University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Wrapped in Calm
November 19, 2005 | Football
Nov. 19, 2005
By Adam Lucas
"Defense, on me!"
The usual call went up with Carolina facing 4th and 1 from the Duke 31-yard-line late in the fourth quarter of Saturday's annual battle for the Victory Bell. On the Tar Heel sideline, the call is supposed to alert the defensive players that a change of possession could be imminent, that it's time to strap on the helmets and get ready for another defensive series.
All the Tar Heel defenders assembled near the sideline.
Except for Tommy Richardson. He remained a few yards away from his teammates, looking much calmer than any of the other 50,000 souls in Kenan Stadium.
The senior linebacker had come a long way during his Carolina career. He'd switched positions and gone from liability to leader in the span of four short years. He'd gone from a player who made the coaches nervous to a player who made the coaches proud. He'd spent the summer organizing team cookouts, making sure everyone from the star quarterback to the backup deep snapper felt like a part of the team.
His home career was inches from ending with an embarrassing loss to Duke. The Devils led 21-17 and had every ounce of momentum. He might have to suffer the ultimate indignity of watching Duke players escort the Victory Bell back to their sideline--and given the way Duke took offense to the way Carolina painted the bell at Wallace Wade Stadium last year, you can bet that somewhere in those duffel bags of equipment were some cans of dark blue spray paint.
All those visions were flashing through the minds of some in the crowd. Maybe even some of his teammates.
But not Tommy Richardson.
"I was wrapped in calm on the sideline," he said. "When we went for it on 4th and 1 I just sat there with my helmet in my hand. I knew we were going to get the first down. I knew somehow we were going to get a touchdown."
He turned out to be correct by about the length of a link of chain. Ronnie McGill struggled forward, using some of his endless second effort to pick up the first down.
That might have been it for the drama. There's not much more heart-pounding moment than one team driving for a potential game-winning score in a rivalry game and needing a measurement--and no matter what anyone who was there tells you, it was close enough that no one was sure until the chain was placed on the ground--to sustain the drive.
But this is Carolina football. Which means the drama was just beginning. The Tar Heels scored a touchdown on a pass to Jesse Holley...only to see it called back on an offensive pass interference penalty.
Ready for a surprising stat? Carolina was called for just 8 penalties, three less than Duke, for 68 yards. It seemed like significantly more than that, probably because every Tar Heel penalty came at a crucial juncture.
"We work extremely hard," Richardson said. "But we did a lot of stupid things. On their first drive, we were off the field. And then they lured us right into taking a swipe at them. We gave them momentum and they got a touchdown."
And Carolina lost a player at a position they could least afford to lose, as defensive end Kentwan Balmer took the swipe and was ejected from the game. That essentially left the Heels with two healthy, experienced ends--Tommy Davis and Melik Brown. Bowen Chapman took the first snap of his career and saw playing time in a key second-half situation because Davis had to leave the field briefly with an injury. It was a tough time to baptize a newbie, but there simply was no other choice.
"When I saw Tommy go down, I thought, `Oh my goodness,'" Brown said. "I wanted to see exactly what was wrong with him because he couldn't leave me out there by myself. But I knew I had to step my game up.
"Wow. A college game is tough."
Exactly. Maybe it's not tough at other places across the country. Maybe Carolina is the only program in the nation that always seems to have to scrap for every inch of turf. Look for TNT to try and acquire broadcast rights to Tar Heel football--after all, that network's slogan is "We know drama."
Carolina knows drama, too. And Tommy Richardson knows drama. So when the Tar Heels finally picked up that touchdown he simply knew they'd get, he had just a few words for his defensive teammates:
"Let's go make a play."
It was Richardson who made a play--picking off a Mike Schneider pass to essentially end the game--in front of 18 family members who came to Chapel Hill from his home state of Florida. It was a spinning pass, one that was a difficult play for someone who has been given some grief this year by his teammates about his hands.
"I was looking for a turnover off a tip," Richardson said. "I wanted it to be tipped and someone go get under it.
"But it never comes that easy for Carolina."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. He is the coauthor of the official book of the 2005 championship season, Led By Their Dreams, and his book on Roy Williams's first season at Carolina, Going Home Again, is now available in bookstores. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly or learn more about Going Home Again, click here.
