Sept. 13, 2009

by Lee Pace

The Tar Heels were 48 hours from kickoff at midday on Thursday, but John Shoop could see the evolution of Saturday's game six hundred miles away in East Hartford as sharply as if he were clicking PLAY on his computer mouse and watching the game in real time.

Carolina's third-year offensive coordinator raved about the Connecticut defense, sixth in the country a year ago. "They're as good as any we'll play this year," he said.

He saluted six of the Huskie defenders individually, saying "They can start for any program, any where. They'll be in the NFL one day."

He paid homage to the Tar Heels' defense, itself becoming a hatchery of all-stars and potential pros: "As good as we're playing, no way Connecticut scores 30 on us."

He acknowledged Carolina's injury woes along the offensive line, saying that Lowell Dyer at center and Jonathan Cooper at left guard might not start or even play. "Say a little prayer for them if you think about it," he said.

And then he summed it all up in a concise little package:

"Our job is to be smart, play it close to the vest," Shoop said. "No one is going to look at the box score. We're calling this game to win. It's great that we have a head coach who loves to win--he's not coming in here and saying we have to throw for 400 yards just to look good. But if we don't turn it over, run it efficiently and stay in third-and-six or less, we should be okay. If the final score is 20-7, we've had a great offensive day. It won't be the sexiest game in the history of the world. But the object is to win--period."

What transpired under leaden skies and sporadic spits of rain Saturday at Rentschler Field was precisely that: An old-style defensive slugfest with the offensive cavalry arriving just in time to score 10 fourth-quarter points. The Tar Heel defense provided the coup de grace when end Robert Quinn proved too swift and menacing to be blocked by conventional means and was bear-hugged to the end zone turf by a Huskie lineman, resulting in a holding call and safety.

The 12-10 Carolina victory was full of freckles, buck teeth, warts and crossed eyes, certainly from an offensive viewpoint and at times in the kicking game as well (Casey Barth mishit a 45-yard field goal attempt and a lazy job by a jammer on the punt return team allowed the Huskies to down a punt at the 1-yardline). It pre-empted Ugly Betty on network TV. And therein lies the beauty. The Tar Heels in the two-plus years of the Butch Davis Era have won with downfield strikes and flashy interception returns (Rutgers a year ago). They have won with gaudy stats and heroic plays in the passing game (Miami). They have won with a triumvirate of blocked punts (UConn in Chapel Hill). They have won with a grinding running game and air-tight defense against a Southern Conference school (The Citadel a week ago).

Now they have won in a rancorous environment on the road against a quality opponent (the Huskies were 2007 Big East co-champions) when lots of stuff was going wrong. But they were patient as a staff and a team. They never abandoned the big picture plan but tweaked some of the details along the way. They never pointed fingers; to the contrary, common were acts such as linebacker Quan Sturdivant's tour of the offensive line bench area like he was Tony Robbins or somebody. And they won with a hari-kari mindset on defense late in the game; on UConn's last offensive snap, defensive coordinator Everett Withers sent seven players after the quarterback and got the sack.

"It wasn't a clean game," Davis admitted. "We were very fortunate to win. There is no way to talk about this game without saying how fortunate we were. But to make some of that fortune, a lot of things had to happen. Our kids had to keep playing hard. They spilled their guts out on every single snap. I am very proud of this team. I am so proud of their tenacity to hang with each other."

It was excruciating at times for the Tar Heel offense: four of six three-and-out possessions in the first half and minus-six yards rushing, this with center Cam Holland and converted defensive lineman Greg Elleby making their first starts and veteran fullback Bobby Rome at home with the flu.

"You just have to keep trucking and believe in the guys and believe that eventually we'll find something that works," tackle Kyle Jolly said. "As the game went on, we started to get into a flow, we got a little spark in the offense and a fire lit under us. We said, `This is it.' It was all heart from there."

Tailback Shaun Draughn through three quarters had carried the ball 14 times for a mere 21 yards. Davis refused to slough any blame on the injury predicament of the blocking front, instead saying, "It was all UConn, period. They are a very, very fundamentally sound and well-coached football team."

Carolina actually blocked some inside zone running plays well, but the Huskies were crashing their ends and outside linebackers so aggressively, they simply outnumbered the Tar Heels at the point of attack. That's when Shoop decided late in the third quarter to go with two tight ends and a series of naked roll-outs where quarterback T.J. Yates feigns a hand-off and then ventures to the edge with no blocker. Carolina was trailing 10-0 by then--the Huskies' lone TD set up by an interception deep in Tar Heel territory--but the offense mounted its first effective drive of the day. Yates found Daughn, Erik Highsmith, Zack Pianalto and Anthony Elzy on a variety of routes to set up a Barth field goal.

Then running backs coach Kenny Browning sensed the wear and tear on Draughn and the likelihood that the Huskie defense might wither a hair under the assault of a fresh tailback--and one as powerful as Ryan Houston. So "Rhino"--all 6-2, 245 pounds of him--took the field on Carolina's next possession, and UConn, now sensitive to Yates' success on the edge on the previous series, was more pliable up the middle. Four straight inside running plays by Houston gained five, seven, eight and nine yards, and Carolina forged to the 33. A 19-yard pass to Pianalto set up the tying score.

"I give our staff credit," Davis said. "It would have been very, very easy to abandon any attempt to run the football. We didn't have much success through three quarters. We kept chipping away in the passing game and making it effective enough to start running the football. It would have been almost impossible to have a 10-point deficit and come out slinging the ball on every snap. As coaches and fans, it's hard to go against that common theme of, `The only way to win is to pass it.' If we'd done that, we'd be leaving this stadium with a loss."

When it was over, Shoop emerged from the Carolina dressing room, his hair still damp from the showers and his face a bit wan from all the stress and strain of the afternoon's events. But he managed a wry smile.

"What did I tell you?" he said. "I'm not surprised at how the game went, not surprised at all."

It was, indeed, a grind. But that's football and that's part of building a program--winning with a different style and personality. Some wins are cookies and cream. Others are snails and whales and puppy dog tails.

"It's always frustrating when things don't go how you want," Shoop said. "Our guys showed grit. I thought our staff showed poise, I thought our players showed poise. We found a way to win. That's a game we could have lost. Thank God we won it ...

"T.J. did a good job sitting in there when he very easily could have had the yips ...

"I wish I could say I was shocked the game was like this, but I'm not. We knew it was going to be a tight-to-the-vest win, and it was ..."

Nearby, offensive line coach Sam Pittman lugged his bags to the bus, his energy zapped by a stressful afternoon and a trying season. In 10 months, Garrett Reynolds and Calvin Darity have graduated; Aaron Stahl and Kevin Bryant have left the program; one incoming recruit was diverted to prep school; Carl Gaskins has fallen to a season-ending injury; and now Dyer and Cooper have been waylaid, temporarily, one hopes. But through it all, Pittman has preached, "Let's worry about who we do have, not who we don't have."

Still, there's a quiet sense of accomplishment in staging "The Great Escape."

"It was ugly and we have to get a lot better, but in the long run this game will make us better," Pittman said. "Greg and Cam now have 50, 60 snaps to draw on next time they play. We have to improve, but we got the win and we're going home."

Lee Pace writes "Extra Points" twice weekly on Tarheelblue.com. He and the broadcast crew for the Tar Heel Sports Network answer reader email on the pre-game show, so send your questions to asktheheels@gmail.com.