University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points: Something In The Air
September 3, 2007 | Football
Sept. 3, 2007
by Lee Pace, Extra Points
CHAPEL HILL -
I can feel it coming in the air tonight, Oh Lord
I've been waiting for this moment, all my life, Oh Lord
Can you feel it coming in the air tonight, Oh Lord, Oh Lord
The ominous drum cadence from Phil Collins' 1981 single "In The Air Tonight" wafted through Kenan Stadium shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday as the Tar Heel football team began its pre-game machinations for the kick-off to the 2007 season and to the Butch Davis Era in Chapel Hill as well.
Already the Tar Heels had been hailed by thousands lining the sidewalk at Polk Place for their traditional walk from the Old Well to the stadium. The west end zone stands were well-populated with baby blue-clad students in the newly named "Tar Pit" ... forty-five minutes before kick-off ... on Labor Day weekend ... with a Division 1-AA opponent in town. Soon to come were fireworks and sky-divers who would leap from miles above campus to deliver the game ball and a Carolina flag to midfield.
There is something in the air tonight, indeed.
"It was electric, I got caught up in the emotion," safety Deunta Williams said. "Trimane Goddard had to come over and get me snapped out of it."
"It was magic coming through the tunnel," Kentwan Balmer added.
"I was beyond impressed and amazed," offered Davis, no stranger to big-time football terrain. "It was a great, great atmosphere. You couldn't have scripted a better scenario. The environment was outstanding."
Too often the last nine years around Tar Heel football the fantasy of a high-watt setting was extinguished amidst a rash of maladroit offense, stick-man defense and mental miscues. By the fourth quarter the old grads were making their way to the Court Party, visions of "Choo Choo" Justice, the Space Cowboy and Doug Clark & the Hot Nuts dancing in their heads. The University of North Carolina, for all its heritage, resources and brain power, had produced a football product with a 44-63 record since coach Mack Brown left for the football frenzy of the University of Texas. If the Tar Heels were a publicly traded company, they'd been missing their earnings quarter after quarter.
"Our guys had something they'd like to prove--that Carolina can play football," Davis said.
The Tar Heels were crisp, disciplined, organized, efficient, high-energy and balanced in dispatching the Dukes of James Madison University 37-14 Saturday night. My advice is to not get carried away--there are plenty of nuts to crack for this team and coaching staff. But there's nothing wrong with feeling a warm glow that this battleship is under control of a commander and cadre of lieutenants who know exactly how to navigate the treacherous seas of college football. And that there's a reasonable stock of quality players as well.
"We showed we're not the same old team," Balmer said. "And we're only going to get better."
"There's a different energy to this team," said receiver Brandon Tate, who gained 46 yards on a wondrous diving catch.
"Coach Davis has given us a new-found confidence," added Williams, who was playing in his first college game and intercepted one pass.
The Tar Heels' plan on offense against the Dukes' aggressive defense was to get the ball into the hands of their playmakers on the outside as quickly and often as possible--on quick hits for short yards with hopes the receivers could break some tackles; with max-protection and one receiver going deep; and by handing off to the receivers on gadget plays. They used all of those plays to some degree of success. Offensive coordinator John Shoop also planned to hunt and peck on the ground with three players auditioning at tailback and let those runs set up some play-action and pump-fake passes. Shoop showed his fondness for the "bunch set," which employs three receivers clustered near the hashmarks on one side of the ball.
"If you know what you're doing, there are points to be had," Shoop said of outfoxing the JMU defense, which stacks the line of scrimmage with as many as eight and nine players in the box and sometimes runs without a safety deep. "But if you don't know what you're doing, you can be humiliated."
Shoop and the Heels obviously knew what they were doing. On the third play of the game, Shoop correctly anticipated the Dukes' coverage and quarterback T.J. Yates suckered them with a pump fake and hit Brooks Foster for an easy 65-yard score.
"We must have practiced that play 50 times this week," Yates said. "Coach knew what was coming in that situation. I saw it was there and just tried not to get too excited and rush it."
Shoop and defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano both worked from the sidelines, and in fact only one position coach from each side of the ball was in the press box (along with two graduate assistants). Shoop wanted to be able to communicate and evaluate Yates eye-to-eye instead of over a phone line, the better to feel the pulse and read the body language of the freshman quarterback. Pagano felt that managing the defense against a no-huddle offense like JMU's was easier from the sideline. Instead of sending in defensive calls to a linebacker and having him communicate them to the rest of the defense, all of the Tar Heels on defense looked directly to Pagano each snap to get the call, saving precious seconds of pre-snap read time. Pagano mixed and matched personnel groups at times, but he didn't try to get too cute. As a result, the Tar Heels were caught only one time panicked to make a substitution, and they didn't get a single penalty for having too many players on the field.
"Our sideline management was very good," Davis said. "We were poised and into the game. A lot of things transpired with personnel groups, and I'm pleased with the way we handed various issues that came up. Our guys were locked-in on the sideline. I'm proud of our coaches and players."
The two most impressive elements of the defense were the young talent on the front line and the way the safeties meshed together and anchored the secondary.
Cam Thomas played a fair amount in 2006 as a red-shirt freshman, and Tavares Brown played a handful of snaps as a true freshman. Aleric Mullins and Marvin Austin had not yet seen the field. All showed some girth and dexterity amidst the chaos of the pit. Davis had marveled during preseason about Thomas's ability to knock the center or guard back off the ball and disrupt the quarterback's timing, and that's exactly what happened on the first snap of the game. Austin and Mullins teamed at the tackle spots for several second-half series and collapsed the line around a harried JMU quarterback more than once. Add red-shirt freshman end Darrius Massenburg (long, lean, quick, strong) to the mix, and you have an impressive display straight out of Romper Room.
"Against the read option, it's important to get a lot of penetration with your defensive line," Davis said. "You've got to destroy their timing and assignments. You've got to get guys in their backfield. We did a good job of that."
The safety position was a weak link last year with Trimane Goddard's season-long injury and a multitude of additional health and assignment issues. This year, safety appears to be a strength with the return of Goddard to strong safety and the debut of Williams, a red-shirt freshman who moved from receiver to free safety at the start of spring ball. Goddard is smart, athletic and fearless and made five tackles and one interception Saturday, and Williams brings exceptional confidence for one so young along with special leaping and ball-homing skills. He made his first interception on a deflected pass Saturday and ran the ball 45 yards before being stopped.
"Playing receiver helps you a lot in the secondary," Williams said. "You make adjustments a lot better to balls in the air. I never have problems misreading deep balls. I seem to have pretty good ball skills. And I've heard the best DBs were receivers at one time."
The kicking game was keen as well. Carolina blocked a punt (its first since the N.C. State game in 2005), and JUCO transfer kicker Terrence Brown hit four punts for a 50-yard average and nailed two inside the five yard-line. The kick-off cover team negated any worries about the rule change to move the kick-off launch point back to the 30 yard-line; Connor Barth's leg strength and an aggressive coverage unit limited JMU's starting points to the 20, 18, 23, 27, 27, 8 and 21 yard-lines.
One of the priorities for Davis and staff as the Tar Heels move into preparation for a trip to East Carolina this week will be to continue to tweak the running game and develop the three tailbacks--Johnny White, Richie Rich and Anthony Elzy. The Tar Heels featured the passing game Saturday because JMU loaded the line of scrimmage, but they'll have to develop a ground game as the season evolves. Elzy was effective in short-yardage and goal-line situations, while White showed some snap and agility in running for 49 yards on 12 carries. Running backs coach Ken Browning intended to insert freshman Ryan Houston into the game in the fourth quarter until a holding penalty ruined a Tar Heel possession.
"You're never as good as you think you are and not as bad as you think you are," Davis said. "We've got a lot of things to fix."
Tar Heel fans haven't necessarily been waiting for this moment all our lives, oh Lord, as each coaching era has produced its own special highlights. But combine Davis's pedigree with the will of the University and the thirst among its fan base, and Saturday's opener certainly portends of better days to come.
There is something in the air.
Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace is in his 18th season writing "Extra Points," a colorful and in-depth look at Tar Heel football. He'll answer your questions about the Tar Heels regularly during the season in his "Extra Points Mailbag" column. Email him your questions (please, no recruiting questions) about the Tar Heels at leepace@nc.rr.com and he'll answer the most interesting ones.
