University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: A Defensive Revelation
September 29, 2007 | Football
Sept. 29, 2007
By Adam Lucas
BLACKSBURG--Look at that.
There are five minutes and 34 seconds left and it's a 17-10 game against big, punishing Virginia Tech. The Tar Heels have three timeouts left and need to get the ball back to make this interesting.
This is an area where Carolina absolutely, positively has not been able to get the stop it needs in recent years. They've been close on plenty of occasions. But in most cases, the opponent spends five minutes handing the ball to a previously unheralded tailback, he chews up 80 yards in slow, methodical fashion, and the offense walks to the locker room wondering what might have happened if they'd gotten another chance.
But this feels different. This time, the Tar Heel defense is huddled on their sideline and they are bouncing around.
"I wanted to get our guys excited," Deunta Williams said. "I wanted to pump them up a little bit on the sideline. We felt like this was our time."
It's easy to say that. It's harder to do it, especially with a sellout homecoming crowd looming over you.
But the Tar Heels never even had to use a timeout. Branden Ore picked up three yards on first down. A flare pass gained just three more. And on third down, a break, as the Hokies dropped what would have been a sure first-down reception.
But maybe sometimes you have to make your own break. The Carolina defense put itself into position to receive the break by playing tough on first and second down. Ideally, Tyrod Taylor would have liked to hand the ball to Ore all the way down the field. Since the Hokies joined the Atlantic Coast Conference, that's what they have frequently done to Carolina. On the last trip to Lane Stadium, Tech led just 6-3 at halftime and then proceeded to physically whip the Tar Heels in the second half on the way to a 30-3 victory.
That didn't happen this time. In less than 90 seconds, the Carolina offense had the ball back. They had momentum. And they had a chance.
Thanks to the defense.
"To be honest with you, I wanted a turnover on that drive," Williams said. "So we didn't get everything we wanted."
Maybe that's greedy. Or maybe it's aggressive, which is actually what Carolina defenses have been missing in recent years.
The only sizable Hokie play all day took advantage of that same trait, as a reverse set up their first touchdown. The Tar Heel secondary miscommunicated and was caught in the wrong coverage--53 yards later, Tech had the ball in the red zone.
"We want to be so aggressive, and we want to fly to the ball no matter what," Kentwan Balmer said. "They used that aggressiveness against us on that play."
The aggressiveness has been peeking out over the last few weeks. Slowly, the Tar Heels are turning into a unit that picks up at least one oohh-inspiring hit per game. Players like Marvin Austin up front and Williams in the back are asserting themselves.
Austin said during training camp that John Blake had told the youngsters they had to serve their elders before they could lead. That serving period may be shorter than first expected. The physical aspect was obvious from the stands (consider the second half rushing yards--81 for Carolina, just 51 for Virginia Tech in a situation where they wanted to grind the clock). The mental aspect was apparent only on the sidelines.
"Every game is a revelation," Butch Davis said. "Every time we play our coaching staff and our players find out more about themselves. We took a significant step forward defensively. For the first time, and this is a trust issue because players have to believe coaches won't threaten anyone with losing their jobs, players came over and said, `I made a mistake. I lined up wrong.' They came to the sideline and confessed...It's a risky thing to say that I made a mistake. But that helped us and I thought our coaches did some great sideline adjustments that helped us with their inside read zones."
Since his arrival in Chapel Hill, Davis has talked about wanting players who don't just love football, but understand it. There were encouraging signs on that front Saturday. Watching the defense relish the chance to force one last stop in the fourth quarter, it was exactly what Davis said--a revelation.
Carolina is unlikely to encounter a more physical overall team than the one they faced in Blacksburg. That's the Hokie way. Frank Beamer leaves the five-star super-athletes for other schools. He takes the four-stars and makes them tougher than the five-stars.
"Coach Davis told us during the week it was going to be a physical game," Williams said. "We knew that. A lot of guys answered a question today about whether we were tough enough. We had a good outing. And from now on, the defense will be a little different."
Adam Lucas most recently collaborated on a behind-the-scenes look at Carolina Basketball with Wes Miller. The Road To Blue Heaven will be released on October 1. Lucas's other books on Carolina basketball include The Best Game Ever, which chronicles the 1957 national championship season, Going Home Again, which focuses on Roy Williams's return to Carolina, and Led By Their Dreams, a collaboration with Steve Kirschner and Matt Bowers on the 2005 championship team.
