University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points: White Heat Sears Heels
December 29, 2008 | Football, Featured Writers, Lee Pace
Dec. 29, 2008
by Lee Pace, Extra Points
Carolina's football team enjoyed its first adventure back into the college football bowl arena in four years this December--the destination being the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte and the opponent being the West Virginia Mountaineers.
At first there was a little regret on the Tar Heels' part, a sense that a warm-weather destination would have been nice. And there were some festering wounds over "what might have been" had Carolina not lost two of its last three regular-season games.
"But then we realized it would be like playing another home game," cornerback Kendric Burney said. "It was easy for our family and friends to get to Charlotte to the game."
"What we got here was a great situation playing West Virginia," added quarterback T.J. Yates. "They're like us. If both of us had won a couple more games, we could have been playing in the Orange Bowl."
There was time for reflection on the season, on the bricks and mortar being meticulously laid by coach Butch Davis, his staff and players.
"Thinking of 2008, I'll remember the explosive plays," safety Deunta Williams said. "That was one characteristic that really described us. It's a tribute to our strength and conditioning but also to guys taking the game a lot more seriously. They understand the game better--where to go and what to do. That makes you more explosive."
Offensive coordinator John Shoop came in from a spirited practice session in Kenan Stadium during the period between exams and before departure for Charlotte, when the coaching staff had the team in a mini-training camp environment, and effused over the players' effort.
"Our guys are learning to compete," Shoop said. "My favorite part of practice is when we go No. 1 offense against No. 1 defense--each side running their stuff. It wasn't so ferocious when we first got here. Now it's like, `Let's get it on. Let's keep score.' I like that. We're starting to `get it.' Now we just need 85 who `get it.' And we will. We're heading in that direction."
There was fun and adventure away from the practice field, such as the teams' visit to Lowe's Motor Speedway on Tuesday of game week and the opportunity to get strapped into the passenger seat of a stock car and ride around the track at more than 160 miles an hour.
"That signature waiver was a little scary," Yates said with a wry smile. "It basically said, `We're not responsible if you die.'" There were nostalgic forays into holiday trips of yesteryear, like the one West Virginia coach Bill Stewart made to the 1979 Gator Bowl as a graduate assistant on Dick Crum's Carolina staff. The Tar Heels were 7-3-1 and got a back-door invitation to Jacksonville to face Michigan when Tennessee, the anticipated opponent, lost at home on the third Saturday of November when the Heels beat Virginia.
"I looked across the field and saw a very talented Michigan team, and I didn't think we had a chance in the world," said Stewart, who worked with offensive line coach John Matsko that year. "But we knocked their quarterback out of the game early and we didn't turn the ball over.
"There was a lot of talent on the field that night--and a lot of great coaches, too. Bo Schembechler, Don Nehlen, Dick Crum, Randy Walker, Larry Marmie. These so-called `genius coaches' who think they invented football? They're blowing smoke. They've taken something from a lot of great coaches. I've done nothing for 30 years but steal great ideas from great coaches."
There was a festive bowl atmosphere in downtown Charlotte, with the Embers playing beach music as part of a pep rally on a dank and chilly Friday afternoon, and of course the ever-present strains of John Denver's Take Me Home,Country Roads, his 1971 ode to West Virginia, could be heard in the background.
And finally there was a most entertaining football game in a Bank of America Stadium shrouded in fog and half laced with half baby blue, half bright yellow. Tar Heel receiver Hakeem Nicks and Mountaineer quarterback Pat White put on stupefying displays of athleticism, dexterity and heart. West Virginia led, the Tar Heels regained control and then West Virginia bolted to the finish line.
The final score of 31-30 in the Mountaineers' favor hinged from the Tar Heels' perspective on their inability to protect the football in the fourth quarter. A fumble by Shaun Draughn at the Mountaineer 30 after a key fourth-down defensive stop ruined the Heels' chances to put the game nearly out of reach. And Yates made a poor decision and throw on the Heels' last offensive gasp, the ball being intercepted by Mountaineer linebacker Pat Lazear.
"I dropped back and was kind of blinded a little bit and made a bad throw," Yates said. "The guy made a great play, he kind of read my eyes a little bit. It was a big mistake by me."
Turnovers were cornerstones to the Tar Heels' body of work throughout 2008. Shoop was relentless in preaching that every offensive possession should end with a kick (a point-after is great, a field goal is good and a punt is okay--but fumbles and interceptions are unacceptable). The defense snared 20 opposing passes, good for seventh nationally, and the Tar Heels were in the top 10 in turnover margin for much of the year until an abysmal six-turnover nightmare against N.C. State knocked them down the ranks to 30th nationally.
Most significantly, Carolina was plus-16 in turnovers in its eight wins and minus-12 in four losses.
"You live and die by turnovers, that's what we did this year," said Williams, who intercepted a pass, recovered a fumble and made a tackle for a safety. "It's tough losing on a turnover, but T.J. played an amazing game."
Not as amazing, though, as the West Virginia quarterback and the Tar Heels' split end.
White is the only college quarterback to start and win four bowl games, and he accounted for all but 68 of his team's 455 yards of total offense. He completed 26 of 32 passes for 332 yards, two of them pinpoint spirals of 41 and 20 yards on the game-winning drive following Draughn's fumble. Carolina retooled its defensive game plan for White and the Mountaineers' spread offense, moving outside linebacker Quan Sturdivant to the middle and using safety Da'Norris Searcy as a hybrid outside linebacker/nickel back.
White shredded Carolina on West Virginia's first three possessions for 21 points, but after that the Heels got a feel for the Mountaineers' speed, made some adjustments and settled into what they had practiced for three weeks. By the third quarter, Searcy was wreaking some havoc by shadowing White across the field and nailing him on two sacks for losses of 11 yards.
"Pat White obviously wants to change the NFL's opinion of him that he's just a spread option quarterback, that all he's going to do is run the ball and create problems on the ground," Davis said. "He has the ability to throw the ball and certainly threw it well today."
NFL scouts no doubt also took notice of Nicks and his ability to drag a West Virginia defender into the end zone and his nimble hands in making a behind-the-back reception. And that catch followed one off his helmet a month ago against Duke. Nicks had eight receptions for 217 yards and three touchdowns and became the sole owner of Carolina records for career receptions, career touchdown receptions and single-season touchdown receptions.
"I just went out and made plays when my name was called," Nicks said. "I just wanted to make big plays in my home town."
Nicks and Davis will make a decision soon on whether he'll return for his senior season, but in any event Davis said, "I'll have his back. Hakeem Nicks has a fan for life with me."
The Tar Heels finish the year with an 8-5 record and will return nine starters on defense while losing two linemen, a tight end and as many as three receivers on offense. The program's development made an impression on the Mountaineer coaching staff. First-year offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen had been quarterbacks coach at Wake Forest for five years, so he's familiar with the Tar Heels.
"They have added a level of talent over the last few years," Mullen says. "It's impressive. They've done a phenomenal job adding skill, speed, toughness, everything."
After the game, Stewart said he'd seen all of the Tar Heels he wanted.
"God help the rest of the ACC in the next few years," Stewart said. "I told (athletic director) Dick Baddour and (ACC commissioner) John Swofford to help get me some ACC games, but I ain't playing them again."
The Tar Heels now set their sights on off-season conditioning as the coaching staff wraps up what could be a banner recruiting class. Scout.com ranks Carolina's 25 verbal commitments as the sixth-best collection nationally, behind Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas, LSU and Alabama. The coaches are actually spending more time now on the class of 2010.
And by the time the next bowl game rolls around, the Tar Heels will hopefully have learned to make the half dozen or so plays that held them back from an ACC championship game berth, a Top 10 ranking and a victory over West Virginia in only the program's third bowl game of the 21st century.
"In three of our losses, we were leading going into the fourth quarter," Williams said. "It just goes to show how good things can be next year."
Williams is asked what it will take to close the loop, to take those leads in the fourth quarter home as victories.
"To close those games out, we need total focus and commitment," he said. "We are committed, but not enough. Maybe 25 guys are really committed, and the game depends on their shoulders. What we need are about 50 guys. If we get 50 players really committed, we'll win more games."
Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace is in his 19th year of chronicling Carolina football through "Extra Points." He'll answer questions about the Tar Heels weekly throughout the season through his "Extra Points Mailbag" and on the pregame show for the Tar Heel Sports Network. Email him at leepace@nc.rr.com and include your name and hometown. No recruiting questions, please.
Players Mentioned
