Extra Points: Blocks & Tackles

By Lee Pace

What it was, as the old monologue from Carolina grad Andy Griffith goes, was certainly football—blocking and tackling, stomping on one another and grinding their feet in one another across that pretty little green cow pasture. But there was nothing else about the proceedings in Kenan Stadium Saturday that resonated with anything anyone had seen before.

No traffic. No tailgating (picnic tables around the stadium were blocked off with yellow caution tape). Mandatory forehead temperature checks on all "essential personnel" entering the facility. No spectators, save the 25 tickets allowed to an outdoor event per Orange County regulations and those going to the parents of 11 Tar Heel seniors. Where water bottles are normally fitted into a Gatorade station on the sidelines were hand-sanitizer dispensers. Everyone wearing a helmet between the white lines and a cloth mask or neck gaiter outside them. Officials wielding hand-held, electronic whistles to negate the idea of saliva flying from mouth-operated whistles. No live music, no cheerleaders, no ram in the corner of the field.

Tar Heel Coach Mack Brown noted it was real football as his team hit the gas pedal in the second half for a dominating 31-6 win over Syracuse—without any of the traditions or a dollop of pageantry.

"It was so weird, there was absolutely no crowd noise," Brown said. "Even when you pipe in the music and the noise over loudspeaker, you look up and there's just nothing. It was like a scrimmage. Our young people have to create their own energy. We have to understand, this is way it's going to be. It's the only way we can play."

Including not meeting his opposing coach and good friend face-to-face for a pre-game chat or post-game handshake. Brown and Orange Coach Dino Babers merely waved at one another from afar. But that's okay, as Babers noted during one exchange with an official: "You know what, I'm a lot happier than the Big 10 coaches and I bet you're a lot happier than the Big 10 officials."

Almost six months to that dark day in mid-March when the world stopped amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a group of happy Tar Heels actually suited up and took to the field in Kenan Stadium for some big boy football. Zoom meetings gave way to the run-pass option. Having a swab inserted through your nose for virus testing three times a week gave way to Chazz Surratt and Jeremiah Gemmel chasing down their opponents in the backfield and on the flanks for a combined three sacks and 4.5 tackles-for-loss from their linebacker positions.

"I think this is the most excited I have been for a game going back to when I was a little kid," Surratt said. "Just not knowing if we were going to play this year and finally getting the opportunity to go out there with the guys, that meant a lot."

The Tar Heel performance was notable on several fronts, among them that combined with their debut win a year ago against South Carolina, they have now won back-to-back season openers against Power Five foes for the first time since 1996-97 (Clemson and Indiana falling in those games), and the defense logged its first game of not allowing an ACC opponent a touchdown since a 19-6 win over Duke in 2008.

There were some requisite first-game foibles, including two pass interceptions, one fumble and nine penalties, one of those erasing a Dazz Newsome punt return for a touchdown. The Carolina offense struck quickly for a touchdown on its first possession but then lapsed into a fog of seven possessions, 122 total yards and no scores through late in the third quarter. They broke from that and reeled off 24 points in four possessions, with junior tailback Javonte Williams bulling in for touchdowns of one, six and six yards.

"We weren't playing like ourselves in the first half," QB Sam Howell said. "Really, we were killing drives with one play. One mistake. We were just killing drives off, so we've just got to stay consistent, play clean football every drive."

"The offense I think scored too quickly and thought it would be an easy day," Brown added. "We had some lapses, and Syracuse was blitzing and moving all over the place. We settled down and became the offense we thought we could be. Our goal was to be 1-0, and we are."

That the offense was prolific late in the game was no surprise as the Tar Heels return 10 of 11 starters off a unit that averaged 33 points and 474 yards a game in 2019, both among the nation's leaders. What's so encouraging was the debut of the defense, which limited the Orange to 202 yards, an average of 2.8 yards a snap, notched seven sacks and got off the field in under two minutes of clock time on nine possessions. Some Tar Heels on the two-deep are simply a year older, wiser, stronger and faster. A handful have recovered from injuries that ended their 2019 seasons prematurely. One is now eligible after a transfer. And a handful are highly regarded freshmen.

"I think a lot of people talked about our offense going into the year, so coming into the game, we kind of took a chip on our shoulder, knowing the kind of guys we've got playing on the defensive side of the ball," Surratt said. "I'm just really glad we played how we're supposed to play."

"All of us know we were not perfect today, we all agree there are lots of things we could have done better," added interior lineman Tomari Fox, who had two sacks and is dubbed by coordinator Jay Bateman as perhaps the best player on defense. "We'll use that as motivation. You can't put a cap on us. We have a lot of talented guys out there and we have a lot of talented guys waiting to get out there."

Fox listed freshmen like nose Myles Murphy, end Kaimon Rucker and cornerback Tony Grimes and easily could have added safety Ja'Qurious Conley to the list of newcomers, each of whom where christened on Saturday. And that doesn't include outside linebacker Desmond Evans, the No. 1 prospect in the state of North Carolina last fall, who was sidelined with an injury. Fox harkened to Michael Jordan's infamous malaprop in March 2017 when His Airness announced a union of the Jordan Brand and Carolina football.

"Our ceiling is absolutely through the roof," Fox said.

Well, you know what he means. So we might as well pop another big orange and enjoy the show—socially distanced, of course.

Chapel Hill-based writer Lee Pace (Carolina '79) has written "Extra Points" since 1990 and checked in at 96.7 on his forehead temperature when arriving at Kenan Stadium Saturday morning. Write him at leepace7@gmail.com

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Ja'Qurious Conley

Desmond Evans

Tomari Fox

Jeremiah Gemmel

Tony Grimes

Sam Howell

Myles Murphy

Dazz Newsome

Kaimon Rucker

Chazz Surratt

Javonte Williams

Related Videos