University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points: Tar Heels Show Some Moxie Amid FSU Inferno
October 4, 2004 | Football
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Oct. 4, 2004
by Lee Pace
There are any number of life skills one can learn from careful study of the operation of a football team. Coaches and players are adept at living in the moment (after all, it's the regret over yesterday and fear of tomorrow that drive men mad). They are shrewd at figuring out what they can control and what they cannot; they focus on the former and forget the latter. They guard against the "unforgiving minute" Rudyard Kipling warned about in the poem If; every day is carefully planned and orchestrated.
I began paying attention to this during the 1999 season when Carl Torbush and troops were getting hammered for three hours on Saturday by the likes of Furman and Houston and chopped to hash 165 hours more each week by fans, the media and opposing recruiters. By Tuesday you had the attitude, "Well, let's just blow the stadium up." But then you'd go to practice that afternoon and find that Earth was indeed still spinning. Kids are resilient; they just want to play football. Coaches are professionals; they know how to block out the superfluous stuff and focus on stopping the Power-O.
And so it was again last week as the Tar Heels attempted to bounce back from a dismal showing the preceding week against Louisville (34-0 defeat) and prepare for a trip Saturday to Tallahassee to face a Florida State team enjoying a bounty of advantages over them in terms of speed, athleticism, maturity, numbers and confidence.
"We're going to try to shock the world," defensive end Melik Brown said. "We're sticking together, no matter what's happening around us."
"I'm looking forward to the challenge," offensive tackle Brian Chacos said. "It's going to be fun. No one thinks we can win except everyone on this team. Their speed and strength are incredible. [Defensive end] Eric Moore is like Julius Peppers. He's fast and quick off the ball and he's really, really strong. Last year against him was my first start. I'm looking forward to seeing how much better I've gotten and how much our offense can improve."
Last week was Armageddon for sizeable numbers of Tar Heel fans distraught over a 2-2 start for the 2004 Tar Heels. The losses to Virginia and Louisville were acceptable given both squads have more talent and maturity than Carolina; it was the degree of domination that had the extremists reaching for the grape Kool-Aid. In truth the Virginia game could have been more competitive had the defense executed a few plays well within their means. Ditto for Louisville and the offense. A better pass from Darian Durant here; a better snare by a wideout there; that game could have and should have been competitive.
Of course, coulds and shoulds do not fill stadiums, win pennants and write paychecks. Performance is all that matters. A victory at Florida State (48-1 at home against ACC foes since 1992) was a long shot for Carolina; but improved performance and a competitive challenge were reasonable goals.
In those respects, the visit to Seminole country had some merit.
From the first snap of the game, when Durant executed a misdirection pass to tight end Justin Phillips for a 12-yard gain, the Tar Heels proved they have the plan and the ability to move the ball against one of the country's most stout defenses. The Tar Heels had 178 yards total offense in the first half and finished with 363 yards -- that's the highest yardage output ever for the Tar Heels against the Seminoles.
What the Tar Heels could not do, however, was score touchdowns when they neared the goal. They settled for three Connor Barth field goals and were 0-for-11 on third downs.
"We knew we could move the ball on them, we knew it," Durant said. "We knew they had a lot of gaps in their defense. We had a great game plan coming in. To have over 350 total yards against this team is great.
"But we've got to execute better when we have the chance to score. That hurt us today."
Added center Jason Brown: "I'm sure they thought this would be a walk it park for them. But it wasn't."
The defense also made some plays and it never looked as if the Seminoles were having their way with the Tar Heels in the degree Virginia dominated three weeks earlier. The cornerbacks are improving; Lionell Green had a picture-perfect pick against one speedy Seminole receiver, and he, Jacoby Watkins and Cedric Holt did a credible job against fleet receivers in more man-to-man coverage situations than the Heels have played all year. Mahlon Carey is becoming a force at weakside linebacker. Fred Sparkman is running the show more confidently at middle linebacker. Brown and Khalif Mitchell at end and Kyndraus Guy at tackle have hopefully settled into their new positions. End Tommy Davis had his most productive game ever (one sack and three tackles-for-loss). The Seminoles had nary a fraction of the success pounding the perimeter to the degree they did a year ago in Chapel Hill.
"We might have seen something today we can build on," Tar Heel coach John Bunting said, adding that FSU's 59-yard rushing total in the first half was something he'd accept "any day."
What killed the Tar Heels on offense was their woeful effectiveness in the red-zone. Carolina pieced together 11- and 10-play drives in the first half to the Seminole three- and 14-yardlines but was thwarted and left to kick field goals. The Tar Heels protected the ball well for the most part. The one painful turnover was an interception thrown by Durant under duress late in the first half; the miscue set up FSU's last TD before intermission and gave the Seminoles a 21-6 lead.
"We had several opportunities today to make some plays, but we were a little off," Bunting said. "We might have even scared them a little if we'd made a couple of those.
"Overall, I'm very pleased with the offensive effort. Not many people move the ball on Florida State the way we did at times."
And there's plenty of work to do on defense as well. The ends and outside linebackers were too easily reached on a key third-quarter scoring drive for FSU as the Seminoles turned a two-score deficit at 24-13 into a more comfortable 31-13. Neither of the free safeties, Kareen Taylor and Linwood Williams, have asserted themselves; missed tackles by each the last two weeks have allowed opposition TDs. And the secondary wasn't able to stop a slant pass for a touchdown at one juncture despite the fact the coaches called time out and alerted them to the very play that was coming.
"We had a few mental mistakes, but we can play with these guys," cornerback Jacoby Watkins said.
Depth was also a major component of the final score on a day when the thermometer hit 89 degrees with 50 percent humidity at 2 p.m., yielding a "felt-like" temperature of 94 degrees just as the third quarter was getting started. The Tar Heels are in excellent condition and prepared for games such as this with midday running during July and August. Only one player was treated for dehydration. Still, the body wears down in oppressive heat, and the Tar Heels don't have the quality depth of a machine like FSU.
The loss of Skip Seagraves along the offensive line to a foot injury is also problematic. Carolina now has only two experienced tackles in Chacos and Willie McNeill. True freshman Ben Lemming has become the first reserve, and he'll one day likely be a fine player. But at this juncture he has problems against a gazelle like Seminole Chauncey Davis. When left tackle McNeill was hobbled in the second half with a twisted ankle, Lemming moved in at right tackle and Chacos moved to the left side to protect Durant's backside. Durant was under a lot of heat before that from the sun and an aggressive FSU defense; it only got warmer after that.
So this game falls somewhere between the agony of the 63-14 carnage in Tallahassee in 2000 and the ecstacy of a 41-9 triumph in 2001. It beats a poke in the eye. At the very least, it feels better than the recent trip to UVa and the visit from Louisville. And it gives the players and staff some concrete slivers of success on which to build during an important week of preparation for N.C. State.
"I still think we can turn this thing around," Durant said.
This is certainly the week to begin doing that.
"We learned how to play hard and make plays today," tailback Jacque Lewis added. "Now we've got to learn how to win.
