Nov. 23, 2009
by Lee Pace
Saturday afternoons four decades ago were the province of the horror flick, this long before Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers or Hannibal Lecter. A buck fifty would get you a box of popcorn and a seat in a Main Street movie house anywhere in America, and we'd all stutter and shiver as Vincent Price, Christopher Lee or Bela Lugosi bludgeoned someone back to their maker on the silver screen. Creatures slunk out of black lagoons, blobs attacked Steve McQueen and zombies stalked dark cemeteries.
It's always fun on Saturdays in modern times to settle in and watch left tackles muster their wits and courage and strength to battle the monster the Tar Heels have unleashed on ACC football. Robert "The Mighty" Quinn runs his chamber of horrors from the right side of the Carolina defensive front, and whether it's Daniel DeHaven of The Citadel, Dan Ryan of UConn, Kyle Hill of Duke, Jason Fox of Miami or Saturday's sacrificial lamb, one Anthony Castonzo, the terror unleashed is something to behold. Generally a cavalry of sorts is urgently called in for support－a tight end, a left guard, a running back－but the end result is a reign of mess and mayhem.
Saturday in Chestnut Hill, Mass., Quinn ravaged Castonzo on the second play of the game, the Boston College Eagles curiously attempting to block Quinn 1-on-1 on their first pass attempt of the afternoon. Quinn captured the outside edge in the blink of an eye, lowered his left shoulder, torqued his way around Castonzo and swiped the ball from quarterback Dave Shinskie. The Eagles recovered the ball, but they wouldn't be so fortunate the rest of the day.
"He's a load, he's tough to handle," says Tar Heel offensive line coach Sam Pittman, who led the recruiting effort two years ago on Quinn out of his hometown of Ladson, S.C. "He's strong and he's quick, and that's a tough combination. Teams have tried to play him 1-on-1 and he blows by them. Then they'll bring in a tight end, chip him with a back, roll toward him, do all kinds of things. The problem with that is he's got really good players all around him. Pay too much attention to Robert and the others will hurt you."
Or, as head coach Butch Davis says, "It's kind of like, `Pick your poison.' We've got playmakers all over on defense."
One series later, it was end E.J. Wilson sticking Shinskie, dislodging the ball and Cam Thomas gathering it and galloping in from 20 yards for a score. Then it was Kendric Burney snagging an errant Shinskie pass (this play with a languid pass rush, incidentally) and racing in from 30 yards with a Quinn blocking escort. Later Michael McAdoo and Quinn stopped crucial third-and-short downs following Tar Heel turnovers. Safety Deunta Williams seized three more interceptions, tackle Marvin Austin had a vital fourth quarter sack, and Quinn was hanging on Shinskie's shoulder on another cockeyed throw. And when the Eagles and offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill threw a little con game at the Heels－Shinskie aligned as a receiver to the left, taking a pitch coming right and looking to throw downfield－Bruce Carter answered nothing doing and choked it off for a loss of 10 yards.
It was all way too much fright and gore for the Eagles as the Tar Heels slipped into Chestnut Hill and emerged with a 31-13 victory Saturday that bumps their record to 8-3 and extends their winning streak to four games. The Eagles, hoping for an outside shot at the ACC championship game, fell to 7-4 and dropped their first home game in Alumni Stadium of the season.
"Hats off to their defensive line, they were getting some good rushes," Boston College running back Montel Harris said. "It's hard to throw good passes when someone's in your face all the time."
"These guys are really good and it seemed like every time I tried to go around or step up,
there was another guy there," Shinskie added. "They have a great defense and it was tough."
Tar Heel defensive line coach John Blake surveyed a stat sheet after the game: "Three sacks, eight tackles-for-loss, two forced fumbles, five interceptions, oh-for-13 on third downs. Not bad," he said. "We played hard. Their quarterback was throwing under pressure every down. We hit him a bunch of times. They'd only been sacked 12 times all year, so that says something about what they've been doing."
A formula that is becoming quite familiar took shape again Saturday on a sunny afternoon in The Heights, as they call the Boston College campus just west of downtown Boston. The defense pillaged and plundered, picking up six turnovers that led to 24 of Carolina's points. The offense, having patched a leak along the line in October, is finally healthy there but now is attempting to batten down a massive fissure at running back. Ryan Houston was limited in the second half with a thigh contusion, and fullback Devon Ramsay didn't dress out with an ankle sprain. Even reserve Anthony Elzy limped off late in the game with a tender ankle. Shaun Draughn, A.J. Blue and Jamal Womble have already been sidelined for the year. Lord knows where Davis goes for more help this week. Quarterback T.J. Yates, meanwhile, threw three interceptions, one of them what seems to be a requisite third-quarter foul ball that always puts the Tar Heels on a thin edge of momentum.
"It was an ugly day for quarterbacks out there, I'll tell you that," Yates said. "The interceptions were uncalled for, poor decisions. We're not really holding up our end of the bargain on offense. If the defense has half the day they had today, it might have been a close game. But if they can turn a couple of turnovers into touchdowns, it definitely takes a burden off the offense."
One fumble and one interception gave the Eagles excellent field position in the first half－one drive starting at the Carolina 30 and the other at the 29－but the Heels' defensive rigidity limited BC to field goals both times. The Eagles' one touchdown drive was augmented by a pass interference call on the Tar Heels; Charles Brown's interception was nullified when he applied token pressure with his left hand on the receivers' side before leaping for a one-handed grab. No matter, the Eagles gained less than 200 yards for a 3.3 yards per snap average.
"Our job is to put out the fire," Austin said. "No matter when, no matter where--we have to put out the fire. We take pride in being able to do that."
The game was still in doubt with under six minutes to play and the Tar Heels leading only 21-13, the tight score the result of Carolina doing exactly what offensive coordinator John Shoop said they could not do: "We cannot make unforced errors," Shoop said last week. "As good as our defense is playing, as long as we don't make unforced errors, we'll be there in the end. Against Miami, we played smart and didn't commit turnovers."
The interceptions continue to hound Yates (he now has 13 for the season), but the Tar Heels' ball security carrying the football has been generally sound, particularly among the running backs. Carolina lost its eighth fumble of the season Saturday when freshman receiver Erik Highsmith lost the ball on a pass reception, but consider these other seven fumbles in 2009: two by punt returners in the season opener; two by a freshman quarterback running the "Wildcat" formation; one by a reserve quarterback on a center exchange; one when Yates wasn't looking for a center snap in the shotgun; and one when the ball took an unfortunate bounce on a punt and inadvertently hit a Tar Heel. That a running back has not lost a fumble on a standard running play through 11 games is remarkable.
"I can't remember a game with as many sudden-change situations as we had today," said Davis, who goes to 8-0 as a head coach against Boston College. "The story for us again as it has been lately was our defense. Our ability to go out in sudden-change situations in the first half and hold them to field goals was monumental."
The unfinished business of the 2009 season now remains the N.C. State Wolfpack, which has two victories running over the Tar Heels. But these are teams headed in opposite directions, the Tar Heels having won four in a row and State having lost six of its last seven.
"This win streak shows we're a very resilient team and that we know how to finish," E.J. Wilson said. "Last year, we didn't finish very well, we kind of got the big head. This year we're trying to finish the season with a six-game win streak. We're peaking right now, and this is the right time to peak."
Let's see: N.C. State starts a fellow named Jake Vermiglio at left tackle. He stands 6-5, weighs 315 pounds, sports a beard and unkempt hair in his publicity photo and was credited two years ago with grading out at 85 percent against Virginia all-star Chris Long. Good luck and pass the popcorn.
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.
