The photograph alongside these words has long been one of my favorites and perhaps the most intriguing from the archives of 115 years of Tar Heel football. There is no ball in the frame, nor any running or leaping or throwing. There is no blocking and no tackling. The setting is not our own Kenan Stadium. There's not even a face, just a player in a parka and antique black high tops in a fetal position. Is he crying? Is he in pain? Is the game over? Is time out on the field and a game-winning field-goal attempt ensuing?

The man who captured the image, Hugh Morton, refreshed me on the story Saturday afternoon, just a day after the photograph's subject, one Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice, went to his maker.

"Yankee Stadium, 1949," said Morton, who counts in the thousands the number of photos he's taken of Justice over 58 years. "Carolina was playing Notre Dame. Charlie was out with a sprained ankle and played only one play, that to hold for a place-kick. I snapped that picture in the first half, when the score was tied, 6-6.

"The picture got quite a bit of exposure, and people always asked me, 'What was Charlie doing?' So one day I asked him. He said he was praying. He was praying that the game would stay close and we'd win it in the end."

Alas, the Fighting Irish of coach Frank Leahy rolled up the points in the second half and sent the Tar Heels and their thousands of fans who made the pilgrimage to the Bronx back home with a 42-6 defeat.

"That game cost me the Heisman Trophy," Justice told Tar Heel coach John Bunting in the spring of 2001 when Bunting visited Justice in his Cherryville home. "We were in front of the New York media and I didn't play. One goal I set was to win the Heisman Trophy. I was runner-up three years in a row."

The image seems apropos today given the agony Tar Heel Nation is enduring, first at the passing of its most revered citizen and second at the stunning turn of events in the last 36 seconds of Saturday's against Arizona State.

In a week when a hapless Cubs fan could not get out of the way of a foul ball, tightening the vise held on the denizens of Wrigley Field since 1909;

In a week when the Red Sox blew a three-run lead to lose the pennant to the hated Yankees, extending the torture chamber of champion-less seasons in Fenway Park to 85;

And in a week when some 65 Justice-era alumni were gathering in Chapel Hill for their semi-annual reunion, only to receive word early Friday morning that their leader had succumbed to five years of failing health;

Another long-suffering institution endures a body-blow to its fragile psyche.

Who has it worse? Cubs fans? Red Sox fans? Tar Heel football fans?

The 40,000-plus spectators in Kenan Stadium on a sun-splashed Homecoming stood in shock after Sun Devil quarterback Andrew Walter hit Skyler Fulton on a five-yard pass to the back of the end zone as the clock expired.

"It just might be the most painful loss of my entire career," Bunting said.

"My mind just went blank," said tailback Ronnie McGill. "I couldn't believe what was happening."

"Every game we lay it on the line," center Jason Brown said. "I've never felt this bad."

"I'd rather be blown out than lose like this," linebacker Larry Edwards added. "This hurts you deep because you feel like it was locked up. I thought we'd hold them."

The Tar Heels lacked only one measly first down--a two-foot gain on a running play with a minute to play--to salt this one away and have two victories in a row. But McGill was stacked up at the line of scrimmage for no gain when the left side of the Carolina line double-teamed the wrong player and allowed an edge player a free shot at McGill.

"We failed to carry over from the practice field to the game field," Bunting said. "There's no way Ronnie gets stopped if we block it right."

"It was third and two feet or something," guard Jeb Terry said. "We couldn't convert. If we make that first down, the game's over."

Instead, Carolina punted from its 45 to the Arizona State 11, and in one of the few special-teams breakdowns this season, the Tar Heels let the Sun Devils set up a solid return wall and advance the ball 28 yards for excellent field position. A 42-yard completion over the middle with one notable missed tackle was the dagger in the drive, taking the ball to the five and setting up the winning score. Walter, one of the nation's top NFL prospects at his position, found Fulton in the back of the end zone and lofted the ball high in the air, over the reach of Tar Heel safety Michael Harris. Fulton jumped for the ball and barely got his feet down in-bounds.

"We're not quite good enough to make the big play we need," Bunting said. "We have enough talent, we've just got to keep growing, keep trusting, keep working together as a team, coaches and players together."

Bunting dissected the last seven minutes, 30 seconds of the game snap-by-snap with his team on Sunday, showing the Tar Heels where better technique here, a better read there, a little more urgency there or a little more poise there might have been enough to alter the landscape of one play and thus the game.

"We had a number of opportunities to come up with a play," he said. "We did not and Arizona State did. We just needed one more play. We have to find a way."

Arizona State piled up a gaudy stats sheet, just as it did one year ago when the Tar Heels escaped Tempe with a 38-35 victory--598 yards offense, nearly 50 percent third-down conversions, more than 400 yards passing and 36 minutes of offensive possession. Still, the Tar Heel defense rejected two ASU thrusts inside the 10 yard-line in the second quarter and the Sun Devils settled for field goals. Twice in the fourth quarter the Sun Devils pierced midfield but came away without a score--once missing a field goal and another time being stopped on fourth down. Those are definite improvements for the Tar Heels, who earlier in the year would have allowed those field goal attempts to be sure touchdowns.

"We're getting better stopping the run," Bunting said. "We've getting increased awareness by the linebackers and secondary in terms of fitting plays. That's what we have to do in order to stop the run. We've got to play hard, play fast, play smart, and fit plays. We're not good. But we're better than we were.

"We still don't get the great pass rush, and that's hurt our defense. That's put some pressure on our secondary. We've got to keep working at that."

Edwards continues to develop as a true freshman, notching 10.5 tackles on the plus-side but still learning to line up correctly and react correctly on the minus-side. Nothing new there with green players.

Cornerback Lionel Green, now solidly in the starting lineup, is covering better and tackling better. Safety Mahlon Carey, who has been an impressive force at times in his first year on defense, is struggling with assignments at the moment, thus his limited playing time Saturday and more opportunity for Harris, a former walk-on. It's a constant evolutionary process with this defense, which has now started a different lineup for 18 consecutive games dating back to the beginning of the 2002 season as Bunting and his defensive staff juggle to find the best combination of strength, speed, instinct, health, maturity, brains and toughness. The answers simply haven't been as evident as in other years.

Contrast that to the Heels' four best seasons during the 1990s.
* 1992 (9-3, Peach Bowl win over Mississippi State) - Eight players started 11 or 12 games. The only times the lineup was juggled was to account for injuries.
* 1993 (10-3, Gator Bowl loss to Alabama) - Nine players started all 13 games. Another started 12 of 13. The only tinkering came at one defensive tackle slot where Greg Black, Marcus Jones and Mike Payne competed for the starting job.
*1996 (10-2, Gator Bowl win over West Virginia) - Six started all 12 games. Five others started 10. The only changes were due to injuries after Greg Williams beat out Jomo Legins for one starting safety spot after two games.
* 1997 (11-1, Gator Bowl win over Virginia Tech) - Eight started all 12 games. Three others started at least 10. The only changes were due to injuries. For the first nine games of that year, only one change in the starting lineup was made-that when Nate Hobgood-Chittick started for an injured Russell Davis against Virginia.

Bunting & Co. don't have the luxury of piddling around and playing the woe-is-me card, not with a trip to Clemson and the rabid Tigers waiting next Saturday. The coach, buoyed by the unanimous support of the Justice Era alumni, will continue to build the program on the foundation laid more than half a century ago.

"John Bunting is rock-solid," said Bob Cox, an end and kicker during the late-1940s. "He's a class act. He doesn't whine or whimper. He knows what his problems are and he's dealing with them head-on."

At the final gun Sunday, Bunting had the wherewithal to look for Sun Devil coach Dirk Koetter to offer a congratulatory handshake, but Koetter was celebrating with his team and left the Tar Heel coach to stand alone at the 40 yard-line for a solid minute with only the company of a Highway Patrol officer until seeing that Koetter was running to the opposite end zone. Then Bunting walked toward the tunnel in the west end zone, pausing behind the Carolina cheerleaders while Hark The Sound was being played.

He later met with a recruit and his high school coach in his office and asked the kid, "What would you say to the team?"

"Build on it, Coach," the prospect answered.

"Build on it or stay defeated," his coach added.

Bunting knew that, of course, but needed it hear it from someone else.

"I was feeling sorry for myself at that point, which is always a waste of time," he said. "I used that with the team. I guarantee we will move on from this."

One of the tools Bunting will continue to use will be the legacy of Charlie Justice, though most 19-year-olds don't truly understand what Justice meant to Carolina. Even this 46-year-old can't really understand since I wasn't around. I have to take other folks' words for it. Fortunately, there a millions of those for education and enlightenment.

"What I will stress is the love for Carolina that he had and the competitiveness in his heart and mind," Bunting said Friday.

Then on Saturday, he added, "I'm sure he's up there looking at us, saying, 'Hey, you'll get there. You'll get it done.'"

Now listen, Mister Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice, up there now in the Carolina blue skies with an audience with the Great And Powerful. Ask for a little mercy on Cubs fans, Red Sox fans and those who, just once, would like to see the Tar Heels get back to the Sugar Bowl. Or at the very least, leave Kenan Stadium once again with a smile on their face. Meanwhile, we'll keep saying our prayers, just as you did on the grass at Yankee Stadium so many years ago.