Sept. 22, 2008
by Lee Pace, Extra Points
Every fiber of Mark Paschal's flesh reflected the pain and torture of the moment shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday. His voice oozed with bewilderment and frustration. For seven minutes he leaned against a wall in the players lounge in Kenan Football Center and talked about the events of the afternoon, the 20-17 victory by Virginia Tech over the Tar Heels.
"I guess you can consider it growing pains, but I'm tired of having those," Paschal said.
This was an epochal event in Carolina football, a challenge by the upstart Tar Heels of one of the ACC's preeminent programs, a meeting of coaching celebrities in the persons of Frank Beamer and Butch Davis. A crowd of nearly 60,000 stood on its feet most of the game, and the Tar Heel partisans did their share, flummoxing Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor with a vat of noise in the first quarter and roaring its delight over big plays--jarring tackles, timely quarterback pressures, opportunistic interceptions, the usual fireworks by Brandon Tate and the rare running play popped for a big gain.
With Carolina staked to a 17-3 lead late in the third quarter, the momentum was distinctly bathed in sky blue. The well-traveled Hokie boosters sat numb in the northeast corner of the stadium. I confess: I started thinking that Tampa in early December would be quite the treat.
Then the Tar Heels lost what appeared to be a solid grip on the game. Penalties, turnovers and a crucial injury to starting quarterback T.J. Yates started the avalanche. Carolina's defense suffered some late-game fatigue as Tech dominated time of possession in the fourth quarter. The composure meter tilted squarely toward the visitors, a team that had honed the ability to win in tight situations over two decades.
The Hokies came roaring back with scores on three straight possessions, leaving the Tar Heels and the Kenan multitudes speechless. The rally prompted the usually staid Beamer to dance a jig in front of his players in the visitors' dressing quarters.
"We never claimed to be pretty," Beamer said afterward as the Tech band gleefully played the school's musical emblem, "The Hokey Pokey."
A hundred yards and 180 degrees away, Paschal and his teammates were attempting to grasp the surreal developments.
The senior linebacker has seen his share of growing pains--from a team standpoint as the Tar Heels tried in vain to gain some traction in the final years of the John Bunting regime, and as an individual as he honed his passion, guts and brains into skills that could overcome a relative lack of size and speed among middle linebackers.
Snippets of his answers to reporters' questions suffice quite well putting it all in context.
"This is not going to sit easy with me for quite some time ... I just feel like they took one from us, and it really hurts deep down in my heart to lose to these guys my senior year on this field ... We have to learn how to finish, man, that's what it comes down to, learning how to finish a ball game ... I'm not a very happy kid right now. This will be something to look back on and eat at me for a long time ... We had them right on the ledge and couldn't push them over ... We were playing good football, then things just kind of unraveled and we couldn't stop the bleeding."
That hemorrhaging in the second half was primarily the result of the two cardinal sins -- poor care of the football and lack of discipline leading to penalties. Reserve quarterback Mike Paulus threw two interceptions, and tailbacks Shaun Draughn and Greg Little each lost fumbles, the latter miscues leading to a field goal in the second quarter and a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Carolina was flagged 14 times for 121 yards--exactly the length of a football field more than Virginia Tech. One offensive holding flag negated a fourth-down conversion, and a late hit on a punt return helped set the Hokies up on the Tar Heel 30 to begin a fourth-quarter drive.
"Turning the ball over four times is a recipe for disaster," Davis said. "Ball-security is tantamount. A run that makes nothing and we don't lose the ball is not a bad thing, we can overcome that. The penalties negated the opportunity to make some plays and killed some good field position opportunities we could have had."
Quan Sturdivant protested vigorously over a personal foul call that kept a third-quarter Tech scoring drive alive, and an interference call on Deunta Williams near the end zone could have gone either way. Nonetheless, the Tar Heels have to mature and develop sufficiently that they can turn five thrusts into Tech territory into more than 10 points. If you don't waste all of those first-half opportunities, which the Tar Heels had Saturday, then those second-half penalties won't be so lethal.
"Performance is what it's all about," Davis said. "If you don't play well, you can have the most talented team and still not win. It was a very frustrating loss because in some respects, we played well enough to win the game. You can't turn the ball over and make all those penalties and miss all those opportunities."
The loss aside, there were ample testaments Saturday to the promise of the season and overall direction of the program. Three years ago in Blacksburg, Tech thoroughly dominated the second half en route to a 30-3 barrage. Two years ago, Tech blocked a punt and returned an interception for a touchdown in a 35-10 victory. Last year, the Heels lost a fumble at the goal line and gave up a crucial late-game sack in trying to complete a rally in a 17-10 loss.
With Tech suffering widespread personnel losses to graduation and Davis ratcheting up the Heels' recruiting efforts over two years, the talent discrepancy has certainly narrowed. The Heels were downright salty on defense for two and a half quarters Saturday. They have excellent receivers. The punt team has now gone two straight years without giving up a blocked kick to "Beamer Ball," and punter Terrence Brown hit five for 44 yards Saturday and nailed two inside the 10 yard-line. Yates was 11-for-18 passing for 181 yards and a touchdown for his exit.
And the physical makeup and mental wherewithal of the younger Tar Heels have clearly improved from one year to the next--witness the outstanding blocking of tight end Zack Pianalto and the consistency of linebackers Sturdivant and Bruce Carter. All three were playing well before their times a year ago.
Certainly the biggest issue facing the Tar Heels as they begin preparations for Saturday's trip to South Florida to meet the Miami Hurricanes is the status of Yates' left ankle. He sprained the ankle in the third quarter, and it was later X-rayed (no fractures, fortunately), but Davis said Sunday evening that Yates was still being evaluated and he would not elaborate further. Further medical tests revealed that Yates has a small non-displaced fracture in his left ankle and will miss at least six weeks of action.
Yates' absence left it upon Paulus, a redshirt freshman, to enter a game for the first time while it still mattered (following mop-up time against Rutgers a week ago), and against a defense that is consistently one of the nation's most tenacious. Paulus appeared reasonably comfortable and to have a good huddle presence, and he loosened up as he completed three passes in the fourth quarter. But he also made one crucial error, forcing a pass into coverage deep in Hokie territory when he had a running back open for a shorter but more secure gain. Paulus also threw a second interception, but that one came late in the game with the Heels' backs to their goal line and Tech coming with guns blazing.
"To open up against a defense like Virginia Tech's in the third quarter, with the game on the line, I definitely feel for him," Tech senior QB Sean Glennon said. "I'm sure he had butterflies in his stomach."
Paulus said he knew he'd get his opportunity, as injuries to starting quarterbacks are almost inevitable, and that every snap in practice and every minute of tape study had provided a good foundation for Saturday's events.
"My job is to finish off the game," he said. "I tell myself that every day in practice. No. 2 has to be ready every week. Something was going to happen--whether it's jamming your thumb on a follow through or a sprained ankle or turning your knee. Everyone knew I was going to get a chance. So when T.J. came off, he said, `Let's go, let's finish it.'
"Unfortunately, it went the wrong way this time, but you've got to learn from it. Everything happens for a reason."
Saturday's result stinks and stings for Tar Heel fans, but it accounts for exactly one-twelfth of the 2008 football GDP. Which brings us back to one last comment from Mark Paschal about this work-in-progress that is Tar Heel football:
"It's a long season. That's what I have to keep telling myself and telling the guys. We're 2-1, everything is going to be okay, but you have to learn from this frustrating loss."
Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace is in his 19th year of chronicling Carolina football through "Extra Points." He'll answer questions about the Tar Heels weekly throughout the season through his "Extra Points Mailbag" and on the pregame show for the Tar Heel Sports Network. Email him at leepace@nc.rr.com and include your name and hometown. No recruiting questions, please.
