Nov. 9, 2008

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By Lee Pace
Extra Points

Noon kick-offs are often challenging affairs throughout college football, and games in Kenan Stadium are no exception. It's hard for fans to get a running start given the limited morning hours for travel, socializing and tailgating. Players get wake-up calls at 7 bells and are stuffing down a pre-game repast at 8. It's often the second quarter before everyone gets enough caffeine coursing through their veins that we truly get our bearings.

Saturday was different in Chapel Hill.

The Tar Heels were well-rested and well-schooled in defending Georgia Tech's convoluted option offense after a welcomed week off and were resplendent in new navy blue jerseys. Coach Butch Davis appealed in a video emailed to the student population for them to pack The Tar Pit early, and the athletic administration arranged for drawings for various prizes--including a Sony Playstation 3--for those in their seats by 11:15 a.m. Overnight rains and early mist gave way by late morning to perfect skies and fall temperatures.

"Our student body--how awesome were they?" Davis enthused four hours later. "For college kids at 12 o'clock on a Saturday morning to be at the stadium ... well, they did a great job."

So did the Tar Heels.

The proceedings opened with an aggressive statement from Davis one minute into the game. With the Heels facing fourth-and-1 at the minus-42 yard-line (the Heels' side of the field), Davis gambled.

Onto the field came Ryan Houston, the sophomore tailback with an eye-black sticker under his right eye designating his home area code (704 for Charlotte) and his nickname under his left eye ("Thunder" for the power and noise he generates running the football). Houston pounded the left side behind the blocking of Richard Quinn, Kyle Jolly and Bobby Rome for five yards and a first down.

"The thing about Coach Davis, he's not going to play not to lose," quarterback Cam Sexton said. "He's going to play to win, no matter what happens. He's going to be aggressive. We are going to dictate to the opponent, not the other way. That transfers to us. We take his aggressiveness and run with it."

Four snaps later, the second half of what has emerged over the 2008 season as a lethal running attack took the baton. Shaun Draughn, also a sophomore tailback, sported a sticker with his hometown area code under one eye (252 for Tarboro) and his nickname under the other ("Lightning" for his jets and explosiveness). He darted through the middle, made several cuts and raced 36 yards to the 10 yard-line, setting up a touchdown pass to Zack Pianalto. The run displayed Draughn's speed, his shiftiness and his fluid ability to almost imperceptibly change course. Carolina now owned a quick 7-0 lead and had thrown down the gauntlet to one of its rivals for the ACC Coastal Division crown.

"Getting an early lead really gives you a chance to play with house money," Davis noted.

Then the defense took over. The Yellow Jackets under first-year coach Paul Johnson run a true triple-option attack, with quarterback Josh Nesbitt reading the defense and either handing off to the dive back, keeping the ball on the corner or pitching to a slotback trailing from the back side. There actually are dozens of permutations, including enough passes that had allowed Tech to throw 20 times in nine games for 20 yards or more. Add the cut-blocking proclivity you see from most option teams, and you have the recipe for three hours of defensive indigestion.

"It gets back to football 101," defensive coordinator Everett Withers said last week. "Who has the dive? Who has the quarterback? Who has the pitch? It gets back to responsibilities and discipline and hammering home the idea that you do your job--not someone else's. If we stay on our feet and avoid their cut blocks, we have enough speed to go run the ball down."

On Tech's first possession, the Tar Heels pounded Tech in the nose and stuffed the option for a loss of two, a gain of four and no gain at all. On Tech's second series, the Heels thwarted a fourth-and-1 at the plus-46. And on Tech's third possession, Carolina again nailed a fourth-and-1 at the plus-38. The front four were outstanding playing their gaps, staying on their feet and keeping the Tech linemen off the linebackers. The linebackers, in turn, were ferocious in pursing the ball to the edge.

"We proved from the first snap we were not here to play, that this was all business," said tackle Cam Thomas, who made one of the key stops on fourth down. "We're here to shut you down and get off the field. That's what we did."

Added end E.J. Wilson: "The first quarter was a tremendous boost. We stopped them twice and got the ball for the offense in great field position. The off-week was instrumental in this win. We had not seen the triple-option all year and we had the chance to really prepare for it. Discipline was the key. We read our keys, checked our responsibilities and everyone did their jobs."

The 7-0 first quarter lead and the proof that the defense could indeed handle Tech's offense allowed the Tar Heels a working margin and the chance to lie in the weeds and let field possession, the kicking game and the turnover margin dictate the final score. With punter Terrence Brown's towering kicks and with great pursuit by gunners Cooter Arnold and Brooks Foster, the Tar Heels enjoyed major swings of field possession. Kicker Jay Wooten has improved his depth, hang time and aim on kick-offs throughout the year, and combined with a reckless band of coverage warriors, the Tar Heels entered the game No. 3 in the nation in kick-off defense. Carolina didn't commit a single turnover and covered two fumbles, both leading to touchdowns. All of those elements allowed the Tar Heels to withstand going into the offensive doldrums in the middle part of the game after that first strike.

The final was 28-7 and could have been a whitewash. But linebacker Mark Paschal sheepishly admitted afterward he was playing pass on a second-and-10 in the fourth quarter, botched his assignment and let Jonathan Dwyer out the door on an 85-yard touchdown run.

"Chalk one up to a mental mistake," Paschal said. "There are so many different aspects of that offense, I'm so happy I'll never have to look at it again in my life."

The victory gives the Heels a 7-2 record and puts them at 3-2 in the ACC tied with Miami and Virginia Tech atop the Coastal Division standings. The Hurricanes and Hokies play Thursday night in Miami, and a Miami win would be huge for Carolina. That would mean the Tar Heels could win out over Maryland, N.C. State and Duke and land a berth in the ACC championship game Dec. 6 in Tampa Bay.

But as Davis quickly noted Saturday, the body of work is not as important now as the next result--Nov. 15 at Maryland. And the Heels will go into that challenge minus an important player--tight end Zack Pianalto suffered a broken left fibula and will out for an undetermined length of time.

"One of the things you have to learn to do is handle success," he said. "I want them to enjoy the moment. I want them to celebrate and have a great time today. But they will walk in this building at 3 o'clock tomorrow, watch that film, and then it's like this game never happened. I promise you, if they did not have that kind of attitude, we wouldn't be where we are today."

The unveiling of the navy blue jerseys for a home game followed the introduction of navy pants for a road trip to Rutgers in September. Some have complained that navy is not a traditional Carolina color (wrong, the Heels were wearing navy more than a century ago and as recently as half a century ago) and that the shade reeks too much of Duke (wrong as well, as the Blue Devils' hue is a lighter version of royal blue).

"At this school, we will always be Carolina blue," Davis said. "There will never be a question about the color of the uniforms. Maybe once a year we'll have a little bit of diversity. The recruits love it, the players love it."

Light blue, or "Carolina blue," has been a part of the UNC landscape at least as far back as the post-Civil War era. Light blue and white were the two colors identifying two of the university's most popular and active literary societies, the Dialetic and Philanthropic, so they morphed into becoming the university's official colors. Navy blue was nonetheless a dominant color in the Tar Heels' athletic uniforms in the early days of intercollegiate athletics. Football team photos in the early 1900s show players outfitted in heavy, dark jerseys with turtlenecks and long sleeves, and it was not until 1937 that the Heels first wore Carolina blue jerseys.

Carolina squads over the next two decades wore various combinations of white, navy and light blue jerseys, depending on the whims of the incumbent head coach, and that continued through Jim Hickey's first year as head coach in 1959 following the death of Jim Tatum. The Heels wore navy jerseys in the last game of the 1959 season--a 50-0 thrashing of Duke on Thanksgiving Day--and Hickey allowed his players to take their jerseys home. The next year, Hickey went to an entirely new look--silver pants and silver helmets and Carolina blue jerseys that the team wore in every game (even with N.C. State wearing red tops and Tennessee wearing orange). The navy shirts haven't been seen since.

"It was like we went into the locker room this morning and Coach Davis had a Christmas present for us," Paschal said. "We were all really excited, really pumped about the new look. I think they look great."

"Charlie Justice and his team once wore navy," Davis said last summer in laying the groundwork for the navy implementation. "Maybe that's a way to pay homage and tribute to a great generation and great era."

The more we see of this 2008 team and its many splendored faces, the more it looks like another great era in the making.

Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace is in his 19th year of chronicling Carolina football through "Extra Points." He'll answer questions about the Tar Heels weekly throughout the season through his "Extra Points Mailbag" and on the pregame show for the Tar Heel Sports Network. Email him at leepace@nc.rr.com and include your name and hometown. No recruiting questions, please.