University of North Carolina Athletics
Walston: A Desperate Team
November 28, 2009 | Football
Nov. 28, 2009
How do you beat a desperate team? N.C. State, with nothing else to play for, so badly wanted to beat North Carolina, to put a bruise on the face on the team from down the road. There were no bowl scouts looking at the 4-7 Wolfpack, so why not drag the Tar Heels down with them? Carolina's looking toward a game in late December, so why not punch them in the mouth on the way?
And that's what they did. Some fans of the team in Raleigh will look at the 2009 season as a success simply because the Wolfpack took down the Tar Heels. By that same line of thinking, no doubt some fans in Chapel Hill will look at this season as a disappointment because they were not able to top N.C. State.
Last weekend at Virginia Tech, the Wolfpack lost by four touchdowns. Immediately afterward, they were looking toward North Carolina, as if that game was the only one on the schedule all season. So how do you beat a desperate team? Well, you must maintain your composure in a tough environment, something the Tar Heels were not able to do. You don't commit a season-high 122 yards' worth of penalties.
In the second quarter, N.C. State used two pass interference calls on two different cornerbacks, and a personal foul on a defensive lineman to pull within three at 17-14. With those penalties, Carolina gave the Wolfpack 45 of the 77 yards they needed to find the end zone. Marvin Austin recorded a 16-yard sack on a Russell Wilson intentional grounding call. No matter: 3rd and 23 became 1st and 10 and moved the ball across midfield; a 2nd and 10 from the 42 became 1st and 10 at the 27; a 2nd and 12 from the 29 became 1st and 10 at the 14.
"Guys just lost their composure," Deunta Williams said after the game. "They went to tough-guy mode, I guess. Mad at the whole world instead of just playing the coverage. These guys have scholarships, and sometime they'll get the best of you on one play, but you can't lock in, you can't zoom in on that one guy that got you for that one play, and I think that that's what we did. After we did that, the touchdowns just came in."
Then and there, the Tar Heels should have realized that the momentum was swinging. Perhaps in the moment, it's tough to correct mental mistakes. "People were going around saying, `Come on, man, get your composure back together,' but they'd be so zoned out," Williams said. "That's how football is. High emotion, high intensity, so once things get going, it's a little bit hard."
N.C. State entered the game having beaten just two FBS teams on the season, but it didn't matter Saturday. No, on Saturday, they were of a singular focus: Beat Carolina. Who's to say Carolina players weren't trying to figure out which bowl game to prepare for. `Should we pack for Nashville or Orlando? Dare I say Atlanta? I wonder how my stock is looking in the NFL Draft.' Meanwhile the team across the field is an assassin whose mission is your demise.
As a fan, you want to beat N.C. State. You know you do, if only to frustrate them more. You understand Carolina's had a more successful season in the eyes of the national media, but you're not concerned with that right now. You're worried about that guy at work. You're thinking about the crowing that your next-door neighbor is going to do. You're considering laying out of church because you don't want to talk about it (you know that one couple is going to say something).
So it hurts to come so close to beating a desperate team, and not be able to do it. It doesn't help when a player takes off his helmet on the field knowing he would incur a 15-yard penalty. And it doesn't look good when a defensive lineman, fresh off a third straight defeat at the hands of a rival, enters the post-game interview room in shades and a scarf. Does what just happened on the field mean anything to him?
Carolina will live to play another day, and the Wolfpack's season is over. It must be satisfying for a desperate team to wipe the smirk off their rivals. But it's also satisfying to be that hated rival and beat that desperate team. Maybe next year.
Turner Walston is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly. Turner's weekly Tar Heel football podcast, The Walkthrough, is available on iTunes.
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