University of North Carolina Athletics
Turner's Take: Fun
October 30, 2015 | Football, Featured Writers, Turner Walston
By Turner Walston
Carolina football is 7-1. Carolina football is 4-0 in ACC play. Carolina football is atop the Coastal Division. Carolina football is relevant again. Carolina football is fun.
“We told each other right after that South Carolina game that we won't get this feeling again,” junior cornerback Desmond Lawrence said. “I just think every week we come in with a business mentality, and everybody's on each other to play well. I just thinks this team right here is different from the [past Carolina teams] because we're really a team and we're eager to play.”
The road to 7-1 began on January 6, when three-quarters of what would become the 2015 Tar Heels had their initial team meeting. Fresh off a lackluster Quick Lane Bowl performance, they determined that 2015 would be different. “The guys, the leaders in the room (were) saying, 'I'm going to put it on my back to make sure that doesn't happen again,'” head coach Larry Fedora recalled Thursday.
Those players then dedicated themselves to change, and dedicated themselves to one another. The internal struggles, they said, were behind them. That 'chemistry' thing that athletes and coaches talk about? It's real.
“If we were down 21 to Georgia Tech last year, we'd have been ripping each other apart,” quarterback Marquise Williams said. “(We'd be) saying, 'Defense, you're not doing what you need to do. Offense, you [stink], you can't move the ball. But now we've got guys going up and down the sidelines saying, 'Hey man, let's do this. We can do this.'”
And they did that. The 2015 Tar Heels were down 21 in Atlanta against a frustrating Paul Johnson offense, and they scored a 38-31 win. The 2015 Tar Heels started ACC play with a win. The 2015 Tar Heels have stayed resilient and have kept winning.
“I promise you, it's all about the players,” Fedora said of his team's recent play. “It's about the chemistry that we have on this football team. It's the love they have for each other. It's the leadership on this team and that's why we're having the success that we're having.”
Thursday night, the Tar Heels won on the road at Pitt, 26-19, in a game that provided all sorts of adversity. The Tar Heels had just two practices this week, and just one in full pads. They flew to Pittsburgh on Wednesday and had a walkthrough in a parking lot early Thursday. They then went into Heinz Field and beat a 6-1 Pittsburgh team.
“Here's what we did,” Fedora said. “It was a short week. We come to Pitt, a team that's ranked and leading the Coastal, and we pull out a victory. And we get it done. Not as pretty as anybody wanted it to happen, but we won, and that's what matters. And that's on top of giving up two game-changing plays on our special teams, and we still won the football game, so I couldn't be more proud of our players right now.”
There were those two game-changing plays on special teams that provided still more adversity. Those are the types of plays that Fedora wants his team to make, and Thursday they were done to his team. In the second half, Pitt blocked a punt deep in Tar Heel territory, and the Panthers also pulled off a fake punt. The momentum swung to the home sideline as a result of both of those plays. In another year, either of those plays individually could have broken Tar Heel morale.
But not in 2015.
After the blocked punt, the Carolina defense took the field with their backs against their own end zone. Pitt had the ball at the Tar Heel 15. But after two short rushes, Justin Thomason sacked Pitt quarterback Nate Peterman, and the Panthers could only muster a field goal.
Later in the game, the Panthers lined up in punt formation but snapped the ball to fullback Matt Galambos, who got six yards to extend a drive. But on the next play, Tar Heel freshman defensive tackle Jalen Dalton forced Peterman to throw a ball out of bounds. Jessie Rogers stood up Pitt standout receiver Tyler Boyd for only a two-yard gain, and then Donnie Miles and Shakeel Rashad stopped Peterman after a two-yard rush. Then, Pitt had to punt. For real this time.
Fedora won't like those special teams plays when he watches film from Thursday's game, but he'll like the resilience his team showed in bouncing back. And good or bad, film always goes down better with a win. Make corrections, move on and keep playing winning football.
For an example of putting mistakes in the past, Fedora need only look at his kicker. In 2014, Carolina made just 6 field goals on 13 attempts. Nick Weiler was just five of eight, and never made a field goal from more than 30 yards out. A year ago, the Tar Heel offense almost felt as though it was seven points or bust, that if they couldn't get in the end zone, they wouldn't put up any points at all. This forced more fourth-down attempts and put both the offense and the defense in precarious positions.
But not in 2015.
Weiler entered Thursday's game having made 10 field goals on 12 attempts this season. Thursday, he was true on all four attempts, a career high, and he kicked two extra points. Weiler was responsible for 14 of the Tar Heels' 26 points on the evening and had five touchbacks on seven kickoffs. “I can't say enough about what Nick has done on this football team right now,” Fedora said. “He took a lot of flak from last year, now. A lot. It says a lot about his resiliency and also about how much his teammates care about him to carry him through all that.”
With the past in the rear-view mirror, the Tar Heels are now in the driver's seat in the Coastal Division. At 4-0, they control their own destiny, with games against Duke, Virginia Tech, Miami and North Carolina State remaining. The Tar Heels are at the top of the table, and if they continue to improve, continue to learn from week to week, apply those lessons and strive for a complete game, a remarkable season will continue.
Looking back at that January meeting, Fedora said Thursday that while he was pleased with the players' commitment to one another, he still wasn't sure what the result would look like on the field. “How they were going to perform, I didn't know,” he said. “Now, I can't wait to see them on Saturday or Thursday night. I tell them all the time. 'I can't wait to watch you play. Our staff can't wait to watch you perform.' We're excited about these kids and the way they perform and how they care about each other. That's fun,” he said. “That's fun.”
It sure is.
