Nov. 15, 2009
by Lee Pace
An epidemic of cabin fever engulfed central and eastern North Carolina last week, the Tar Heel football team relegated to practicing indoors in offensive and defensive shifts as Tropical Storm Ida dumped seven inches of rain on Kenan Stadium, closed roads and ferries along the Outer Banks and disrupted power service across the Triangle. The storm hovered for 72 hours before finally moving through late Friday afternoon, just about the time the grounds crew could begin painting the field and a certain basketball player from Iowa held Carolina nation in his grip before Skype-ing ole Roy Williams and casting his lot with the Tar Heels over Duke, UCLA, Kansas et al.
The sun appeared by midday Saturday, just in time for the arrival of Tropical Storm Jacory, the tempest that had rained yards and points by the bucketful on opponents of the appropriately named Miami Hurricanes. The Tar Heel defense had certainly battened down the hatches over the last three weeks--assaults coming from Christian Ponder of Florida State, Tyrod Taylor of Virginia Tech, Thaddeus Lewis of Duke and now Harris of Miami. Excepting a second-half dereliction against FSU, the unit had remained essentially high and dry, pounding the various quarterbacks with a windstorm of pressure up front and a mixture of coverages in the back.
But Harris might have brought the blackest clouds yet. Abetted by a powerful and swift corps of runners and a dozen potential receivers, the sophomore led the ACC in passing efficiency through Miami's 7-2 start and had completed 62 percent of his throws for 2,336 yards.
"Our guys are really getting a handle on studying quarterbacks," defensive coordinator Everett Withers said last week. "You hear their conversations while they're watching film--this guy will stare down this receiver, this guy looks here in this personnel group, this guy looks to run in this formation, how another guy handles the pocket. They know that as the quarterback goes, so goes the offense."
The Tar Heels drew a bead for sure on this quarterback. First quarter: Safety Da'Norris Searcy gets inside position on his man and vaults high for the interception just in front of the Tar Heel sideline. Second quarter: End Robert Quinn has Harris in his grasp, and downfield cornerback Kendric Burney bounds over the Hurricane target to steal the poorly thrown ball. Second quarter again: Bruce Carter is accosting Harris in the pocket and Burney leaps downfield amid a cluster of receivers and defenders for the pick of a wobbly ball. Fourth quarter: Aleric Mullins has a mitt on Harris, and Burney downfield steps in front of his opponent for his third interception.
All in all, four interceptions lead directly to 17 Tar Heel points (not to mention potential points denied the Hurricanes had they not lost possession), with Burney returning one himself to the end zone and fumbling a second return to Melvin Williams, who went the rest of the way for a score. The parade of interceptions was certainly the zenith in the Tar Heels' 33-24 victory in a hyper-kinetic atmosphere in Kenan Stadium.
"The offense had fun standing on the sideline, watching the defense do their thing," quarterback T.J. Yates said. "Kendric did an amazing job turning the game around for us. He's awesome－he's so shifty and strong and he's got great leaping ability. I always have trouble throwing against him in practice. He and (safety) Deunta Williams know what's coming almost every snap. They study a lot of film and have a great feel for reading a quarterback."
"I blame everything on me," Harris said. "I went out there and made some bad throws, all mental mistakes, and put my team in the worst-case scenario. North Carolina took advantage of it."
That's three straight wins for Carolina over Miami and three in a row for Davis over his former employer since taking the Tar Heel head coaching job almost three years ago. That's four of six over the Hurricanes since they entered the ACC in 2003, including the dramatic 31-28 classic on Connor Barth's last-play field goal in 2004. That's three straight for Carolina since the Armageddon scenario versus Florida State back on Oct. 22. That's five straight for Carolina over Top 25-ranked teams (including Virginia Tech this year and UConn, Boston College and Georgia Tech last year). And that's win number seven of the year, assuring the Tar Heels of bowl eligibility in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1997-98 teams went to the Gator and Las Vegas bowls.
"There've been some unbelievable things happen in this program over the last 30 months," Davis said. "Facility improvements ... recruiting improvements ... the jam-packed stadium improvement ... everything that is going to be done in the future (to the stadium) ... going to a bowl game last year ... that's how you do it. You get momentum, you get a wave of enthusiasm going, and you ride it, and you keep doing it."
That the Tar Heels could be 7-3 with wins over ACC Coastal Division foes Miami and Virginia Tech seems most improbable considering the misery in Chapel Hill after the abysmal Virginia loss in early October, a 16-3 misery noted for the Heels' 174 yards of offense. Yet Davis and staff stayed the course, knowing the offense could be resuscitated with some aging and the return of a handful of injured starters.
"There's no way to browbeat them and no way to threaten them and scream and rant and rave," Davis said at the time.
And it seems further improbable given the loss of a 24-6 third quarter lead against Florida State and eventual 30-27 burial on Thursday night prime time. That could have been a mental body blow that would have left lesser programs quivering and drooling in the basement for the rest of the season.
"You can't script this, you have to go through things like this," Davis said of the painful process of building a program--a win here over Notre Dame or Miami, a loss there against Florida State or Virginia.
Williams, a senior who transferred to Carolina after two years of junior college, termed the Florida State loss as "nasty" but opined that the off-shoot of that loss is helping fuel the Tar Heels' current run. He spoke after the game of the team's chapel service in their Roanoke hotel the Wednesday night before the Virginia Tech game.
"We let all our emotions out that night," Williams said. "We knew deep inside we were a winning team, that we could be competing for anything right now. When everyone puts all their emotions into it, something good always comes out. The message was to not let anyone or anything distract you. We had had a lot of distractions--from injuries to fans giving up on us. That's why we buckled down. That night meant so much, it gave everyone a chance to let it out."
The defense and the orgy of interceptions was the highlight Saturday, but the offense certainly had its moments as well. Coordinator John Shoop, Yates and the entire unit have tip-toed through a mine field all year--some players graduating, others skedaddling for one reason or another, still others hurt for long periods or short periods. Finally Saturday, the offensive line was back to its original September starting cast with Lowell Dyer, Jonathan Cooper, Alan Pelc, Kyle Jolly, Mike Ingersoll and Zack Pianalto going the distance. But now starting tailback Shaun Draughn was absent, the victim of a shoulder injury the week before, leaving the running initiative in the powerful arms of Ryan Houston. For Shoop, it was just another week at the office.
"Part of the deal is to find a way to win, no matter what cards you're dealt," Shoop said last week. "We can win. We'll find a way to win this week. The staff has come together. I'm not going to say Georgia Tech and Virginia were fun ... but it's been kind of fun to say, `Here's what we've got, let's dream something up.'"
Against the Hurricanes, the Tar Heels dreamed up two nice swing passes to fullback Devon Ramsay, who has recovered from an off-season injury and developed such a powerful body that he's passed Bobby Rome and Anthony Elzy at fullback; both completions went for big chunks of yards on scoring drives. They had a shuffle pass to a defensive back, Mywan Jackson, who was inserted on offense for one play. They had a terrific throw-back screen pass to Johnny White that netted 25 yards. They set Houston at split end for one play and had him blocking for Greg Little on a screen pass. And they found Little 1-on-1 when Miami blitzed the house for a 29-yard score.
The offense turned to sludge, though, late in the game as Miami stormed back from 23-7 to pull within a touchdown and the Tar Heels went three-and-out on three successive possessions. But midway through the fourth quarter, with Miami just having scored and the game on the line, Carolina put together an 11-play drive that ended in a game-clinching field goal and milked five minutes from the clock. Shoop worked in a throw to the edge to Ramsay and a reverse to Jheranie Boyd, thereby softening the Miami interior, then pounded Houston up the belly for seven, five and nine yards.
"We did a great job mixing it up that last drive," Yates said. "We knew we needed to put the game away. Miami thought we were coming up the middle and we hit the corners. Then they started looking to the outside and we ran Ryan up the middle. By then, we had their linebackers running sideways, and you can't tackle Ryan if you're running sideways."
Casey Barth connected on his fourth field goal of the night, staking the Heels to a 33-24 lead and forcing Miami to play helter-skelter with less than two minutes remaining. Burney applied the coup de grace, nailing Hurricane Leonard Hankerson with a textbook tackle on the left flat and keeping Hankerson from getting out of bounds and stopping the clock as the clock ticked under 40 seconds. The game ended with Harris fumbling as he was scurrying for his life from Tydreke Powell and then throwing incomplete to the end zone.
"I guess if you coach a lifetime, you'll see just about everything," Davis said. "It was one of the biggest up-and-down, roller-coaster football games I've ever seen."
The Tar Heels grinned and giggled, hooted and hollered as they left the field underneath a torrent of fireworks from the east end zone, the colors brilliant against the clear night time sky. Good riddance indeed to the onslaught from Ida and Jacory.
Lee Pace has written "Extra Points" since 1990 and serves as the sideline reporter for the Tar Heel Sports Network. Email your questions for the pre-game show to asktheheels@gmail.com.
