University of North Carolina Athletics
Turner's Take: Spoilers
November 19, 2015 | Football, Featured Writers, Turner Walston
By Turner Walston
Saturday in Blacksburg, the Virginia Tech Hokies will try to send a beloved alumnus and head coach of 29 years off with a win. Frank Beamer's last game at Lane Stadium comes as the Hokies are 5-5 in 2015 and seeking to become bowl-eligible for the 23rd consecutive season. Beamer announced his retirement on the first day of November, the day after a 26-10 win at Boston College. In their only contest since the announcement, Virginia Tech took a 23-21 win at Georgia Tech. So not only is this Beamer's last game in Lane, it's the only opportunity Virginia Tech fans have this opportunity to pay tribute to him. The game is sold out. Virginia Tech players will wear black uniforms. They'll have the number 25 on their helmets, a nod to Beamer's number when he was a Hokie cornerback in the 1960s. Fans are encouraged to sign a banner that will be displayed and then given to Beamer upon the game's conclusion. With bowl eligibility, Beamer's last game at Lane and Senior Day all hinging on Saturday, Virginia Tech has plenty on the line.
Standing in the way? The North Carolina Tar Heels.
Saturday, in Blacksburg, the North Carolina Tar Heels will try to clinch an ACC Coastal Division championship for the first time in school history. Larry Fedora's team is 9-1 and looking for a berth in the ACC championship game, and a chance to play for the school's first conference title since 1980. Carolina celebrated Senior Day last week with a win over Miami, and finishes the regular season with a pair of road contests. The game is sold out. North Carolina players will wear white uniforms. The Tar Heels still have an outside shot at making the College Football Playoff. With an ACC title game berth a real possibility, it's the biggest game in Carolina football history in 18 years. North Carolina has plenty on the line.
Standing in the way? The Virginia Tech Hokies.
This week at Carolina football practice, the ever-present music that marks the tempo was louder. Much louder, as the Tar Heels prepare to walk into the most hostile environment of their careers. Carolina is looking to play spoiler on Saturday, to upset the great, great majority of the 65,000 plus that will pack Lane Stadium. The Tar Heels didn't ask for it, but they are the villain in this story. For years, when the tale of Beamer's last home game is told and retold in Virginia Tech lore, the Tar Heels are going to be the bad guys. C'est la vie.
“It's going to be emotional for a lot of those fans because he has done so many great things,” said Tar Heel quarterback Marquise Williams, who was recruited heavily by Beamer and whose great friend and high school teammate Kevin Asante is a fifth-year senior wideout at Virginia Tech. “[Beamer] built Virginia Tech football, and they're going to come out amped up. The guys are going to come out wanting to get a win for him and send him off on good terms for his last home game, and it's going to be exciting.”
This week in Kenan Football Center and on the practice fields, it's Coastal Week, as designated by receiver Mack Hollins. There was Duke Week, when the Victory Bell was on the line. There was History Week, when, had Pitt lost Duke, the Tar Heels would have clinched the Coastal Division with a win over Miami, and now there is Coastal Week. As Carolina defeated Pitt in Pittsburgh late last month, the Tar Heels own the tiebreaker with the Panthers. Pitt cannot eclipse seven wins in conference play, so a Carolina win on Saturday would guarantee the Tar Heels the trip to Charlotte and the ACC championship game. Fedora has stressed two goals since his arrival in Chapel Hill: a Coastal Division championship and a state championship. The former is within the Tar Heels' grasp. It's remarkable that a team that finished 6-7 a year ago would be at this point. Whether the media or the fans believed it was a possibility from the beginning of the season is irrelevant; the players and staff did.
“Very much so. Yeah. We got into the season believing we're going to win every game that we play. We really do, Fedora said. “We do because these guys put in a lot of preparation over the summer and through the winter and so they know, they understand, they know what's there, and they know if we play as a team and take care of the football on offense, create some turnovers on defense and play well on special teams, we've got a chance to win every one of them.”
“I think the whole time you understand that you're capable of it,” senior linebacker Shakeel Rashad said. “Seeing this team play from the first time we stepped on the field against South Carolina, obviously it wasn't the outcome we wanted, but we saw that we had a good ball team. And so we said we can accomplish all of this.”
The Tar Heels have won nine straight games since that loss to South Carolina. They still can accomplish their goals. They have seen that working hard on the little things, the details that the coaches have stressed, the technique, the fundamentals, have paid off. “I guess it was gratifying the first couple of weeks, when you realize that the coaches aren't making up that you've got to do the little things,” Hollins said. “But by now, the guys have learned that the little things are what make you a championship team and what make you a winner, so the little things are just something that we automatically do now.”
For Ryan Switzer, Saturday's game presents an unusual situation. He grew up in Charleston, West Virginia, a couple of hours north of Blacksburg, on the other side from Beamer of a longstanding football rivalry. “I feel like I've known Coach Beamer since I was born, just because I've heard my dad scream at him from the television because West Virginia could never beat him,” Switzer said. “To be able to play him in his last game, for me personally, is huge. I have a lot of respect for him. He recruited me coming out of high school, and unfortunately I want him to take a loss in his last home game, but ultimately I have nothing but respect, and he's a really great guy.”
Still, Switzer, who has shown flashes of his freshman self on the punt return this season while remaining a dangerous target as a receiver, is ready to put sentimentality aside to play football. “I think the bigger the environment, the bigger the stage, the better I play,” he said. “Obviously during the game I'm not going to be worried about it being his last home game. I'm going to be worried about trying to score or do this and that, but leading up to the game, it creates a sense of excitement. These are the types of games you want to play in, regardless of what their record is. It's going to be a blackout for them, they're bringing in extra stands . . . You want to play in those types of games. Me personally, I love playing when the lights are on.”
Sure, it's a noon game, but the spotlight will definitely shine on Blacksburg, for multiple reasons, on Saturday. The college football world will want to see Beamer's last game. The college football world has an eyebrow raised toward the team from Chapel Hill, creeping up into the national consciousness. The stage is set. Who will play the role of spoiler?
Turner Walston is the editor of CAROLINA digital magazine. Follow Turner on Twitter.
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