University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Welcome To Charlottesville
October 18, 2008 | Football, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Oct. 18, 2008
By Adam Lucas
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.--Welcome to Charlottesville.
It's lovely here. We've got beautiful foliage. We've got a fine University with a picturesque campus...er, "grounds" (don't ask). We've got tailgate parties that feature, as the centerpiece, a bronze bust of Thomas Jefferson wearing an orange-and-navy bowtie. Seriously, I saw it. That was a real tailgate centerpiece.
It's the kind of place you could imagine yourself retiring. Maybe to a little cabin in the mountains, where you'd walk out to get the paper every morning refreshed by the crisp air and then drink lemonade every afternoon.
There is just one other thing you should know about Charlottesville, something you need to remember no matter how many different names they put on the stadium (it's currently an absurd three, as it's David Harrison Field at Scott Stadium at the Carl Smith Center or some such mishmash):
Never come here.
Charlottesville breaks your heart. Charlottesville has developed an uncanny knack for providing just the right amount of hope before snapping your neck. Guaranteed, you will walk out of here mumbling, "I'm never making this trip again ever" and then you'll be right back here in two more years just in case it finally, finally happens.
Since 1981, Carolina has lost most every way possible in this place. The Tar Heels have lost big (56-24 in 2004). They've lost small (20-17 in 1987). They've lost in the most disappointing game in UNC football history (1996, when Antwan Harris's interception began a Cavalier rally).
And now, they've lost in overtime, after controlling the game for 58 minutes of a scheduled 60-minute contest.
"It made no sense at all," said Quan Sturdivant.
"It seemed like the snowball just started rolling downhill," said Mark Paschal.
That's how it usually feels in Charlottesville if you're wearing blue.
You came here to read a recap of the game. Which game did you want to read about? The one that was played during the first 58 minutes of game time, when the Tar Heels continued to develop a usable running game and played helmet-shaking defense?
That game was fun. The Tar Heels missed some opportunities, yes--three turnovers were costly, and a couple of chances with quality field position were squandered. But it didn't really matter how the offense was playing, because once it produced a touchdown on the day's first drive, you never got the sense that the Virginia offense was threatening the UNC defense.
The touted Cedric Peerman was being outrushed and outplayed by Shaun Draughn. Wahoo quarterback Marc Verica looked rushed and, occasionally, rattled.
The capstone was supposed to be a powerful 15-play, 71-yard drive that chewed up 7:29 of the fourth quarter. When Casey Barth pounded through a 40-yard field goal after a Virginia timeout intended to ice him, it provided just a 10-3 advantage but it seemed like the game-winner.
"It felt like the final nail," said tackle Garrett Reynolds. "But we also knew a penalty had taken away another first down, and that was important. We wanted to punch it in. But yes, it felt like a really good drive."
Then the other game began. In this game, Verica went through the Carolina defense like Cavalier undergrads swarming a Vineyard Vines clearance sale. In this game, Virginia had just 2:18 to go 82 yards...and only needed 1:35.
"We played the defense a little wrong," Deunta Williams said of that final drive. "You can call it a prevent, because the corners are supposed to back up a little and we're supposed to back up. But we played it a little soft. A couple plays I didn't get over like I needed to. It was a good call, but the players didn't execute it."
Even after Virginia had scored to draw within 10-9, there was still that one glimmer. Williams blocked the extra point, and it hung in the air for...how long? Long enough, on field level, to provide just a moment of hope.
"I got a pretty good piece of it," Williams said. "It went over by probably about six or seven inches. It just somehow went in."
Yeah, somehow.
The future hangs heavy here. In '96, after Harris ran back his interception, the Tar Heels still led 17-10. But everyone knew what was going to happen.
In 2008, there was still an overtime to play. But everyone knew.
What's maddening is that the streak of Charlottesville futility honestly doesn't matter to the current group of players. Why should it? Most of them were barely paying attention in 2004, and barely born in 1996. Along with most everyone on the coaching staff, they've seen far fewer of these games than you or I have, and so for them the game was frustrating because of what happened within those three hours, not within the last 27 years.
The streak played no role in the physical part of the game. But as soon as it was over, they became part of it. Guilt by association.
These Tar Heels, of course, are well-acquainted with gut-wrenching losses. They're 5-2, with the two losses being fourth-quarter miracles.
But this one felt different.
"I thought I was pretty ticked off after the Virginia Tech game," Paschal said. "But I'm in a whole new mood right now."
Welcome to Charlottesville.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball.
Players Mentioned
