Aug. 31, 2009
By Adam Lucas
For the last three weeks, observers have tried to draw conclusions and make silly, grand prognostications from Carolina's training camp. That will all change in a week, when we can finally use game action to draw conclusions and make silly, grand prognostications.
After a long nine months without college football, the season-opening weekend can't help but be prone to overcooked interpretation. The Tar Heels look good? Notify the Rose Bowl. The Tar Heels struggle? 1-11 here we come.
But do openers always foreshadow what will happen over the rest of the season? The answer is a definitive "sometimes." First, a look at the best beginnings in Tar Heel football from the Brown era through today. Then, a quick glance at some openers that eventually proved to be outliers in their respective seasons.
Aug. 31, 1996: Carolina 45, Clemson 0. Probably the greatest season opener in Carolina history. It wasn't just the score, or the fact that it was an ACC opponent. It was how it happened and how unexpected it was. This was still the era when the Tigers were an undisputed league power. They'd spent the better part of the 80s knocking around the rest of the league, including a stretch of three straight conference titles, and it essentially took the addition of Florida State to threaten them.
Remember, this was pre-Internet saturation. No one had researched Chris Keldorf's background or watched his prep highlight video. Those of us in Kenan Stadium that afternoon were left to marvel at the apparent new juggernaut in Chapel Hill. The new QB threw for 182 yards and the Tar Heels beat Clemson for the third time in the last 16 tries while scoring their most points in series history. The blowout foreshadowed a terrific 10-2 season.
August 30, 2003: FSU 37, Carolina 0. And now for the other end of the spectrum. Unfortunately, this opener also provided a very clear picture of the type of team the Tar Heels would field: overmatched. The Seminoles rolled up 553 yards, 236 of them on the ground, and scored 14 points in the game's first 7:37.
The game's signature play was FSU tailback Greg Jones's bulldozing of the unfortunate
Dexter Reid (the clip is available on YouTube, but out of deference to Reid it won't be linked here). That led to Reid's memorable postgame media explosion, which included the line, "It's a violent game. I've hit people and been hit. I've jumped people and been jumped. I've lost fights and won fights. What are you saying?"
Sept. 5, 1998: Miami (Ohio) 13, Carolina 10. This was when we started figuring out that maintaining the whole football dynasty thing wasn't going to be easy. Just a few months earlier, Carl Torbush had led an angry bunch of Tar Heels to a 42-3 Gator Bowl whipping of Virginia Tech. It seemed natural to assume the same momentum would carry into 1998...but it didn't. A 10-0 halftime lead dissolved in the second half behind 221 Miami yards in the final 30 minutes. The RedHawks won the game on a 35-yard field goal with one second left.
Another side note: an injury to Oscar Davenport forced Ronald Curry into the game early, perhaps changing the course of his Carolina career.
Aug. 29, 1993: Carolina 31, Southern Cal 9. Basically, this was like a bowl game held as the season's first game rather than the season's last game. As part of the Disneyland Pigskin Classic, Tar Heel players rode in a Disneyland Parade, met Mickey Mouse, and then thumped Southern Cal, 31-9, in a matchup of top-20 teams.
The game marked the return of John Robinson as USC head coach, but more notable was the debut of Tar Heel freshman Leon Johnson, who would go on to win ACC Rookie of the Year honors. Johnson rushed for 94 yards and also gained 35 receiving yards.
Just like the opener, the season proved the Tar Heels could maintain the success they'd tasted in 1992's Peach Bowl year. Carolina finished 10-3 and went to the Gator Bowl for the first of three trips in a five-year period.
Aberrations
Sept. 9, 1989: Carolina 49, VMI 7. Hey, Mack's got this whole thing figured out! No more 1-10, that's for sure!
Whoops. The Tar Heels went on to lose 10 straight and the 49 points proved to be over one-third of the team's season total.
Aug. 25, 2001: Oklahoma 41, Carolina 27. In hindsight, the 2001 Tar Heels probably should've been better than 8-5. But after watching the Sooners build a 41-7 lead in the second quarter, a bowl game seemed far-fetched.
Aug. 30, 2008: Carolina 35, McNeese State 27. Coming off a 4-8 year in 2007, a close game with I-AA McNeese seemed like a poor omen. But the Tar Heels went on to an 8-5 campaign and earned a bowl bid for the first time since 2004.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of five books on Carolina basketball, including the upcoming book on the 2009 national title, One Fantastic Ride. Get real-time UNC sports updates from the THM staff on Twitter.
