University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points: Sigh Of Relief
November 1, 2010 | Football, Featured Writers, Lee Pace
Nov. 1, 2010
by Lee Pace
The man and woman were attired in non-descript fashion, no clues to any allegiance toward either team. He wore a white long-sleeve golf shirt with a small logo designating the "SWAT," the regular weekend-and-Wednesday men's game at Oakmont Country Club in suburban Pittsburgh. She wore a fuchsia blouse with a dark jacket. No light blue anywhere, no green and gold in the mix.
Robert Shoop Sr. and his wife Jan had watched from the fourth floor balcony of Kenan Football Center, just outside the office of their youngest son, and now were making their way from west to east to find their oldest son. The Tar Heels and offensive coordinator John Shoop had just narrowly escaped with a 21-17 win over William & Mary and defensive coordinator Bob Shoop Jr.
"I never want to do this again," Jan Shoop says. "I'm so glad it's over. This was not easy."
"At times she did not even want to come to the game," her husband says.
"He's right," Mrs. Shoop says. "The boys are competitive--they get that from their father. I don't care who wins."
Bob Sr., a Pittsburgh attorney, had the unique perspective of having talked to both of his sons in the days leading up to the game.
"The other day Bobby was saying, `Well, they'll probably hold it down and only score 42 points.' I said, `Come on, you're better than that.'
"Then I talked to John. He'd been watching film all day and said, `Dad, I knew they'd be well-coached, but I didn't realize how much talent they had. They've got some really good football players."
Indeed, William & Mary might be a Football Championship Subdivision team (the former Division 1-AA appellation) but the school has a heady football reputation, having produced Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin (a Tribe receiver in the mid 1990s) and more recently having spawned cornerback Derek Cox, a second-year NFL man now starting for Jacksonville, and rookies Sean Lissemore (defensive tackle in Dallas) and Adrian Tracy (linebacker with the New York Giants). Last year the Tribe advanced to the semifinals of the FCS playoffs and finished with an 11-3 record.
"They lose their Mike linebacker to the pros and I'm thinking, `Okay, we can go after the new guy,'" John said last week. "Then I watch this guy, thirty-five [Donte Cook], all week and think, `Nuts, he's as good as the one they lost.'"
Cook was just one of the problems presented to the Tar Heels on a crisp and brilliant Homecoming afternoon in Kenan Stadium. The game was essentially all-square through three quarters--the Tribe with 257 yards offense, the Heels with 249, time of possession essentially even. But William & Mary nursed a 17-7 lead thanks to two irksome Tar Heel turnovers. An interception by Yates thrown into a covey of Tribe defenders--still no clue who the intended receiver was--gave William & Mary a gift at the Tar Heel 18, which it soon converted to a touchdown. And Shaun Draughn fumbled a kick-off just before intermission after a miscommunication with another player over who would field the kick, giving the Tribe the chance to convert a 28-yard field goal at the gun.
It was a listless team giving a muted crowd nothing to be excited about as the teams repaired to the locker room at halftime. Tar Heel coach Butch Davis challenged his players that they had no right to go 90 percent and make stupid mistakes against any team--no matter the oddity of this non-conference game sandwiched between visits to two of Florida's finest, Miami and Florida State.
"Coach doesn't normally get that excited, but he was right," safety Deunta Williams said. "We were flat. We'd put ourselves in trouble, but we woke up and manned up."
"We just felt a sense of urgency that we needed to get it together," added tailback Johnny White.
Most worrisome was the idea that the great scriptwriter in the sky would seize on the blockbuster concept of "SHUNNED QB RETURNS TO SHOW WHO'S BOSS" or something of that ilk. Mike Paulus, one of the plums of the 2007 Tar Heel signing class, was now on the William & Mary roster, having transferred last winter in hopes of landing some playing time. Managing and juggling quarterbacks is a difficult proposition, as only one can play at a time, and often their skills aren't easily transplanted to a different position. Paulus had the misfortune of entering Carolina two years behind Cam Sexton and one behind Yates, and he couldn't beat Yates out for the starting job at any point, and he lost a head-to-head battle with Sexton for the job in 2008 when Yates was hurt. Then he saw the entry to the QB sweepstakes in 2009 of the athletic and strong-armed Bryn Renner and decided to cast about for a better situation.
"There's no bad blood, no hard feelings," Paulus said last week, a sentiment echoed by Shoop and a chorus of Tar Heels and evidenced by a series of playful text messages from Paulus to assorted Tar Heels.
But you knew the competitiveness ingrained in Paulus, himself the product of a feisty sibling environment with five brothers and a sister each an accomplished athlete, would fuel his desire to slice and dice a Tar Heel secondary dismantled by suspensions and injury if given the chance. That came in the first quarter when starter Mike Callahan left with an injury, and Michael, as he asks to be called now to underline his fresh start with the Tribe, completed 13 of his first 14 passes in staking the Tribe to its halftime lead.
"Everyone knew he had a lot of skill," said Yates, who had pleasant exchanges with Paulus both before and after the game. "He's a very good thrower and he's mobile. His thing was getting into a system that worked for him and getting comfortable."
Fortunately for the Heels, their defense made things uncomfortable for Paulus just in the nick of time. Bruce Carter hurried Paulus on first down and then Quinton Coples sacked him on third down midway through the fourth quarter, whipping the crowd into a froth as the Tar Heels staged their comeback. After White squirted 67 yards for the go-ahead score, Carolina forced Paulus into a fourth-down failure after another Carter sack on third down. Tar Heel fans were now free to exhale.
"We were fortunate enough to not dig too big of a hole, and we put ourselves in a position to dig ourselves out," Davis said.
As Davis dissected the game for the media, the Shoops approached the northeast corner of Kenan Stadium, where several hundred Tribe faithful were waiting to get a word with boyfriends, brothers, sons and pals on the William & Mary team as they transitioned from dirty and sweaty uniforms to street clothes for the ride home to Williamsburg.
"I am relatively certain Bobby would be happy to say he held North Carolina to 21 points," Bob says. "I'm not sure John is happy that they only got 21 points. But I'm sure he's happy they won. So there's a trade-off."
The Shoops pass Paulus, who's standing amid a clutch of well-wishers, his right arm in a sling and the semblance of a smile coursing his face as he's patted and praised for an outstanding passing performance. Jan Shoop looks for her daughter-in-law and grandchildren in the stands while Bob Sr. goes in search of Bob Jr. among the "Visitors' Village" complex set up to house the guests during the east end zone construction.
Shoop finds his son as he emerges from the trailer designated as the coaches' dressing room, congratulates him on a great effort and is quickly told in sharp and no uncertain terms that a good effort in a losing cause is for the birds.
"He really wanted to win," senior says a few minutes later, he and his wife now headed back to the fourth floor of Kenan Football Center to find John. "He said, `Dad, you can't believe how much preparation I put into this game.' And you could see it."
No doubt Bob Jr. is glad this week is over; now he can focus on getting his defense ready for the homestretch and the FCS playoffs. Ditto for John, whose offense must find its spark for a November to remember--at Florida State, home to Virginia Tech and then the backyard brawls with N.C. State and Duke.
Perhaps during the summer, the Shoops can rehash the Tribe's stuffing the Heels on fourth down in the second quarter and Johnny White's 67-yard back-breaker to win the game. The Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas nailed it once speaking of brothers: "It snowed last year too: I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea."
1979 Carolina graduate Lee Pace (leepace7@gmail.com) is in his 21st year writing about Tar Heel football under the "Extra Points" banner. Look for his missives each Monday during the season. Pace and the broadcast crew of the Tar Heel Sports Network answer questions from fans on the pre-game show; submit them to asktheheels@gmail.com.
Players Mentioned
