University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points Mailbag
October 21, 2005 | Football
Oct. 21, 2005
By Lee Pace
Tar Heel fans felt like they were gut-punched two weeks ago watching and listening to that 69-14 carnage at Louisville. The team was boarding the bus to leave for the airport 75 minutes after the final gun when I checked my PDA's email account. Already the salty barrage was underway.
There's no good explanation for how a game gets out of hand like that.
"I'm still trying to figure that one out," offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill said Thursday. "I don't have an answer."
"That game stayed with us a long time," defensive coordinator Marvin Sanders added. "You wanted to be a basketball coach after that game so you could redeem yourself two nights later. But we had the bye-week to suffer through."
The off-week after a five-week grind actually came at a good time. Several players had the opportunity to recover from recent injuries, including receiver Jarwarski Pollock, who had knee surgery two weeks ago and will return to action this week. The Tar Heels had two weeks to digest the loss and also to process the miserable experience they had one year ago against this week's opponent, Virginia. The Cavaliers jumped out front early last September in Charlottesville and coasted to a 56-24 victory.
"We've got to play tougher and we've got to play faster," senior tackle Brian Chacos said. "The Louisville game really woke the team up. We're starting to practice a lot better and practice a lot faster. I think it's going to carry into Saturday."
The Carolina defense had shown marked improvement as the season progressed but stepped backward at Louisville in allowing the Cardinals 451 yards of offense. At least one lineup change has been made for the Virginia game: sophomore Trimane Goddard will start at strong safety in place of Mahlon Carey, whose play has been affected by a shoulder injury.
Senior linebacker Tommy Richardson winces thinking about the Louisville game.
"We had so many missed assignments," said Richardson, who has taken on the signal-calling role in the absence of Doug Justice. "We had one player, maybe two players, miss assignments on almost every play. It happens. You hate it, but it happens sometimes. I did it myself and take full responsibility for it. Sometimes I'm trying to get other guys lined up in the right spot, and for a split second I forget what I'm doing myself.
"It was agonizing to see the score at end," he added. "I want to apologize to the fans for the score. But we're going to put a great product out on the field this Saturday. We're committed to that."
This year's team appears to be at a major crossroad in the season, similar to the position last year's team was in after the Utah loss followed by an open date. Last year you correctly anticipated that the team would pull together and finish the season strong. What is your feeling regarding how this year's team will handle the remaining six games? It appears to me that the Virginia game is almost a must-win, with Miami and Boston College next on the schedule.
Chris Welch, Concord
The comparison to 2004 is a fair one. Carolina had some success early but reached its bottom in a long trip to Utah. The Tar Heels returned home, took a week off and won three of four to close the season.
"Utah was turning point last year," Chacos said. "I think we're going to carry that same mentality into Saturday's game."
Louisville was the better team two weeks ago, though certainly not 55 points the better team. Carolina could have beaten Georgia Tech, and it fought to the end against Wisconsin, the No. 14 team in the BCS standings. The Tar Heels are better than they were a year ago. In head-to-head competition one year ago with the three highest ranked teams left on their schedule, they beat Miami, took Virginia Tech to the wire and led into the fourth quarter against Boston College.
There's no reason the Heels cannot have a strong second half. Now they have to go out and do it.
I was wondering what the status was for Brooks Foster, Kenton Thornton, Richard Quinn and Del Roberts. I know each of these had big-play potential coming in, especially Foster, but I have yet to hear much about them. Also, why won't they give Richie Rich, R.J. Waters and Antwain Carey a chance at the running back position? There is definitely a need for a breakout performer and one of these three might just be the answer to add a little flair to the backfield or at least fire the others up.
J.P. Furr, New London, N.C.
The three receivers you mention - Foster, Thornton and Roberts - all are doing fine and have plenty of upside in their careers. None have gotten much playing time this year simply because the receiver position is laden with upperclassmen. Thornton is a true freshman and is being red-shirted. Roberts returned punts and kick-offs last fall as a true freshman before breaking his collarbone against Miami and missing the rest of the season. He has not played this fall, so a red-shirt year is possible. Foster has superlative athletic skills; his challenge is to learn to focus mentally 100 percent of the time on the field. Richard Quinn is a freshman tight end who entered school last spring. He has played in all five games this fall, primarily in a pass protection role. He is smart and athletic and has a great future.
The three tailbacks you ask about have all gotten their chances in practice to earn playing time in games. You can only play so many tailbacks in a game. The Tar Heels played three tailbacks early in the season - Barrington Edwards, Cooter Arnold and Justin Warren. Some would argue giving three an opportunity in games is too many. Then you add Ronnie McGill's return to the lineup and now there are four.
McGill should be that breakout performer. His return at Louisville was important to the Tar Heels. He breaks more tackles than anyone on the Tar Heel roster.
Carolina huddled near the sidelines and well within the playing field during a timeout in the Utah game, just as Georgia Tech does EVERY game, and just as NCSU and Clemson did on TV a week ago. In each instance, the teams had sometimes up to 20 players around the coach. When play was about to resume, the "huddle" broke and the extras walked back to the sidelines with the coach while 11 guys returned to the playing field. The ACC officials working the Utah game flagged Carolina for breaking the huddle with more than 11 and penalized them five yards. John Bunting was incensed, yet we see other ACC teams doing exactly the same thing with ACC crews working those games. What is the rule and why can't the ACC standardize this?
Perry Collette, Atlanta
The Tar Heel coaching staff argued vigorously with referee Ron Cherry, who threw the flag, and were never satisfied with the answer they got. What the Tar Heels did was not illegal.
Offenses are not allowed to break the huddle with more than 11 players. The rule was instituted to prevent overt efforts to deceive the defense. If you break the huddle with 12 or 13 players and run one or two off to the sideline, the defense doesn't have a fair chance to recognize what personnel group the offense has on the field.
An offense running onto the field from the sideline is a different story. With eighty-some players in uniform along the boundary, who is to say which were the correct 11 to take the field?
Suffice it to say the official made a mistake.
In the mailbag of October 7, Marvin Sanders is quoted as saying this year's team is physically stronger than ever before. It seems like they have won every fourth quarter this year in time of possession, yardage and score. Can someone check the stats to verify?
Jeff Hamilton, Wilson
The Tar Heels have certainly held their own in the fourth quarter in the categories you mention.
They outscored Utah 14-3 and N.C. State 3-0 in the fourth quarter, split points 7-7 with Georgia Tech and were outscored by Wisconsin 7-2. Louisville skewed the results with a 21-0 final-quarter advantage, with two of those TDs coming on fumble recoveries returned for scores. The composite total is Opponents 38, Carolina 26.
The Heels have gained 553 yards total offense in the fourth quarter versus 393 for their opponents. In the season's first two games, Carolina outgained Tech 123-69 and Wisconsin 172-76, totals that underscore the team's frustration in moving the ball but being ineffective in punching it in the end zone from inside the 20.
Carolina has controlled the ball 41 minutes, 25 seconds in the last quarter to 33 minutes, 35 seconds for its opponents.
I noticed that UNC's running backs always carry the football in the same hand no matter which side they are running to. I believe the more traditional way is to carry the football on the outside arm so the running back has a free arm to the inside to help him evade defenders and also a fumbled ball has a higher chance of going out of bounds. Why does UNC instruct their running backs to carry the football in one arm as supposed to the more traditional outside arm concept?
Sam Ellis, Chapel Hill
Coach Andre Powell believes that running backs have a dominant hand and arm and wants runners, particularly younger players, to carry the ball in that hand, no matter which side of the field he's running toward.
"It makes no sense to ask a guy to carry the ball with a hand he's uncomfortable with," Powell says. "Ball security is so important. I want that ball protected by their dominant hand."
The subject of Kenan Stadium crowds - in size, in noise generation, in manners and in arrival time - has generated lively debate the last three weeks.
Several students responded to a letter printed in the Mailbag two weeks ago from a fan who chastised the students for yelling in organized cheers when the Tar Heel offense had the football. Their position was that the cheerleaders instigate those cheers and should be more careful about not disrupting the Tar Heel offense.
"Against Utah, when the cheerleaders started that cheer on a key offensive possession, they were barraged by insults, obscene gestures, and a handful of objects thrown from the student section," writes Scott Owens. "Over the past two or three years, students knowledgeable about football have worked very hard to educate our fellow students about when it is inappropriate and harmful to make noise. If anything, we're one of the quietest sections in Kenan Stadium during offensive series."
There was much discussion as well about standing up - when, where and for how long.
Some active fans are discouraged when those behind them ask them to sit down.
Another fan wrote about four inebriated undergrads who stood in front of him throughout the game, ruining his experience.
Harvey Whitley of Monroe puts the issue in perspective:
"I have no problem standing when there is a key third down play, a `big play,' or goal-line stand," he writes. "We need to do that. However, those who choose to stand the whole game need to be considerate of those behind who may be physically unable to do that for an entire game. Having to sit down to watch some of the game does not make you less of a fan. The last time I checked we cheer with our mouths and clap our hands to make noise. Let's be considerate of others before we criticize them for being less enthusiastic than we are."
Send your questions about Tar Heel football to Lee Pace at leepace@nc.rr.com . Questions may be used either in Friday's TarHeelBlue.com mailbag or in a special pregame segment on the Tar Heel Sports Network on Saturday. Please include your first and last names and hometown. Individual replies are not possible because of volume of mail received, and names of recruiting prospects and commitments cannot be published on a school-sponsored site until the national signing day in February. The Q&A column will appear each Friday during the season.
