-and-10 with 16 seconds to play. Duke did a good job covering the three outside receivers, and Blizzard released into the right flat after checking for a blitzing linebacker. Durant saw nothing downfield to his liking and threw to Blizzard, who caught the ball and got out-of-bounds after a six-yard gain. Blizzard was off-balance and wasn't sure where he was on the field, so instead of risking trying to get the first down, decided to stop the clock as soon as possible.
That left Carolina with fourth-and-four at the Duke 40. A field goal would have been from 57 yards -- not impossible for Orner, who earlier kicked from 55 yards at Syracuse -- but not a good bet given his problems already on Saturday and the customary bad turf at Wallace Wade Stadium in late November. It's one thing to nail a 55-yarder on synthetic turf at Syracuse, another to convert from 57 off dirt.
Tranquill first suggested a fourth-down play that would have the wideouts running six-yard out patterns -- enough for the first down and getting quickly out-of-bounds. Durant voiced some concern that if Duke played "cover-two," meaning a two-deep zone, the cornerbacks would be sitting and looking for the out pattern. That would require the receivers to convert their out patterns into fade routes, meaning they'd cut downfield behind the cornerback along the sideline. A completed pass on such a scenario might mean a gain of 15 yards or more, but the throw was riskier.
Tranquill thought Durant's concern was valid and then called "Storm," which is a play featuring three inside slant routes by the receivers and seven men blocking for the quarterback. Tranquill and receivers coach Gunter Brewer stressed to Aiken, Durant's primary target, to catch the ball, get on the ground and call timeout. The Heels didn't have the luxury of trying to run with the ball after catching it. Time could run out.
"It's no good to run down to the 10, get tackled and the clock run out," Tranquill said.
Duke's defensive call was perfect for what the Tar Heels had planned -- it blitzed two linebackers and played press-man coverage on the outside receivers. Aiken had no trouble getting inside his man. "Nine times out of 10, when we call that play, it's going to me," Aiken said. "Darian threw it low where nobody could get the ball but me."
Mission accomplished. Carolina got its 10 yards and killed the clock. Now it was all up to Dan Orner.
