University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points Wednesday
November 2, 2005 | Football
Nov. 2, 2005
By Lee Pace
The 2004 Continental Tire Bowl will be remembered for a broken leg, a fake field goal, a half-dozen circus catches by Boston College receivers and a truckload of Eagle yards piled up on renditions from the bootleg and Power-O families of ball plays.
Who knows how Saturday's meeting in Kenan Stadium will go into the history books. But one thing's for sure: This is a different variety of Carolina team than the last three simply because it's playing respectable - indeed, sometimes outstanding - defense. You can always stay in a game if you can play defense. You might not score a lot of points, but the odds of the game getting out of hand are significantly reduced.
The Tar Heels are No. 38 in total defense nationally, yielding 342 yards a game. That's a marked improvement over the last three years, when they ranked below 100th in total defense and surrendered 452, 505 and 446 yards a game respectively from 2002 through the 2004 season.
"We're deeper and stronger along the front line," coach John Bunting says. "We're playing the ball in the air much better at the back end. And our linebackers have stepped up their games - particularly Larry Edwards. One of the biggest problems we've had for three years is people killing us on the perimeter. We're not as vulnerable there as we were. One reason for that is a guy like Larry becoming a much better football player."
The Eagles come to Chapel Hill this weekend with the ACC's biggest offensive line (average 6-foot-6, 314 pounds), two quarterbacks who are each hitting more than 60 percent of their passes and two tailbacks who are capable of breaking the long run and wearing you down. All five of the offensive linemen played in the Tire Bowl, and tailback Andre Callender rushed for 174 yards against Carolina in BC's 37-24 victory.
The image remains clear 10 months later of Eagle QB Paul Peterson piling up yards on bootleg runs and passes and making the Tar Heel defense look, in Bunting's words afterward, "silly." Several times Peterson eluded a Carolina blitz that should have nailed him for a chunk of yards. Several times he took advantage of a defensive stunt by the Tar Heels which called for the end to slant to the inside to batten down the backside of the Eagles' inside running game. At times, the Tar Heels simply were not strong and tough enough to seal off the edges. BC took advantage of true freshman Terry Hunter, who started and played most of the game at tackle.
"We did not play the bootleg very well last year," ends coach Brad Lawing says. "We've got to do a better job of that this week. For the most part, we played pretty physical. But several times we did not and those came at critical situations. Those came on a few third downs that really hurt us."
"They hurt us on the play-action boots," end Tommy Davis adds. "We have to get the correct reads this week. We've done a better job on the outside this year. People are fitting up their gaps. Last year we had some guys getting out of their gaps and messing up the whole scheme. Now we are doing our assignments correct and we're letting the pursuit get to the runner.
"Last year, a cornerback might let the runner get outside him. This year, he's doing a better job forcing the runner back inside, where we've got pursuit. Everyone's doing their jobs this year."
The Eagles were also lethal running inside the tackles with the Power-O, a package of plays where the ball follows a pulling guard in the shotgun formation. It has several variations, with the base play being a handoff to the tailback and the next generation featuring a fake handoff with the quarterback keeping the ball. Additional mutants include a shovel pass and roll-out pass downfield.
"They ran the Power-O and took control of the game," tackle Shelton Bynum says. "I think we'll be in better position to handle it this year. We're all wiser, older, stronger and faster. Plus, we've not out there as long, we're not as tired."
"Miami ran it a lot also," tackle Chase Page says, "so we should be ready for it. We let Miami bounce it out more than we should have. Hopefully we can fit it up a little better this week."
The Eagles led 27-24 with just under 11 minutes left in the game last Dec. 30 when Peterson left the game with a broken leg. On the next play, Eagles coach Tom O'Brien called for a fake field goal, with kicker Ryan Ohliger taking a handoff from his holder and running inside the Tar Heels' outside wing player for a 21-yard score.
"The fake field goal is what I remember," receiver Jesse Holley says. "That kind of summed everything up in a nutshell. We were in the huddle and you hear coach Web [assistant coach James Webster] saying, `Watch out for the fake field goal, watch out for the fake field goal.' They ran it and scored anyway, and the game just completely turned around. We pitched in our hats and gave the game away."
Defensive coordinator Marvin Sanders remembers the crucial sleight-of-hand play as well.
"The fake field goal kind of took us out of it," he says. "We've got to get where we can overcome situations like that. We've got be able to understand adversity and respond to it. We couldn't do that then."
The Tar Heels have a 3-4 record entering the final month of the year - exactly the same record through seven games as last year. But there were three lopsided defeats in 2004 and only one in 2005. The Tar Heels could have easily beaten Georgia Tech. A few more plays at the right time could have generated an upset of Wisconsin. Carolina was outmanned against Miami, but an unwarranted second-half implosion let that score get out of hand.
"We are having maybe a better season than some people expected," Bunting says. "My expectations are that we're going to be a better football team this year. My expectations for the second half are that we're going to be one of the elite teams in the ACC in the second half.
"In order for that to happen, we have to play the complete game. We have to become consistent. We're not the most talented team in the ACC. We know that. We're working on that. We're getting better with talent. We have some talent, but we may not be as talented as Miami. In order to beat Boston College, we are going to have to play that complete game I've been talking about."
That inconsistency is falling for the most part on the offense and the kicking game.
The offense's woes have been well-chronicled here and parts beyond. Matt Baker has been up and down. Jesse Holley has been the most consistent wide receiver. The line is blocking well but has been flagged with inopportune procedure and holding calls. The running game has simmered until the return of Ronnie McGill to the lineup two weeks ago.
Two errant center snaps on punts this season have been disastrous. Connor Barth is in a field-goal accuracy slump. David Wooldridge has punted the ball well and with generally good hang times, but the one low punt he executed at Miami led to a return to the Carolina 26 yard-line. Melik Brown, a key punt-team member, tried too hard to play through pain against the Hurricanes and took the field for a third-quarter punt with limited mobility in his left ankle. He was courageous but not necessarily smart. He couldn't move very well and allowed the Hurricanes to crash protection through his gap and block the kick.
The sum total is the same record as a year ago. But the flavor is considerably different.
"Until we get all 11 guys on the same page, we'll continue to have 98-yard passing games, we'll continue to have guys with one catch in two games, we'll continue to be at the lower level of the ACC in total offense," Holley says.
That's the challenge for Bunting and the Tar Heels - to get every phase of the game maturing and evolving on the same schedule.
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.
