University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points Mailbag
November 4, 2005 | Football
Nov. 4, 2005
by Lee Pace
It is way too early to start talking about bowl games and a Tar Heel team with only three notches in the win column. But the mail flow has indicated a strong interest in the lay of the post-season land as the November homestretch opens. Following, then, is a primer on the bowl landscape as Carolina prepares to meet Boston College Saturday at noon in Kenan Stadium. If some of this seems elementary, my apologies. You should see my mail.
A team needs six wins to be bowl eligible, so Carolina obviously needs three victories in its last four games to qualify. With the season-finale being a road game at third-ranked Virginia Tech, the odds favor that chunk of success coming from three straight home games against BC, Maryland and Duke.
"You couldn't ask for a better scenario than having three home games the last month of the season," says coach John Bunting.
The ACC has six commitments with bowl games. The league champion, as determined in the inaugural ACC Championship (8 p.m. kick-off Dec. 3 in Jacksonville), is promised a slot in the Bowl Championship Series. There is some speculation that the league could get two BCS berths should Virginia Tech be unbeaten going into the ACC title game but then lose to Florida State. That might make both Virginia Tech and FSU attractive to the BCS bowls. But that's way down the road.
After the BCS, the selection of ACC teams runs through the Gator (Jan. 2 in Jacksonville), Peach (Dec. 30 in Atlanta), Champs Sports (Dec. 27 in Orlando), Meineke Car Care (Dec. 31 in Charlotte) and MPC Computers Bowl (Dec. 28 in Boise).
There are four teams already bowl-eligible - Virginia Tech, Miami, Florida State and Boston College are bowl-eligible. Georgia Tech is close to getting to six wins with a 5-2 record. The rest of the two divisions are a soup of teams like the Tar Heels with roughly as many wins as losses.
"We're all about .500 other than the top four," Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen says. "Whoever's going to finish the strongest is going to a get a chance to go to the bowl games."
The Charlotte bowl existed for its first three years as the Continental Tire Bowl and last season featured Boston College breaking open a close game with the Tar Heels in the fourth quarter to collect a 37-24 win. The game was conceived to have a Carolinas-area team from the ACC host an opponent from the Big East. Right now, the bowl set for a 10 a.m. start on New Year's Eve is crossing its fingers that a team from the Carolinas or Virginia can get to six wins. N.C. State is 3-4, Wake Forest is 4-5, Clemson is 4-4 and Virginia is 4-3. Virginia Tech obviously will be long gone by the time the Charlotte bowls picks its ACC entrant.
ACC officials have made preliminary inquires about finding slots for teams in case more than six schools are bowl-eligible. The Liberty Bowl (Memphis), the Music City (Nashville) and the Emerald Bowl (San Francisco) could be possibilities if their conference partners do not have enough bowl eligible teams.
For 2006, eight ACC teams could go to bowls as the league announced agreements with the Music City Bowl for an SEC match-up and the Emerald Bowl for a Pac-10 opponent.
So there you have it for the stretch run. It begins with a Tar Heel win Saturday.
"The last month will be easy or as difficult as we make it," receiver Jesse Holley says. "Every game that we have played, with the exception of one, we had an opportunity to win the game. We feel that we are talented enough to play with anybody. We have to be able to do it for four quarters."
Why did we get away from running Ronnie McGill in the second half of the Miami game? Ronnie ran so well in the first half, and it was not any Heisman Trophy winner ghosts or past national champions who could have stopped him. Miami can say what they want to say ... our Tar Heels made them play "flat" in the first half but we went away in the second half.
Sonny Jackson, Charlotte
That question was on numerous fans' minds this week. The answer is two-fold and concerns the flow of the game in the second half and the staff's conservative approach to preserving McGill physically.
McGill ran the ball 13 times for 66 yards at Miami, with 10 carries for 67 yards in the first half. He started the second half, was given the ball on Carolina's first snap of the half and gained one yard. The Heels were bounced three-and-out on that possession and the complexion of the game quickly changed.
McGill has been constrained in hot weather his freshman and sophomore seasons by cramps, though they have not been an issue this season because he was sidelined with a chest injury during the hottest part of the season in August and September. It was 80 degrees in Miami last Saturday, and running backs coach Andre Powell was concerned about McGill cramping up if he was worked too hard in the third quarter and being unavailable in the fourth quarter, when presumably the Tar Heels would still be leading the game and needing to control the ball on the ground. That's why Barrington Edwards was inserted for the Tar Heels' second possession of the third quarter.
It wasn't long after that that the Hurricanes took control of the game. From that point on, nothing was working offensively - whether it was McGill or Edwards or the throwing game.
"Eighteen to 22 carries is about right for McGill," says offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill. "I don't know if he can handle much more than that right now."
I've seen Derrele Mitchell make some pretty big plays when given the opportunity, but I don't see the ball thrown to him much. A lot of Tar Heel receivers have dropped many balls, except for Mitchell, who had one drop that should have been a pass interference call in the Georgia Tech game. He's been thrown to only once or twice per game the last few games and those have been ground balls. Why haven't the Tar Heels tried to get the senior more opportunities to make plays?
Jerry Thomas, Winston-Salem
That question could be asked of most every receiver on the team, and in fact I've gotten emails this week wondering why Wallace Wright, Brooks Foster and Brandon Tate aren't given more opportunities to catch the ball, either.
The problem right now is that there is only one football and QB Matt Baker has had two games in which he's struggled with his reads and finding open receivers. In the third quarter Saturday, Mitchell was open on a slant to the right side. Baker looked at him, pumped the ball but held it when he thought the free safety was close to the throwing lane. As soon as Baker pulled the ball in, he was sacked from behind. Tranquill showed him on tape the next day that the safety was actually nowhere near Mitchell, and the pass was easy pickings if he'd thrown the ball.
There are times when Baker is looking off his initial target too soon, and there are others where he's staying on that primary receiver too long.
"It's one extreme or the other," Tranquill says. "He just needs to go through his progressions. He's making some mistakes that a sophomore quarterback would make, and he's like a sophomore because this is his first season under the gun."
Foster has some big-play capability but his snaps have been limited because he's prone to making assignment errors; Tranquill says the staff plans to get him more opportunity the last month but he's got to "do the right thing." As a true freshman, Tate is focusing on kick returning but will certainly have a future as a receiver.
Nonetheless, it's hard to keep receivers and ball carriers happy. Everyone wants the ball.
"I have always said that wide receiver is the most selfish position on the field," Holley says. "No matter what the coverage it is, no matter what down it is, we always think we're open. That's just the way it is. Our receivers are the ultimate competitors. It's sad right now we're in a slump."
Last year in the bowl game, Boston College tore us up with the bootleg and roll-out pass. What are our plans to stop that Saturday? I am sure BC will assume they can keep on beating us with it until we prove otherwise.
Cole Leonard, Rocky Mount
There are some scheme adjustments that coordinator Marvin Sanders and his staff are implementing, but the most significant difference by far will be the improved age, strength, ability and number of players along the defensive front seven compared to a year ago.
The Tar Heels have a quality linebacking corps in outside players Tommy Richardson and Larry Edwards and middle linebacker Durell Mapp. They are significantly faster than last year's linebackers. Sanders noted this week that it was Mapp's remarkable speed in doubling up a Miami receiver last week that forced Hurricane QB Kyle Wright into an errant throw, allowing Trimane Goddard to make an interception. Carolina is also rotating four quality ends throughout the game.
"We've got better personnel this year, we've got more players and this is their second year in the same system," Sanders says.
Why does the "player participation list" in the official stats package show Justin Warren as "2A" rather than "21A," Larry Edwards as "3A" rather than "32A", Skip Seagraves as "7A" rather than "75A", etc.
Wayne Killian, Wilmington
Kevin Best, Carolina's director of football communications, answers your question.
"Every school in the country uses a statistical package for scoring college football games called Statcrew," Best says. "While it provides a quick and easy way to log plays and keep play-by-play, one of its major limitations is that it can not differentiate between double numbers and can only accept a MAXIMUM of two characters. For example, Statcrew simply reads 32 and does not distinguish between Larry Edwards and Barrington Edwards. Thus, one player must be 32 and the other has to be 3A.
"Most of the time, but not always, the Sports Information staff assigns the correct number to the offensive player since he is likely to have the most statistics in a game. Obviously, this is confusing on the road since other stat crews are not as familiar with our roster. That is why in the Miami game, Barrington Edwards had one tackle and Martel Thatch was credited with a 5-yard run. Each school can make the necessary corrections to the statistics following the game."
Continuing our weekly discussion on manners and protocol for fan behavior in Kenan Stadium, we have the following from Jonathan Griffin of Clinton:
To all of the fans that do not like people standing and enjoying themselves during the game ... JUST DON'T GO! If you don't like standing when people block your view because they are excited and they stand, then don't complain .... stand .... or go home .... that's it. I would rather have a stadium half full but all of the people there get along and stand and cheer whenever they like than have a full stadium of fans bickering over each other blocking each other's view. And to all of the fans not going to the game on Saturday because they don't want to spend the money on gas or time on this team, then you obviously don't believe in this team. They played hard against Miami and should have won. They have three home games left, and we should sell out each one. We are the 12th man, and it is our responsibility to show up and get revenge on BC for last year's loss in the Continental Tire Bowl.
Send your questions about Tar Heel football to Lee Pace at leepace@nc.rr.com . 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.
