University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points: Composure Keys Road Win
September 26, 2005 | Football
Sept. 26, 2005
By Lee Pace
There are times that the sidelines offer the worst place to watch a football game. The angles are bad and the real estate outside the team areas - from the 25 yard-line to the end zone - are densely populated with still photographers, TV cameramen, the chain gang, cheerleaders, ball boys and all and sundry who manage to wrangle a pass.
And there are times when being close to the action and within the caldron of emotion and noise and pads popping is worth the lack of creature comforts.
Saturday in Carter-Finley Stadium was one of those times. A microscopic view of the Tar Heels nailing the Wolfpack 31-24 and turning the Red Sea into a basement of church mice was special indeed.
John Bunting talked last week about how going into a hostile environment as a distinct underdog and walking out a winner is one of the most satisfying experiences in sports. "I love it," Bunting said. "It's the supreme challenge. There's nothing like it."
Saturday's Carolina-State imbroglio got off to a fiery start one hour before kick-off. Darryl Sanders of the Carolina video staff was on the field and had his camera trained on the Tar Heel linebackers, who had paused during a warm-up lap around the field to huddle and say the Lord's Prayer underneath the goal-post at the south end. Perhaps just outside the home team's entry tunnel is not the smartest location for the visitors to gather, but nonetheless the Tar Heels meant nothing by it and were certainly minding their own business.
Then State coach Chuck Amato and the Wolfpack defensive backs came through the tunnel and took umbrage at the perceived invasion of their turf. Amato instigated the shooing of the Heels. "Get out of here," he yelled. Amato's players took his signal and ran with it. Sanders' tape clearly shows Jimmie Sutton, J.J. Jones, Tramain Hall and Miguel Scott among those leading the jawing and juking as the Carolina players retreated. Game officials and coaches separated the players before anything serious occurred. Then Sanders and his camera followed as Amato railed in his squeaky voice to one game official that, "They were waiting for us," and continued straight to Bunting, who was standing at midfield.
Amato jawed in animated fashion for 15 seconds at Bunting, who stood stoically with his arms crossed. Amato pointed at his end zone, at Carolina's end zone, then back again at his, as if to say, "Keep your guys on your end of the field."
Then Amato extended his hand as if to shake. Before Bunting had time to react, Amato withdrew the hand, made a swiping motion at Bunting and stomped off to the applause of several Wolfpack assistant coaches nearby.
Tar Heel defensive coordinator Marvin Sanders trotted over to Bunting to report that the State players had made similar laps around the entire field, so for Amato to be so riled was the pot calling the kettle black. The fire had been stoked even earlier when Tar Heel receiver Mike Mason felt that Hall, while fielding a punt, had instigated a collision that had seemed avoidable.
All of which was a grand appetizer before the main course and plenty of reason to be near the action on Saturday.
Bill Dooley and Lou Holtz would have been proud. Mack Brown and Dick Sheridan would have felt right at home. You knew this game, this environment, was a different deal when Bunting came out of the locker room before the game escorted by four law enforcement officers - two from the State Highway Patrol and two from the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
The most important word in the Tar Heel playbook Saturday was composure. Maintain it no matter what - no matter how disruptive State's defensive ends Mario Williams and Manny Lawson were, no matter how many yards sleek freshman tailback Toney Baker ripped off, no matter how much pressure the Wolfpack's punt block team could bring. Keep your composure no matter the score and no matter the noise from the denizens of Wolfpack fans who, for the second year in a row, smelled blood entering a Carolina-State game with the Pack a solid favorite.
Sentiment and momentum bounced like a tennis ball throughout the first half, first to one side and then another. Both sides made bonehead errors - 12 men on the field and a center snap sailing over the punter's head for Carolina, two fumbled QB-center exchanges and lousy clock management just before intermission for State.
The Wolfpack quickly seized control of the game as the third quarter opened, riding a long kick-off return, a sack of Matt Baker and a big pass off a fake reverse to two touchdowns and a 24-14 lead.
The noise was deafening on the field. I could barely hear my colleagues on the Tar Heel Sports Network through my earplugs. One State fan pelted Tar Heel Jacoby Watkins with ice after Watkins was burned for the second State TD of the early third-quarter flurry.
But the Tar Heel offense went back to work - cool, calm, collected.
"There was absolutely no panic from anyone," Baker said.
"We couldn't let ourselves get caught in quicksand," center Steven Bell added. "We couldn't get sucked into it. We had to keep pushing forward."
"I was really proud of our team that we did not lose our poise at that point," Bunting said. "That a characteristic of this team and this program."
Tar Heels had run the ball with some success in the first half, a pleasant development given their barren results in losses to Georgia Tech and Wisconsin. Barrington Edwards had a 62-yard scamper to his credit. Cooter Arnold broke one for 15. Walk-on Justin Warren in his first action as a Tar Heel and took the ball around left end for 16. Baker on a nifty scramble and a conservative slide under the impending tackle notched 18.
"Today we made that one block we weren't making the first two games," Bell said. "If you look at the tape, you'll see most of our running plays were blocked up pretty good. But we'd have just one person using bad technique and not finishing a block and his guy coming off and making the tackle. We had a couple of plays against Georgia Tech and Wisconsin that should have been touchdowns if guys had just finished their blocks."
But Baker and the Tar Heels had been impotent throwing the ball, completing just one in nine throws in the first half for three yards. The rush off the edges from Williams and Lawson was furious, and Baker could never get into a rhythm. At halftime, coordinator Gary Tranquill talked with the staff and Baker about going to their "quick package," using the shotgun formation and launching quick throws on fast-hitting routes over the middle. The fullbacks, tailbacks, tight ends and tackles did a better job controlling Lawson and Williams and the rest of the Wolfpack pass rush.
Lo and behold, Carolina began moving the ball. The receivers hung onto catches. Edwards and the tailbacks ran hard. The Tar Heels cut their penalty commission in half.
And the volume in the stadium went down, tick by tick of the clock and yard by yard as the Tar Heels advanced toward the goal line.
"We did a good job deciding what we wanted to do early in the week and then practicing it all week," Tranquill said. "We gave them a couple of wrinkles, changing blocking schemes on a couple of things, and that might have helped some. Our kids kept their noses to the grindstone and good things started happening. Some teams would have gone in the tank after that start of the second half. The quick game served us well. We got some good protection, Matt made some good throws, the receivers caught the ball and we started moving the ball."
The Tar Heels drove to two consecutive scores and retook the lead at 28-24. That's two years in a row, in case anyone's counting, that the Tar Heel offense has responded to Wolfpack momentum bursts in the third quarter with surgical drives and regained control of the game. The Carolina defense, growing from adolescence in 2004 to semi-maturity in 2005, hammered down the Wolfpack offense the rest of the way.
"It feels great to come into their house and leave with a win," said defensive end Tommy Davis. "Everyone on our team responded to some adversity today."
When it was over, Bunting and Amato found one another at midfield. They looked at each other and shook hands briefly. Not one word was exchanged, not even a nod.
There's nothing like a good rivalry.
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.
