Extra Points: Statement

By Lee Pace

N.C. State held a four-point lead at halftime in Carter-Finley Stadium over its arch-rival from the University of North Carolina. The crowd was amped up and the Wolfpack was intent on adding to its multi-year string of consecutive wins over the Tar Heels. The State cause had been helped by a Carolina turnover which the Wolfpack morphed into seven points. The intensity of the rivalry manifested itself after one play in a scrum of blue and red with arms flailing and voices screeching on the Tar Heel sideline.

"It was getting old, losing to them," said one Tar Heel player. "It was time to put an end to it."

Sure enough, a Tar Heel tailback popped a long run into the west end zone at Carter-Finley Stadium to give Carolina the lead just as the third quarter ensued. Then the defense snared a turnover, the Tar Heels scored again and the avalanche was on. The outcome was never in doubt as Carolina hammered the Wolfpack in the third quarter and coasted in the fourth.

And with that, Coach Mack Brown and his Tar Heels collected a 35-14 victory to end a five-year losing streak to the Wolfpack and commence a seven-year run of their own.

The year was 1993. As they say, there is nothing new under the sun. Déjà vu. Been there, done that.

At halftime then it was State leading by a 14-10 score, a Curtis Johnson fumble leading to a Wolfpack touchdown.

At halftime Saturday night, it was an ill-advised Sam Howell pass that State intercepted and converted into a quick touchdown for a 10-6 lead.

On the second snap of the third quarter then it was Johnson popping a 50-yard run for the go-ahead score.

With just over four minutes elapsed in the third quarter Saturday night, it was Javonte Williams darting 26 yards and diving into the end zone, boosting the Tar Heels to a 13-10 lead.

As the game wore on then, it was Tar Heel QB Jason Stanicek nimbly running the option offense and big plays on defense by future NFL players like Jimmy Hitchcock and Bernardo Harris, the latter quoted above talking of the inevitability of Carolina finally winning one in a century-long rivalry of institutions just 25 miles apart.

And on this cold and rainy night, it was Howell adding to his list of freshman superlatives—401 yards passing and three touchdowns—and defenders Don Chapman, Chazz Surratt, Jeremiah Gemmel and Trey Morrison ending consecutive Wolfpack possessions with interceptions, sacks or fumble recoveries.

The final margin was lopsided then. It was even more tilted toward the Tar Heels Saturday. The 41-10 margin of victory was Carolina's largest ever in Raleigh. The Tar Heels ended a five-game losing streak to State in '93 and a three-game skid now.

"At halftime we settled down, we knew the importance of the game," Brown said. "The difference was totally that our defense forced turnovers and we turned them into points almost every time. That's as good as we've played offensively. We were on fire, hitting all cylinders."

Brown had leaks galore to plug and a foundation to build during the early days of his first tenure in Chapel Hill from 1988-97 and suffered two lopsided losses to State and another in year three on a 56-yard Wolfpack field goal at the final gun. But Brown and his coaching staff were dominating in-state recruiting in the early 1990s, and by 1993 they fielded a team with plenty of talent and enough maturity to seize control over all the Tar Heels' in-state rivals, including Duke and Wake Forest.

He inherited significantly more talent one year ago upon returning to Carolina for Act Two, particularly at the offensive skill positions of tailback and receiver and the interior defensive front. Brown and a staff of confident and creative recruiters then added to the mix by snaring Howell from under the nose of Florida State and following through on Surratt's request to move from quarterback to linebacker, a master stroke if there ever was one.

Then Brown did what he does best—manage and motivate. He created an environment of structure and accountability and gave his team, emotionally ravaged after two years and five wins total, some reason to hope. A 6-6 record, impending bowl berth and upward program momentum are more than anyone could have reasonably expected.

It's more notable when you consider that victory total could have been easily improved with one play here or there better executed in losses by an average margin of less than a field goal. A field goal converted at Virginia Tech, for example, or a third-and-14 stop in overtime at Pittsburgh. Perusing the record book for similar seasons when the Tar Heels were around .500 in the win-loss column, there is inevitably a lopsided loss—the sort of 55-31 defeat to East Carolina during a 7-6 season in 2013 or a 34-0 lambasting from Louisville during a 6-6 campaign in 2004. But nine of 12 games this season were decided by a wafer-thin margin.

And ending concurrent three-year losing streaks to State and Duke in the last five weeks bolsters the Tar Heels' 2019 resume.

"I can't put it into words," senior safety Myles Dorn said. "It almost brings me to tears just to think about the journey we've been through, starting with our freshman year, kinda hitting rock bottom and fighting our way back up. We've set a new standard for the young kids coming up, just to show what it should be like."

"I can definitely feel the program shifting and getting momentum and turning upwards," added Gemmel, a sophomore linebacker. "Nobody in my class has beaten N.C. State since we've been here. Duke either. It feels really good to have beaten them both in the same season."

The Tar Heels lose only one starter on offense and three on defense. They have three quality transfers from Clemson, Virginia Tech and Auburn to provide depth in the secondary, and they get their best cornerback returning from a season-long injury. And they're set to sign over the coming weeks a class ranked by consensus among the nation's top 20.

"The first thing was they needed to believe again," Brown said. "The fan base did not believe, the players didn't believe they could win. When you get that, there's a lot of negativity, a lot of selfishness, it becomes about you and not about the team. There's a lack of discipline. If you think you're not going to win, you think, 'Why should I do this if we're not winning anyway?' It's a process of pulling everything back together.

"Then to make it work you, you have to win. We have won enough that the players are buying in and they understand what it takes to win."

It was significant in the final two games of the year that the Tar Heels were focused and resolved to not play to the level of their competition against Mercer and that no one panicked at halftime against N.C. State. Carolina popped Mercer on the first snap of the game a week ago in its home finale and never blinked in a 56-7 landslide. Then Saturday night, the Tar Heels appeared tentative on a wet field and amidst a steady first-half rain, and the running backs wasted open lanes ahead by losing their footing and sliding to the turf. A coverage bust allowed State a 39-yard scoring pass, just one of only three Wolfpack plays netting 30 yards or more.

"You have to give State credit for the way they played early," Brown said. "We knew they'd have a surge, we knew they'd be excited. They were. They did a good job.

"But we dropped passes, we were probably trying too hard. We slipped, we weren't planting well early. Our guys said, 'It's slick out there,' and I said, 'Well, State's not slipping.' Something was wrong with us. We settled everyone down at halftime. We were cleaner with our assignments in the second half."

Now Brown and his coaches hit the road recruiting, the players gear up for exams and the program awaits its bowl destination next Sunday. Certainly Clemson will be in the College Football Playoff picture, and ACC Coastal Division champion Virginia at 9-3 and Virginia Tech and Wake Forest at 8-4 each would be ahead of the Tar Heels in the bowl pecking order.

But the Tar Heels are a good story and have a lot of appeal to a number of potential bowl suitors. They have far exceeded expectations, and Howell and a bevy of nimble-fingered receivers have been edge-of-the-seat exciting on offense. They sold out Kenan Stadium for six home games and have been competitive for 12 weeks. They also have had no off-field news events and have seen their 68-year-old head coach become a social media darling with his locker room dances.

That 1993 team followed its victory in Raleigh with six wins in seven games and a date versus Alabama in the Gator Bowl. No matter where this team lands over the holiday, its long-term trajectory seems just as secure.

Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace (UNC '79) concludes his 30th year writing "Extra Points" and 16th reporting from the sidelines for the Tar Heel Sports Network. Follow him @LeePaceTweet and email him at leepace7@gmail.com.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Don Chapman

Myles Dorn

Jeremiah Gemmel

Sam Howell

Trey Morrison

Chazz Surratt

Javonte Williams

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