University of North Carolina Athletics
Turner's Take: The Lessons of the Past
September 29, 2016 | Football, Featured Writers, Turner Walston
by Turner Walston
The last time Carolina football traveled to Florida State's Doak Campbell Stadium, they came away with a 37-35 win, a thriller that ended with back-to-back field goal attempts: the Tar Heels' Casey Barth hit from 22 yards with 55 seconds to play; Florida State's Dustin Hopkins missed from 40 yards with two seconds on the clock. It is Carolina's only win in ten games in Tallahassee.
It's been six years since these teams have met – ACC expansion has put the Seminoles and Tar Heels in opposite divisions – and so Carolina is riding a one-game win streak against Florida State. To gain some insight into the task before the 2016 Tar Heels, a pair of players on that 2010 team looked back.
The 2010 Heels were 5-3 entering the November 6 date with the Seminoles. They'd just eked out a win over FCS William & Mary, trailing for most of that contest before a 67-yard Johnny White touchdown scamper gave them the lead for good late in the fourth quarter. Perhaps the Tar Heels had been caught peeking down the schedule.
"There might have been a little bit of looking ahead back then, because we knew Florida State was going to be a big game," said T.J. Yates, that team's senior quarterback, upon reflection. "Everybody was really excited about it. We knew it was going to be a tough task. They had a really good team that year."
Florida State was ranked No. 24 and coming off a loss at NC State. The team that would represent the Atlantic Division in that December's ACC Championship Game, the Seminoles were led by quarterback Christian Ponder and receivers Bert Reed and Taiwan Easterling on offense. Their defense featured such names as Greg Reid and Mister Alexander.
But it wasn't just a stout Seminoles team that the Tar Heels had to face: the Doak Campbell Stadium experience can be both intimidating and awe-inspiring.
"It was the coolest experience I had playing at another stadium," said safety Matt Merletti. "I grew up and was a fan of (former FSU receiver) Peter Warrick. I watched him in college. I always loved their tradition, their uniforms, their chants. I'm embarrassed to say this – I actually took a couple of pictures when I was out at midfield, just because it was so cool. I felt like a little kid."
The highlight of Florida State's pregame ritual is when mascot Osceola – a member of the Seminole Tribe of Florida – rides his Appaloosa horse Renegade to midfield, then hurls a flaming spear into the turf at the 50-yard line.
"I couldn't help but enjoy that," Merletti said. "It was very, very cool."
Still, the Tar Heels were that day's opponent, and they could wilt or use that energy as fuel for their performance.
"Nobody wants to go into a stadium where there's not that many people," Yates said. "Going into a fired-up place can do nothing but get those juices flowing, and I know we all kind of looked at it as a challenge, going into a place like that with so much history and seeing the guy throw the spear down. All that stuff was cool, but then it's ready to go."
So they went. The Tar Heels were first with the ball, and first on the board. "We knew we had to come out firing and come out hot, and that's what we did," Yates said. On the first play from scrimmage, the quarterback hit Dwight Jones for 38 yards. A pass to tight end Ed Barham set up a touchdown from tailback Johnny White.
The two teams traded touchdowns in the first half, with the Tar Heels leading, then the Seminoles jumping ahead. Carolina used White to great effect; he had the early score on the ground and had five catches for 91 yards and another score. But midway through the second quarter, he broke his collarbone after a 12-yard reception. Rushing duties then went to Shaun Draughn, who did a capable job but sprained his ankle in the third quarter just before the Tar Heels took a 31-28 lead on a Josh Adams reception.
The next man up in the backfield was Anthony Elzy.
"Man, we were stacked that year," Merletti remembered. After a Florida State punt, a long completion to Adams and a couple of Elzy runs set up a Casey Barth field goal to make the score 34-28.
Florida State's next possession began near midfield with 11:41 on the clock. It ended four minutes later with a missed Dustin Hopkins field goal attempt from 42 yards. Carolina then had the opportunity to put make it a two-score game, but when their drive stalled at midfield, disaster struck. The deep snap to C.J. Feagles went over the punter's head and toward the end zone. Feagles kicked the ball out of the back of the end zone, thinking he was cutting the team's losses by allowing a safety. But a recently-introduced rule made that action an illegal kicking penalty. Feagles had kicked the ball from the Carolina two yard-line, and half the distance to the goal meant Florida State would begin their possession, down six, at the Tar Heel one.
"I was on the field for that one, and that was not a good thing," Merletti said. "That was the most frustrating thing in the world, for that to happen. I think it was the only time it happened in my career, and it happened in that game, at that point in the game, when so much was on the line."
One play later, Lonnie Pryor was in the end zone to tie the game, and Hopkins' extra point gave the home team the lead at 35-34.
Carolina's drive began at their own 23, with 5:43 on the clock. A rush and completion to Elzy set up 3rd and 1. But Elzy was injured on second down. White was out. Draughn was out. Elzy was hurt. Next man up.
"Hunter Furr!" Yates said. "He had a couple of good plays. That what it was like that year, though. Not only from injuries, but the suspensions and this and that. Every single person on the roster had to be tuned in to the game, because there's a good chance you were going to get in the game."
Furr, primarily a special teams player who also ran track, was fourth on the depth chart at tailback.
"Everyone trusted Hunter," Merletti said. "He was probably one of the fastest guys, if not the fastest guy on our team, but on the field it was a different speed. It was more of a track speed. It didn't always transfer over very well."
Yates snuck for a first down, then hit Jones for 31 yards, down to the Florida State 36. They needed yards and they needed to burn clock. "[Hunter] might have been asking some questions in the huddle about what he had to do, but he went out there and performed," Yates said.
Furr rushed up the middle for four yards. He rushed right for 12. He rushed up the middle again, this time for nine more. Carolina was down to the Seminole nine.
"I think the that was the first time that [Hunter] ever really got in a game against starters, and everyone was just so excited," Merletti said. "They had no idea that this was going to happen. Not only was he serviceable, but he was actually doing very well. So everyone's jumping up and down on the sidelines all excited. That was a pretty special moment."
After Yates took a sack on third and goal, Barth came in and kicked a 22-yard field goal. 37-35 Tar Heels.
But it wasn't over, by any stretch. Reid's kickoff return went 50 yards, to the Carolina 45. With seven seconds to go, the Seminoles had moved to the Tar Heel 22. But Hopkins' 40-yard attempt went wide right. Carolina would take a knee and earn the win.
"Everything that had led up to that, with the snap over the punter's head, with the kickoff returned all that way, I just thought for sure that they had this one, they got them best of us and we shot ourselves in the foot. But that's what I was thinking before that kick happened."
Six years later, Carolina will try to replicate that result – if not the performance – by heading into hostile Doak Campbell on Saturday. Winning at Florida State is not a regular occurrence for Carolina, but it can be done. Just ask Yates and Merletti.
"Mitch (Trubisky) is so dang talented, it's ridiculous," Yates said of the quarterback he preceded by three generations. "The size that he has, the feet that he has running the ball, he can make plays, and the way he can sit there in the pocket, which is what I really saw in the Pit game. Even though sometimes there was a push up the middle, he was able to kind of sit back there and deliver the ball with some velocity and power down the field."
Yates is envious of the deep and talented pool of wide receivers at Trubisky's disposal. "We've got weapons all over the field with Mack, Bug, Proehl and Switz. We've got one of the most talented receiving groups that I've ever seen there, and also we've got two great running backs, so it's all going to be about up front for us, offensively and defensively."
Speaking of that, the Tar Heel defense will certainly be tested on the ground by Florida State's Dalvin Cook, as they have struggled against the run. "The problem is, you know they can do it," Merletti said of stopping the ground game. "We saw them do it the last two or three drives against Pittsburgh." With the schemes and individuals in place to make stops, it's about a mentality, Merletti said. "Essentially, you have to man up and be able to have a tough defense and just hit somebody in the mouth. I think they may need to bow their necks and just kind of fight against it."
The Tar Heels have to figure out how to take their success in stopping Pitt late (they allowed just six total yards on the Panthers' final two drives) and apply it throughout the game. "That wasn't luck," Merletti said. "They need to continue to read their keys and not think so much, just react to the plays in front of you, and play fast."
If the offense is able to move the ball and score, if the defense is able to at least slow down the run and make Florida State test the Tar Heel secondary, they'll give themselves a chance on Saturday. And they'll give themselves a chance to celebrate like that 2010 team did.
"FSU is a tough ballclub," Yates said. "We're going to need to play our best football to beat them, because it might be a shootout. It might be who scores last."
"In the locker room afterwards, guys were just jumping up and down," said Merletti. "There was screaming, crying. They were so happy. That was my favorite game of my career, by far."
Turner Walston is a featured columnist at GoHeels.com and the editor of Go Heels Season Preview. Follow him on Twitter, if you like.
