University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Grant Halverson
Lucas: Road To Miami
December 20, 2020 | Football, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Sunday afternoon felt even better if you've experienced all the ups and downs of the last 24 years.
By Adam Lucas
It was November 16, 1996, and what I remember most is the way the oranges bounced across the grass at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville.
I was sitting in the Carolina section watching the Tar Heels take on Virginia. Carolina was ranked sixth in the country and had one of the best defenses in program history. There was Dre' Bly and Brian Simmons and Greg Ellis; let me put it this way—the way you think about the 2020 Tar Heel offense is how good the 1996 defense was.
Alliance bowl wisdom held that if Carolina simply defeated Virginia, they'd be selected for a spot in the Orange Bowl (there was still the matter of the season finale against Duke but, well, come on). The Cavaliers and crusty old George Welsh were a Carolina nemesis, especially in Charlottesville, where the Tar Heels hadn't won since 1981.
But this year was going to be different. This was in the era when traveling to road games was still something fans did en masse. You waved at the fellow Tar Heels traveling up Highway 86 who had their car flags flying. You put the magnets on your car. You sat, bundled up against the chilly weather, responding, "HEELS' HOUSE!" when the section next to you bellowed, "Who's house?"
It was communal and it was glorious. Right up until the moment it was terrible. Carolina had a 17-3 lead and the ball inside the Cavalier ten-yard line after a Brian Simmons interception. That's when the Tar Heel fans next to me launched the oranges they'd concealed under their heavy coat onto the field. We were behind the Carolina sideline, and a couple of players saw them and grinned. It felt incredible. This was going to happen, and we were going to be there to see it.
You know the outcome. There's no point in reliving the details. But I can tell you it was a three hour and 30-minute drive home, and no one spoke. We listened to Woody on the radio, who was as stunned as we were. And we rode in silence.
That was the day I became fatalistic about Carolina football. Back-to-back 1-10 seasons hadn't been nearly as demoralizing as that day in Charlottesville. Florida State's defense was too stout in the 1997 Judgement Day game. There was a frustratingly weak turnout against Duke at Kenan Stadium. The Texas job opened.
The Tar Heel football world changed, for nearly 25 years. Being a Carolina football fan wasn't always easy. There were hurricanes and Hurricanes and investigations and hirings and firings.
You probably won't believe this, but it's true: from that day in Charlottesville until the day Brown was hired again, Carolina football was 136-136. Dead even .500. Always good enough to hope and to believe, always close enough to dream, and always close enough to hurt.
And now it feels worth it. I hope you saw Connor Barth's kick and were there when T.A. didn't get in and wondered who was getting on the bus to play LSU and saw Georgia Tech score 68 and sat out in the rain against Virginia Tech and saw that onside kick in Charlotte that should have been allowed. Because as much of a roller coaster as Carolina football has been, that's what makes this afternoon feel so incredibly good. Even that 1996 afternoon in Charlottesville feels a little less painful today. It was part of the story, not the end of the story.
In the span of 24 years, all of us have made mistakes and had great achievements and those of us who were kids in 1996 are parents and Mack Brown's hair has turned gray, and man, the ups and downs sure feel worth it right now. This one is for Chris Keldorf and Octavus Barnes and Brian Simmons and Marquise Williams and Bruuuuuuuuuce Carter and Ryan Switzer and every Tar Heel, including those of you who were there in 1996 and kept coming back and kept allowing Carolina football to exasperate and thrill and tease you.
Soak this in: The University of North Carolina football team is playing in the Orange Bowl. The same week that Brown directed the Tar Heels to the program's first major bowl since 1950, he inked one of the best recruiting classes in school history. This is, no exaggeration, one of the best times in the last quarter-century to be a Carolina football fan.
Let's go throw some oranges.
It was November 16, 1996, and what I remember most is the way the oranges bounced across the grass at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville.
I was sitting in the Carolina section watching the Tar Heels take on Virginia. Carolina was ranked sixth in the country and had one of the best defenses in program history. There was Dre' Bly and Brian Simmons and Greg Ellis; let me put it this way—the way you think about the 2020 Tar Heel offense is how good the 1996 defense was.
Alliance bowl wisdom held that if Carolina simply defeated Virginia, they'd be selected for a spot in the Orange Bowl (there was still the matter of the season finale against Duke but, well, come on). The Cavaliers and crusty old George Welsh were a Carolina nemesis, especially in Charlottesville, where the Tar Heels hadn't won since 1981.
But this year was going to be different. This was in the era when traveling to road games was still something fans did en masse. You waved at the fellow Tar Heels traveling up Highway 86 who had their car flags flying. You put the magnets on your car. You sat, bundled up against the chilly weather, responding, "HEELS' HOUSE!" when the section next to you bellowed, "Who's house?"
It was communal and it was glorious. Right up until the moment it was terrible. Carolina had a 17-3 lead and the ball inside the Cavalier ten-yard line after a Brian Simmons interception. That's when the Tar Heel fans next to me launched the oranges they'd concealed under their heavy coat onto the field. We were behind the Carolina sideline, and a couple of players saw them and grinned. It felt incredible. This was going to happen, and we were going to be there to see it.
You know the outcome. There's no point in reliving the details. But I can tell you it was a three hour and 30-minute drive home, and no one spoke. We listened to Woody on the radio, who was as stunned as we were. And we rode in silence.
That was the day I became fatalistic about Carolina football. Back-to-back 1-10 seasons hadn't been nearly as demoralizing as that day in Charlottesville. Florida State's defense was too stout in the 1997 Judgement Day game. There was a frustratingly weak turnout against Duke at Kenan Stadium. The Texas job opened.
The Tar Heel football world changed, for nearly 25 years. Being a Carolina football fan wasn't always easy. There were hurricanes and Hurricanes and investigations and hirings and firings.
You probably won't believe this, but it's true: from that day in Charlottesville until the day Brown was hired again, Carolina football was 136-136. Dead even .500. Always good enough to hope and to believe, always close enough to dream, and always close enough to hurt.
And now it feels worth it. I hope you saw Connor Barth's kick and were there when T.A. didn't get in and wondered who was getting on the bus to play LSU and saw Georgia Tech score 68 and sat out in the rain against Virginia Tech and saw that onside kick in Charlotte that should have been allowed. Because as much of a roller coaster as Carolina football has been, that's what makes this afternoon feel so incredibly good. Even that 1996 afternoon in Charlottesville feels a little less painful today. It was part of the story, not the end of the story.
In the span of 24 years, all of us have made mistakes and had great achievements and those of us who were kids in 1996 are parents and Mack Brown's hair has turned gray, and man, the ups and downs sure feel worth it right now. This one is for Chris Keldorf and Octavus Barnes and Brian Simmons and Marquise Williams and Bruuuuuuuuuce Carter and Ryan Switzer and every Tar Heel, including those of you who were there in 1996 and kept coming back and kept allowing Carolina football to exasperate and thrill and tease you.
Soak this in: The University of North Carolina football team is playing in the Orange Bowl. The same week that Brown directed the Tar Heels to the program's first major bowl since 1950, he inked one of the best recruiting classes in school history. This is, no exaggeration, one of the best times in the last quarter-century to be a Carolina football fan.
Let's go throw some oranges.
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