University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points Mailbag
October 28, 2005 | Football
Oct. 28, 2005
By Lee Pace
Nine years ago, the Tar Heels escaped a surreal post-hurricane environment for a football game. This year, they'll venture into the heart of one.
Hurricane Fran pummeled the state of North Carolina on a Thursday in early September of 1996, the day before the Tar Heels left to play at Syracuse. The storm left more than a million people without power, killed 24 and sent a tree crashing through the roof of Mack Brown's house. Many thousands of Tar Heel fans powered their radios with batteries and listened Saturday night as the Tar Heels collected a 27-10 win over the ninth-ranked Orangemen.
This week it was Hurricane Wilma wreaking devastation throughout South Florida, the site of Carolina's game Saturday against the Miami Hurricanes.
Ten deaths were attributed to the storm, and as of Thursday morning, nearly 1.6 million residents of Broward and Miami-Dade counties were without power. Hundreds of traffic signals are inoperable, debris litters the streets and there is an 8 p.m. curfew. The Orange Bowl, where the Tar Heels and Hurricanes will kick off at noon on Saturday, was used this week as an emergency distribution center for ice, food and water.
UM Athletic Director Paul Dee toured the Orange Bowl on Wednesday and said it was in good shape except for the loss of light towers and damage to a chain-link fence at the top of the upper deck. Electricity and water have been restored. Concession stands would be operable, but Dee wasn't sure how well they'd be stocked.
A number of Tar Heel fans have wondered why this game has not been postponed given the calamity in Miami. Reggie Harrison, a Carolina grad of 1994, lives in Miami and wrote Thursday that he couldn't believe the game is going to be played.
Even if they can logistically get enough preparation together to make it happen in the Orange Bowl, it is a smack in the face to all of the Miami population stuck without power. I'm a dedicated Tar Heel fan and have attended the Georgia Tech and UVA games so far this season, but this plan to play in Miami this week seems like a bad one to me. They are saying that some places will be without power until November 22. There are more homes without power than caused by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Why not play in a neutral site? I think UM and the ACC made a mistake by canceling the UM vs. Georgia Tech game too soon (which could have been played last weekend with no problems) and now they realize making up two games will be very difficult, if not impossible.
Tar Heel Athletic Director Dick Baddour says it is ultimately the decision of the host institution to determine whether it is feasible to conduct a game in such circumstances. ACC Commissioner John Swofford did inquire of Baddour earlier this week if Carolina and Chapel Hill could accommodate the game Saturday if another venue was needed. Baddour said yes and even discussed some preliminary logistics in a staff meeting.
I think Harrison is correct. In hindsight, the Georgia Tech-UM game should have been played as scheduled, giving UM more flexibility to delay this game if needed. But the game will go on.
"I don't want to overstate the importance of our football program," UM Coach Larry Coker said, "but we hope people can take a break from the monotony of all the terrible things that have happened."
The Tar Heels will take a smaller traveling party than planned because their hotel, Don Shula's Hotel, is filled with emergency workers and local residents seeking temporary shelter. Hotel staff could not guarantee as many rooms to Carolina as originally promised.
The difficulty this year's team is having scoring has been worsened by inconsistent place kicking. I realize that the Miami game was Conner Barth's high point last season, but will the coaching staff consider making a change this week at least until Barth's consistency improves?
Jonathan Marshall, Charlotte
Bunting is still solidly in Barth's camp and said this week he is not ready to pull the sophomore place-kicker. Barth has made three of 11 field goals this season, with seven of the attempts outside 40 yards. He is two-of-four from inside the 40.
I have no doubt there are some technical and physical components to his problems, from looking up too soon to opening his hips too quickly, two specifics either he or Bunting have cited the last month. Barth has called kicking coaches he's worked with in the past, has talked to former Tar Heel kicker Dan Orner and has certainly analyzed his technique from every angle. And who knows - working with a new snapper and new holder this year could be a factor as well, though Barth says emphatically that is not an issue. One of his misses at N.C. State came when the snap from Michael Murphy to holder Andrew Wasserman was higher than you'd like, perhaps disrupting the flow of the operation.
More than anything, Barth's problems are mental. He missed a couple of kicks early for whatever reason, began pressing and thinking too much and has gradually seen his confidence erode. This is not unusual, particularly for athletes who execute their specialty from a static starting point and can have periods of inactivity between playing opportunities - periods where they do nothing but think. Golfers and hitters in baseball face similar challenges.
Barth's game-winning kick against Miami last fall illustrates my point.
Late in the game as the Tar Heels were driving and setting up the final field goal, it was interesting to note Barth's loose, relaxed and confident demeanor. I considered making the remark when the Tar Heel Sports Network broadcast came to me on the sideline that the freshman was "too stupid to miss the kick." I did not make it because it would have taken too long to explain exactly what I meant, and without that explanation, it could have been taken out of context. Perhaps I could have said "too naïve to miss the kick."
The innocence of youth gave Barth a virgin mental slate as the game wound down. He didn't know this could be the biggest kick in Tar Heel history. He wasn't worried about the ruminations surrounding head coach John Bunting and his staff. There was no reason to be over-analytical, because what he knew was working in his first year of college football. Barth was just playing ball.
He made the kick and became an instant celebrity. The clip was shown a dozen times on ESPN the next day. For the next nine months, Barth saw his photo and the ensuing celebration displayed in Sports Illustrated, the Kenan Football Center, in the Tar Heel media guide, on the cover to a DVD preserving the game, in preseason magazines. Video clips and Woody Durham's call of the magic moment were weaved into presentations on the video board in the stadium and in the theater in the Hall of Honor.
This is not to say Barth got a big head. It's just that the light popped on and he recognized, "Wow, this is a pretty big deal. I'd better improve my skills so I can make even more of these big kicks."
And that leads to over-analyzing and trying too hard.
"Last year, I really didn't think about anything," Barth said this week. "I was a freshman and really didn't know what to expect. I just went out and kicked the ball."
That's what he needs to do again.
I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about some the possible quarterbacks of the future. I know that Cameron Sexton has an unlimited amount of potential which I hope to see displayed next year, but what about Bobby Rome and Joe Dailey? I have not heard a lot about them since one was red-shirted and the other had to sit out a season.
James Furr, Albemarle
All three of the quarterbacks you ask about are good kids and quality athletes and have been impressive in some form or fashion in their first year at Carolina. Sexton, a freshman from Laurinburg, was putting his elusive speed, good throwing arm and innate feel for the game to good use last spring when he broke his foot in a post-whistle collision with the fence surrounding the field at Kenan Stadium. He has returned to practice but has not regained all of his speed.
Dailey, a transfer from Nebraska, has extraordinary athletic skills and has served as the opposing team's quarterback on the scout team servicing the Tar Heel defense. He was perfect in his role last week impersonating the speed and agility of Virginia QB Marques Hagans.
Rome, a freshman from Norfolk, is called "D-Block" by his teammates, inheriting the same moniker of former star QB Darian Durant. Rome bears a remarkable physical resemblance to Durant in a football uniform (he even wears jersey No. 4), and like Durant, is particularly dangerous running the ball.
I noticed Durell Mapp playing middle linebacker instead of Victor Worsley. Why did
this change happen? This is the best season Victor has had, with 10 solo and 10 assisted
tackles so far, so why isn't he in? Bunting only had him in on special teams. Will he be back starting at MLB for Miami?
Michelle O'Neil, Fayetteville
Worsley has had a foot injury in mid-season that curtailed his playing time. In the interim, sophomore Durell Mapp has stepped in and seized the starting position.
"Mapp gives us some speed we don't get from anyone else," says defensive coordinator Marvin Sanders. "He can run with the best of them and turn it loose."
We were told before the season began that the Heels were two-deep at the offensive line with experienced backups. I've noticed that a true freshman, Garrett Reynolds, is playing backup at right tackle. No offense intended toward Garrett (I live in Tennessee not far where he is from), but from all I've read the guide for offensive lineman in division I-A football is that they need at least one red-shirt year of seasoning before they can be really effective. They need time to bulk-up and get stronger, become acclimated to the offensive system and generally get acclimated to college in general. Overall, the linemen need to become physically and mentally ready to compete at the Division-IA level. This being the case, why are we playing a true freshman at a key backup OT position if we have better depth on the offensive line?
Tim Gold, Ooltewah, Tenn.
Good question. To begin with, though, I'm not sure how you were led to believe in the summer that the O-line was two-deep with experienced backups. That was absolutely not the case.
Carolina entered the season with three major injury questions - center Scott Lenahan and guards Byron Bishop and Calvin Darity. Only Darity is back on the field. They've added another problem - center Ben Lemming has been lost for the year with a shoulder injury. Add to that two players who have left the program, Thomas Nyaoga and Donnell Livingston. That is six players who could have contributed to the line's depth who are either not available or were set way back in their development because of injury. Line coach Hal Hunter says that Lemming, Livingston and Bishop all would be seeing considerable playing time by now had they been available.
Saturday's game against Virginia was notable because Hunter did not play a substitute for as much as one snap of the game. The starters were playing well; they were doing a good job protecting Matt Baker and opening holes in the running game, and it was not hot enough to warrant giving players any more rest than they were getting between possessions.
Reynolds was activated from a potential red-shirt year in the Wisconsin game because of an injury to starting right tackle Skip Seagraves. It is indeed rare that true freshmen play along the offensive line, but Hunter and John Bunting felt Reynolds was good enough to warrant an early playing opportunity.
These depth issues make signing a quality freshman class of at least five offensive linemen a priority for the current recruiting campaign.
Why did we use the pooch kick the two times we kicked off to UVA? Who were we afraid of? Why don't they just kick it out of bounds? The pooch returns typically are at least to the 30 yard-line.
Howard Hawks, Burlington
Those sky kicks looked passive but, according to special teams coordinator Andre Powell, were actually anything but passive. They were, in fact, aggressive.
The idea was to try to loft a high kick to a player one would assume has weaker ball-handling skills than the two deep men. If you can loft a kick to the opponent's 25 yard-line that carries for four seconds, a fast player running the edge of the kick-cover team can meet the ball when it comes down, perhaps covering it himself or rattling the opponent into mishandling it.
The plan was to try the sky kick a couple of times and then go to a deep kick. But Carolina scored just once, meaning the Tar Heels kicked off only two times.
Opinions continue to rumble in on the issue of making noise and standing in Kenan Stadium. Jim Morris of Knightdale had this response from last week's Mailbag:
I recently read your mailbag and read the response from the fan who believes you should stand at certain "points" in the game. This irritates me no end. I pay my money to go watch AND CHEER my Tar Heels to victory. I was at the Utah game and some fans one row up asked a fan one row down to sit down. I understand some fans are unable to stand most of the game. But you are going to a game and this should be expected! If you don't want to be around people standing, there is the Pope Box and there is the living room. I'm not asking you to stand, don't ask me to sit.
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.
