University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: On The Way Up
October 11, 2008 | Football, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Oct. 11, 2008
By Adam Lucas
At Carolina, we don't know what it's like at the very top of the college football world.
But here, on Saturday night, on a postcard day in the wake of one of those "I was there" games, I do know this: on the way up, it is exhilarating.
In most cases, there's no time to enjoy the way up because everyone is so busy thinking about taking the next step. Could the Tar Heels make the ACC championship game? Which bowl seems most likely? When do the new AP rankings come out?
Don't make that mistake. Right now, North Carolina football is on the way up. If you don't enjoy the ride, you miss scenes like this:
There are eleven seconds left and Notre Dame has a fourth and 13 on the Carolina 33-yard line. The guy behind me has his hands on the back of the seat in front of him, the better to brace himself so he can scream at the loudest possible amount of decibels. On the field, the roaring is so loud the Fighting Irish offensive linemen have to hold hands at the line of scrimmage to make sure everyone knows the snap count. This is something visiting linemen do at the Swamp or Death Valley. Now they are doing it at Kenan Stadium.
Right before the ball is snapped, the Gator Bowl representative standing to my right leans into the ear of his associate and yells--at this volume, even a yell sounds like a whisper--"What a crowd!"
When you get to the top, I think, sometimes it is not that loud. Sometimes you don't make the effort to brace yourself against the seat in front of you just to yell on a key play, because you are at the top and you are entitled. You are owed good football. It is a birthright.
No one around Carolina football seems to feel entitled just yet. That's what has made the first half of the season so enjoyable. On the way up, there are still doubters. Doubters make life fun. And when you're on the way up, you're good--but you're still capable of surprising people. That's a powerful combination.
If at some point you get the urge to take even one snap for granted over the next two months, remember this: Michigan is 2-4. Nebraska is 3-3. Tennessee is 2-4.
Three of the winningest programs in college football history, all scrambling to try and remember what's required to be on the way up.
"You get to have all the bumps and bruises when you're on the way up," said Shaun Draughn. "It's part of growing. You get to find out how you respond. And when things start going well, the first thing people say is, `Well, they won, but it's a fluke.'
"Now, we've passed that point. In the years before now, when we walked on campus football players were like regular students. Now, we've even got the basketball players coming up to us and telling us they're behind us."
On the way up, there's still a certain element of surprise.
Charlie Weis is a good football coach, which is why he is 22-2 at Notre Dame when leading at halftime. On Saturday, his team led after three quarters, but the Tar Heels were cooking up something brilliant.
After a five-yard Draughn run, Carolina let the third quarter expire and took the quarter break to talk about their play call for third-and-2 from the Irish four-yard-line. As soon as the offense huddled on the sideline, players began suggesting plays. Several wanted a bootleg, and a specific play that hadn't been run all season.
"I try to step back from the huddle a little bit and let them sort it out until they get the play," said quarterback Cameron Sexton. "That was the first time we've run that particular play. But once I got the call, I knew we were scoring, period. Either I was going to run it in or Bobby (Rome) was going to be open for the pass."
Indeed, Sexton ran it in with Notre Dame completely unable to cover the myriad offensive options on the field, the type of creative play-calling that we're not used to in Chapel Hill but that--rumor has it--is something big-time college football teams do.
At the top, plays like that are routine. On the way up, plays like that are indelible. One day, you're going to tell somebody you were there when Cameron Sexton hurdled into the end zone to beat the Notre Dame.
"Remember Cameron Sexton?" you'll say. "Wow, what a story."
All of these things happened within moments of each other after the Tar Heels gathered in the end zone to sing the fight song and Butch Davis ran off the field waving his arms like a kid trying to imitate a helicopter.
First, tight ends coach Steve Hagen spotted that same Gator Bowl representative, who was high-fiving the Carolina players as they ran into the tunnel. Hagen gave him a fist bump, paused, and shouted, "We're going to be there!"
A few seconds later, the student wearing the Rameses costume was sitting on a step in the weight room. He'd just worn a sweaty, smelly, heavy suit for five hours.
"Wow," he said. "That was awesome."
And then there was Sexton, running into the locker room and accepting high-fives from everyone nearby.
"Hey," he said, "are we having fun or what?"
Having fun? Of course. After all, that's the very best thing about being on the way up.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball.
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