University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Perception and Reality
September 24, 2005 | Football
Sept. 24, 2005
By Adam Lucas
Perception, they say, is reality. The perception on Saturday morning was that Carolina did not deserve to share the field with red-hot NC State. The Pack has the snazzy new facilities, the charismatic coach, the preseason hype--including some preseason predictions that placed them in the ACC title game.
The double-digit underdog Tar Heels were judged only better than Duke in the preseason. They were 0-2. They were wounded. They were ready to be devoured. Say it enough times, it becomes reality.
Doesn't it?
That scenario seemed to cause a wry smile on the countenance of John Bunting. He's not big into perception.
He's the guy with the fingers rendered slightly askew by an NFL career. He's the guy who, with very little publicity, turned over the reins of his defense to a young coach named Marvin Sanders. He's the guy who never seems to land the recruits who want to be "shot out of a cannon," as he so aptly put it last Signing Day, and pull a hat out of a bag at the last possible second.
But here's what he seems to do: he seems to maintain an even keel at absolutely all times. He was asked after Saturday's 31-24 victory over NC State what he does differently during weeks when his team is an underdog. Surely he has a secret underdog file, or a special pregame speech.
His response: "I don't do anything."
He went on to credit his players, a fitting move. He has crafted a team in his image. He has 20 seniors, and while fans across the state gnashed their teeth all week, the players and coaches did something unexpected: they figured out a way to beat the Wolfpack, a team that has the glitz, has the fireworks, and now has two straight losses to the Tar Heels.
Here's the situation: Carolina down 24-14, early in the second half. The Pack has opened with a two-touchdown blitz, 57,100 fans are screaming for blood, and it seems that a bright red snowball is getting ready to roll down the hill.
"That's the time when seniors have to set the tone," center Steven Bell said. "We have to help Matt (Baker) set the tone. We wanted to sprint out there. We wanted to break the huddle crisply. We wanted to do every little thing right. We didn't want to get caught in the quicksand."
Then they proceeded to claw right out of it. Barrington Edwards with a 3-yard run. An incomplete pass. A catch-this-before-the-roof-falls-in 11-yard strike on third down to Mike Mason. And then the passes coming in a flurry--coming from the quarterback who had completed as many to the Pack as he had to the Tar Heels in the first half--to Pollock twice and Justin Phillips.
And then, at the goal line, instead of going with a cutesy formation or asking defenders to play offense, Carolina asked their big guys to mash the other team's big guys and their tailback to find the hole.
Touchdown, Barrington Edwards.
"To do that against this defense is remarkable," Bunting said. "It shows some poise and it shows some confidence that they can't be beaten."
But it's not an overbearing kind of confidence. Instead, it's more of a controlled swagger. This is a team that can say the Lord's Prayer before the game for the victims of Hurricane Katrina--Larry Edwards said that's what started the whole pregame dustup. "We were saying the Lord's Prayer and they wanted to break it up," he said. "There are two things you don't mess with, a man's family and a man's faith. They messed with our faith."--and then go out and hit you in the mouth.
Remember, we're not far removed from the days when teams could occasionally go to the two-minute drill against Carolina at the end of a game and score twice instead of once.
State couldn't score at all. They mustered just two first downs in the fourth quarter and watched Carolina's offense strangle the ball for 10:39 of the final 15 minutes. And when Mike Mason watched his defense trot out for the game's final series with 1:01 to play and 68 yards between the Pack and a tie game, he already knew the outcome. He saw a physically whipped team, and they were wearing red.
"I looked out there during the timeout and their guys were taking a knee," Mason said. "They looked tired. Our guys looked like it was in the second quarter. That's when I knew we were going to win."
The win, of course, will be seen as an upset. Perception, you know.
"Everybody is going to say it's an upset that we beat State," Mason said. "Forget that. We don't see it as an upset. We're supposed to beat them."
And that's the reality.
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.
