Sept. 28, 2005

By Lee Pace

Six sixty six -- the number of the beast.

Six sixty nine -- the number of the Utes.

Six hundred, sixty nine yards of total offense. They came on runs and passes and shovels. They mounted on reverses and play-action fakes and options. Over the river and through the desert, to the record book they went.

Utah and quarterback Alex Smith rolled up 669 yards of offense last October during Carolina's infamous journey to the land of the Great Salt Lake. The Utes tagged Carolina with a 46-16 defeat that left deep imprints on the psyches and souls of the Tar Heels. The remnants linger 11 months later as Carolina prepares to face Utah at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Kenan Stadium.

"It was embarrassing then, it's still embarrassing today," safety Mahlon Carey says. "We're definitely going into this game with a chip on our shoulders."

"We got our ass kicked, that's the bottom line," receiver Jesse Holley says. "We got blown out by a lot and came home with nine injured guys. It stuck with us. We owe them, we know that."

"They kept their foot on our throat," linebacker Tommy Richardson adds. "Even though they were in control of the game, they were passing a lot and running trick plays. I'm looking forward to this game."

The Tar Heels were enjoying the afterglow of their dramatic win over N.C. State last October as they begun preparations for their trip to Utah to face coach Urban Meyer and a Top 10 team that would eventually land a Fiesta Bowl berth. The beginning of the week of Oct. 11th was marked by word that three Tar Heels, two of them starters, had been suspended following arrest on-campus for marijuana possession.

That cast a pall over the program that wasn't quickly overcome.

The Tar Heels were competitive for two series but then the Utes lowered the hammer with their talent, their maturity and their unique spread offense. The defense blew assignments and missed tackles, allowing the most total yards by an opponent in Carolina history. The offense was behind the chains all night. Jacque Lewis, Ronnie McGill and Kyle Ralph exited with injuries on the first offensive series. Melik Brown suffered a concussion, and Darian Durant hurt his throwing hand. Nine players in all were hurt. The trainers needed four hands each and went through their supplies of crutches and boots.

"We used a lot of Tylenol on the trip home," trainer Scott Oliaro says.

The game was televised locally in Salt Lake City, so it stretched on into the night with commercial timeouts. Then there was a six-hour journey back east through the night. The team and traveling party arrived back at Kenan Football Center around 8 a.m. Sunday.

"It was a nightmare," strength coach Jeff Connors says. "You were just hoping to wake up and it'd be over."

"A total feeling of helplessness," defensive ends coach Brad Lawing remembers. "We just didn't compete."

"Our wives made the trip, and Susan was trying to console me the whole way home," says defensive coordinator Marvin Sanders. "But I could never let that one go."

Tar Heel coach John Bunting used his post-mortem in the Tar Heel locker room to appeal to his team's heart and pride and perseverance. He cited the successes of the year, the wins over Georgia Tech and N.C. State. He cited the failures as well, the blowouts that night and earlier against Virginia and Louisville.

"We have a four-game season left," Bunting said. "If you guys want to take advantage of the next four games, we're going to have to really, really recommit ourselves even more than we ever have before. We've got to rededicate ourselves. When you're not doing school work, football comes first. Put your social life away.

"We've got a chance to salvage this four-game season. But we've got to put this game behind us and start with a clean slate."

That moment, hopefully, was the nadir of the Tar Heels' rebuilding process of the early 21st century.

"It's the worst I've ever felt after a game," defensive end Tommy Davis says. "If you weren't hurt physically, you were hurt emotionally."

Since then, Carolina has beaten Miami, Wake Forest, Duke and N.C. State. The Heels were competitive against Virginia Tech until the last snap and with Boston College until the fourth quarter in the Continental Tire Bowl. They could have beaten Georgia Tech and Wisconsin to open the 2005 season. They enjoyed a sweet win last Saturday in the caldron of Carter-Finley Stadium.

Now it's time for the next step -- atone for the ambush in the west from 2004.

"Six sixty nine," Sanders says with a wince. "I reminded the guys Monday night, `This team hung 669 yards on us. My name was on that.' Several of the players said, `Coach, my name's on it, too.' They understand the urgency. They understand this team can explode."

Carolina through three games has evolved as a team and will continue to build on its successes.

Matt Baker is clearly a competent quarterback. He's got a good arm and sharp brain. He can move well enough, he's tough and he takes charge.

There are plenty of yards available in the passing game; the receivers stepped forward in the second half at N.C. State, hung onto the ball and the offense clicked down the field for two crucial touchdowns. The running game sprang to life at State. The offensive line meshed as a unit.

The defense has 10 sacks through three games, exactly 50 percent of its output for all of 2004. Carolina can rotate eight men through the front four, allowing no one player to go more than 30 or 35 snaps. Larry Edwards has become a force at outside linebacker. The Tar Heels have faced three outstanding tailbacks in P.J. Daniels at Georgia Tech, Brian Calhoun at Wisconsin and Toney Baker at N.C. State, but opponents together are averaging only 2.7 yards per rush.

"Like I told everyone coming into this fall, our front line is outstanding," Richardson says. "They can get pressure with just four guys now. That's the big difference in our defense. We're still giving up too many yards at the back end. But defense starts with stopping the run, and that's what we're doing so far."

Sanders likes a favorite expression used by Mike Denny, the University of Nebraska-Omaha wrestling coach and a member of the NCAA Division II Wrestling Hall of Fame. The object in building a successful program in any sport at any level, Denny says, is to get good enough that you take luck out of the equation.

"I think that's where we are now," Sanders says. "Sure, you'd love to have the ball bounce your way. But you don't need it to bounce your way in order to win. If my wife or my kids wish me luck before a game, I stop them. I say, `We don't need luck to win.' That's the mindset we're striving for."

The Tar Heels are no longer the battered and beleaguered and scraggly bunch that limped home from Salt Lake City nearly a year ago. They've tasted success and want more. They are older as a group. They are passionate about playing football. There are more bodies in 2005 than a year ago. The team is reasonably healthy, though Doug Justice, Ronnie McGill, Cameron Sexton and Ben Lemming might argue the point. And there have been no off-the-field distractions to muck up team chemistry.

It's a good time to welcome the Utes.

"This team's always going to have fighters on it," Holley says. "The head coach is a fighter, and he recruits fighters. This game with Utah is personal and it means something. We want to get back to .500. And we owe them."

Send your questions about Tar Heel football to Lee Pace at leepace@nc.rr.com . Please include your first and last names and hometown. . Individual replies are not possible because of volume of mail received, , and names of recruiting prospects and commitments cannot be published on a school-sponsored site until the national signing day in February. The Q&A column will appear each Friday during the season.