University of North Carolina Athletics
CAR-O-LINES: Tar Heels Hope For Turnaround Against Yellow Jackets
September 17, 2004 | Football
Sept. 17, 2004
By Rick Brewer
It has not been a pleasant two weeks in Chapel Hill.
A season-opening struggle against William and Mary and then last Saturday's 56-24 loss at Virginia have not left North Carolina football fans, players and coaches in the best frame of mind.
After the game in Charlottesville, Coach John Bunting promised things would be different Saturday. Those changes will be desperately needed as the Tar Heels face a Georgia Tech team that should still be on a high after last week.
The Yellow Jackets scored three touchdowns in the final 4:36 to stun Clemson, 28, 24, at Death Valley. It was one of those lost causes, a seemingly hopeless situation, in which a team rallied for an improbable victory. A bad snap on an attempted punt in the closing moments allowed Reggie Ball to throw a game-winning 11-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Johnson with only 11 seconds to play.
Carolina fans should remember Ball quite well. As a freshman last year he engineered a 41-24 Jacket win at Atlanta.Georgia Tech also returns tailback P.J. Daniels who ran for 240 yards in that game.
This is the first of nine more challenging games. Even the great Tar Heel teams of the 1990,s would have problems with the nine games remaining on this year,s schedule.
But, forget about the upcoming games. Carolina Coach John Bunting is most concerned about his own team. The Tar Heels have not played well defensively in either of their first two games and also have gotten poor play from their special teams.
"We've had problems offensively, too," said quarterback Darian Durant after the Virginia game. "It's frustrating to everyone. We can't get down on ourselves. We simply have to get better."
Defensive problems have plagued Carolina for the past two seasons. Even with a lot of inexperience this fall, Bunting had expected improvement there.
So giving up 442 yards against William and Mary in the opener was unexpected. Throw in Virginia,s 549 yards last Saturday and that,s almost 1,000 yards given up in two games.
"It hasn't been pretty watching from the sidelines," said Bunting. "I'm disappointed because I know we can play so much better."
The kicking game probably bothers Bunting as much as his defense. That was an area that had received so much emphasis since last season.
Virginia broke kickoff returns of 100 and 93 yards. The first one was the most crucial, coming just after Carolina had cut a 21-0 deficit to 21-7. It killed any momentum Carolina might have been able to build.
Bunting's former coach, Bill Dooley, always said the difference between winning and losing could generally be found in the kicking game and turnovers. He said that was almost always true when two teams were fairly equal in ability.
So when Carolina faces a Top 20 team like Virginia, a poor kicking game is devastating.
"Those mistakes can't happen," said Bunting. "They change momentum and field position. We can't afford to do that."
Bunting knows so much improvement had to be done before this week. The Yellow Jackets will have plenty of momentum after the win at Clemson.
Ball threw four touchdown passes against the Tigers, including three to Calvin Johnson.
"Even as a freshman Ball really played well against us last year," said Bunting. "He didn't seem to make many mistakes and did a good job running their offense."
Ball and wide receiver Jonathan Smith keyed a 24-point fourth quarter outburst to win that game. Smith threw a touchdown pass on a reverse, caught a 30-yard scoring pass from Ball and then returned a punt 73 yards for the final touchdown.
The Carolina-Georgia Tech series has been one of streaks. The Jackets have won the last six meetings, including a 31-24 overtime victory in 1999. That was the game in which Ronald Curry tore his right Achilles' tendon with Carolina holding a 7-0 lead over seventh-ranked Tech. He had just begun to develop into one of the nation,s best young players at the time.
Prior to this current Tech streak, Carolina had won five of six from the Jackets.
If Carolina is to have any chance of winning this weekend, Bunting's team must perform better in every phase of play than it has in the first two games.
Still strange things can happen in college football. Tech proved that last Saturday with its amazing win at Clemson.
A year ago Carolina gave up 612 yards and 59 points at Maryland and then came right back to knock off Wake Forest the following week. That one wasn,t pretty, but it was a win.
Bunting would love another ugly game that ended like that tonight.
