University of North Carolina Athletics
Jacobs: Tar Heels Fulfilling Promise
September 21, 2009 | Football
Sept. 21, 2009
by Barry Jacobs
Every team begins the football season with similar aspirations. For some, dreams of glory are mere fantasy, as quickly demonstrated by results on the field. For others, hopes yield a modest measure of achievement, enough in these days of 34 bowls to earn a postseason jaunt and an imprimatur of success.
Then there are the fortunate few who embark upon the season with the knowledge their ambitions have a direct relation to realistic, achievable goals, and proceed to fulfill that vision.
North Carolina falls into that last category, as attested by the results of the first quarter of the regular season, which concluded on Saturday with a convincing 31-17 victory over East Carolina. Not only have the Tar Heels ratified their national ranking (22nd in the AP poll, 18th per USA Today) but, based on precedent since the ACC expanded in 2004, a bowl berth already is assured.
The suspense now revolves around how much the offense grows to complement a fierce defense, and how high UNC will rise in a Coastal Division with perhaps the top three teams in the ACC, along with Miami and Virginia Tech.
"I thought our team handled the ebbs and flows of games that are always going to happen," UNC coach Butch Davis said after subduing ECU. "There's going to be challenges - turning the ball over, giving them an early 7-0 lead. Our kids responded. I thought our football team responded every time that there was a challenge. Every time they answered, or every time they had some momentum, or every time they made a score, we came back."
The Tar Heels trailed only at the outset, when East Carolina drove 33 yards for a touchdown following a fumble recovery on UNC's first possession.
A defense ranked seventh nationally after two games generally throttled East Carolina, where talk entering the season was of busting into the BCS mix. The Conference-USA squad was held to an average of four yards per play: two yards per carry and barely six yards per pass. Pirates quarterback Patrick Pinkney, a sixth-year senior, continued to struggle, as he had in his team's previous games against Appalachian State and West Virginia.
Most impressive, the defense, which Davis called "the rock-solid core of this football team," held a third straight opponent under 20 points, a feat unmatched at Chapel Hill since 2000.
"I said going into this that I think from a defensive standpoint, the gaudy numbers they put up in the first two weeks, they are going to lead the country if they continue with those numbers," ECU coach Skip Holtz said. Like Davis, he lavished especial praise on defensive end Robert Quinn. Holtz admitted he and his staff had underestimated the sophomore's speed. "I think he is a pro right now," he said of Quinn, who recorded both of UNC's sacks.
"They kind of got us through the first few games, working some things out offensively that we needed to work on," Tar Heel quarterback T.J. Yates said of the Tar Heel defense. "They get us the ball back real quick. It's great having a defense like that."
Led by Yates, the Heels nearly doubled ECU's offensive output, reeling off 433 total yards, more than in a constipated effort at Connecticut or in an opening rout of The Citadel. An efficient passing game was complemented with 148 yards rushing, 95 from slashing tailback Shaun Draughn. "It was a very good performance to be able to have in excess of 400 yards today with what everyone deemed was a struggling offense," Davis said.
The coach paid special homage to Yates, who entered the season as the least-noted of the Big Four's quarterbacks (along with Duke's Thad Lewis, N.C. State's Russell Wilson and Wake's Riley Skinner). The junior was highly effective behind a revamped offensive line that jelled noticeably against the Pirates. He completed 19 of 24 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns. For the second time this season, Yates did not suffer an interception.
"I thought T.J. Yates was outstanding today," Davis said. "His composure, his poise, his percentage of completions was very good. He was smart with the football."
Encouragingly, both touchdown passes went to true freshmen on whom the team must rely. Erik Highsmith caught one scoring toss in the first quarter for 16 yards, among a team-high six catches in all. Jheranie Boyd caught a single pass, a 59-yard bomb midway through the second quarter. On the play Boyd raced at full speed past two defenders, pulled in the ball, bobbled it but kept control as he crossed the goal line without breaking stride. It was Boyd's first collegiate reception.
There was the final satisfaction, particularly for those wearing the Greenville "252" area code on their eye-black stickers, of defeating an in-state rival with a hunger to prove its superiority. That the Pirates beat the Heels at Greenville two years ago only intensified the game within the game.
All of this bodes well for a Carolina squad that joins Miami as the only undefeated ACC members after three weeks of the season.
The 9th-ranked Hurricanes, while impressive in wins at Florida State and at home over Georgia Tech at Land Shark Stadium, have played but twice. They next travel to Blacksburg, where on Saturday the 11th-ranked Hokies engineered a miraculous escape against a self-destructive Nebraska squad that was clearly superior for most of their encounter.
That leaves the Heels as the ACC's sole 3-0 squad. A 3-0 start is a measure of some significance. In the five previous seasons when the conference contained 11 or more teams, a dozen units started with three wins in three outings. All advanced to a bowl.
Looking ahead, a trip next week to Georgia Tech is followed by home games with struggling Virginia and Georgia Southern, a Southern Conference school. With minimal presumption, UNC stands an excellent chance of entering a mid-October open date no worse than 5-1.
That was the record at the halfway point last season following a home win against Notre Dame. So, among the tests for this year's Heels will be whether they can better sustain their success over the season's second half. That stretch begins with a visit from Florida State on Oct. 22, the first Thursday night football game ever played at Chapel Hill.
The program's last 6-1 start came in 1997, when Mack Brown's final UNC squad went 11-1.
"There's still things that we've got to continue to strive to get better," Davis said, surely thinking of, among other areas, a punting effort that averaged 31.4 yards per kick against ECU. "We're still a long ways away from being the kind of football team we need to be, but this was a good step forward."
Players Mentioned
