University of North Carolina Athletics
EXTRA POINTS: Tar Heels Hit New Lows In Loss To Maryland.
November 4, 2002 | Football
Nov. 4, 2002
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By Lee Pace
 Sam Aiken had 10 catches for 102 yards Saturday in one of the few bright spots for the Tar Heels.  |
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"Things looked good for about six minutes, didn't they?" John Bunting mused afterward.
"The offense started with a bang and we're up 7-0," offensive tackle Jeb Terry said. "We stopped them on defense, and things were looking up for us. We were working as a team, we were feeling good on the sidelines. Then it started to snowball."
The snowball started with a nice little 80-yard TD pass from Terrapin QB Scott McBrien to Scooter Monroe between Carolina defensive backs Michael Waddell and Chris Curry.
"That was a stab in the heart," linebacker Malcolm Stewart said.
The snowball grew in size and picked up some mass and velocity with a Nick Novak field goal one series later. Then Stephens threw an interception and Maryland raced 30 yards in three easy snaps.
The snowball built to a thundering crescendo of destruction with five minutes to play in the first half when Steve Suter, who'd returned three punts for scores this season, fielded a punt at the Carolina 23, dodged a couple of tackles and raced into the open field, 77 yards for a TD.
There were three penalty flags on the play -- each one against Carolina. It was a comedy of errors for the Tar Heels. As Jimmy Buffett once intoned, "If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane." Now it was 24-7 and the rout was on.
"That was the backbreaker," Bunting said.
"That was definitely a mood change," Waddell said.
From there theHeels were miserably inept for three quarters in front of a modest and disbelieving crowd of some 44,000.
The 59-7 drubbing was Carolina's worst loss ever in Chapel Hill.
It was its worst loss to Maryland ever.
It was its worst loss of any kind since 1923 -- that a 53-0 drubbing at Yale.
The Tar Heel defense yielded 588 yards and an average of 9.3 yards per snap. That's Carolina's second worst-total of the year following a 657-yard explosion by Arizona State. It's yielding an ACC-worst total of 461 yards and 35 points a game.
It was Carolina's fifth straight loss at home and now the Tar Heels are 2-6 overall and 0-5 in the ACC.
"I'm shocked, embarrassed, I feel bad for our fans, for everyone who supports the Heels," Terry said. "We embarrassed ourselves today. I hope our fans can forgive us. This hurts bad."
"A game like this, it hurts," Waddell added. "You can't put it into words."
Bunting said simply, "This rips my guts out."
The Tar Heels have now been outscored 127-13 since halftime of the Virginia game Oct. 19th. They implode when momentum turns against them.
"You look at this game, and everything was going great for eight-to-nine-to-10 minutes," Bunting said. "Then they hit us with the big pass when we had a breakdown in coverage. The real dagger was the punt return. When we have one, two, three, four things get away from us, we seem to fold. We can't rally back. That takes leadership, experience, players who've been around one another for a period of time. They know how to rally. We do not have that kind of club. We will. I know how important that is. But it's impossible to have that feel right now."
For the first time in the Heels' five-game losing streak, Bunting admitted to citing certain players for lack of requisite effort as the game unfolded. He declined to name those players, but said he'd talked to them on Sunday and they'd be under the microscope in practice come Tuesday. He did not rule out lineup changes.
"Hopefully, those players will learn from this," Bunting said, "and it won't happen again. I won't stand for it."
Meanwhile, Bunting and staff continue to work hard to resurrect Carolina's winning ways by recruiting. Saturday was a big recruiting weekend, and Bunting delayed his regular late-afternoon conference call with the news media by 90 minutes to attend to his visitors.
"It's been a good weekend," Bunting said. "I feel good about recruiting. I very, very much believe we will get this thing turned around with good players coming into to see the University, see Chapel Hill, see what we're doing with our players, meet our staff. We've got a lot of great players coming in and there's every reason to believe we'll get them and get this program turned around."
The Tar Heels are now down to one home game remaining -- a Noon kick-off Saturday against Clemson. Bunting says he hopes for a good turn-out but understands that some have given up and quit coming to games or are leaving early.
"We're not giving our fans very much to stay around for," Bunting said. "I kinda felt like leaving myself. When we play that poorly, I don't expect them to stick around ... I've been very, very pleased with our fans. I wish we could do more for them. This loss really disappoints me for our fans."
SQUIB KICKS - Punter John Lafferty was benched at halftime in favor of Paul Roberts. Lafferty hit his first punt 51 yards, then hit punts of 28, 30 and 24 yards with poor directional control the rest of the first half. He also was flagged for the unsportsmanlike penalty on Steve Suter's 77-yard return. Roberts has a strong leg but tends to kick a low ball, as he did at Syracuse when he started in Lafferty's place. Roberts punted four times in the second half for a 41.8-yard average. If he could improve his hang time, he could overtake Laffery as the starting punter. *** Senior receiver Sam Aiken became the fifth Tar Heel to eclipse the 2,000-yard mark for career receptions. He now has 2,031 yards on 128 catches, trailing Corey Holliday (2,447), Octavus Barnes (2,398) and Na Brown (2,086). L.C. Stevens is fifth with 2,002 yards.
*** Tight end Zach Hilton made two excellent diving catches. *** Bunting said last week he expects Michael Waddell to return and play next season. Waddell had to sit as a true freshman in 1999 as a partial qualifier, then would have three seasons of eligibility remaining. He gets the extra year if he graduates after four academic years; he's on track to do so in 2003. *** How much would it help the Tar Heels to have Julius Peppers back for his fourth season of eligibility? Peppers is leading the NFL in sacks with nine at the halfway mark. Peppers is in the first year of a seven-year contract that will pay him $62 million if he attains all of his incentive clauses. He drives a Mercedes-Benz SUV that retails for around $135,000.
*** Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen employed the same line of thinking in the second half that worked well for N.C. State and Virginia last month-forget the fancy stuff up top and just grind the yards out on the ground. Carolina is 112th among 117 NCAA Division 1A schools in rushing defense, allowing 235 yards rushing per game. The Terps ran for 288 yards, the most the Heels have allowed since the 1989 Clemson Tigers reeled off 332 yards. *** Freshman Mahlon Carey led the Tar Heel rushing attack with 17 carries for 67 yards. Jacque Lewis had only one carry for two yards and is not 100 percent after suffering several injuries throughout the season. *** Red-shirt freshman QB Matt Baker played in his first game, hitting four-of-12 passes for 54 yards. *** Carolina suffered no new injuries on Saturday, though right tackle Jeb Terry missed much of last week's practice with an ankle sprain and played on a limited basis Saturday.
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Lee Pace, Carolina '79
Editor & Publisher
101-A Aberdeen Dr.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
(919) 933-2082 | lpace@nc.rr.com
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