Nov. 14, 2008

by Lee Pace, Extra Points

So when has an ACC football game not involving the Tar Heels generated as much interest in Chapel Hill as Thursday night's Virginia Tech at Miami game? Quite possibly, never.

When Miami's Allen Bailey corralled Tech QB Tyrod Taylor on a fourth-down sack with just over two minutes to play Thursday, the stature of the Tar Heels' game Saturday at Maryland grew exponentially. The 16-14 Hurricane victory simplified Carolina's marching orders for the final three weeks of the season.

Beat Maryland, N.C. State and Duke and the Tar Heels win the ACC's Coastal Division title and play in the ACC championship game Dec. 6 in Tampa. That clarifies a lot of the questions flowing into the Mailbag this week concerning the Coastal Division race, the ACC championship game and the possible bowl scenarios for the Tar Heels.

The No. 17 Tar Heels play Maryland at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Byrd Stadium in their biggest late-season game since a November 2001 trip to Georgia Tech. The Heels had just cracked the Top 25 at No. 22 following a big win at Clemson but lost 28-21 on a Thursday night in Atlanta.

This is rarefied air the Tar Heels.

"I think this group is a pretty focused group," QB Cameron Sexton said this week. "We're not going to have any problem being distracted by those outside things. But we're definitely enjoying these types of distractions. We've had some success and there are more eyes on us."

"I haven't seen the standings," defensive tackle Marvin Austin said. "I'm just trying to rest up and get ready for the next game. We try not to get into the BCS standings and stuff like that because we can get out of focus."

Thursday's developments--keyed by Miami's suffocating second-half defense that limited the Hokies to six offensive snaps and minus-11 yards in the third quarter--leave the Coastal Division race looking like this:

Miami is 7-3 overall and 4-2 in the league.

The Tar Heels are 7-2 and 3-2.

Virginia Tech is 6-4 and 3-3 and Georgia Tech is 7-3 and 4-3.

Should Carolina and Miami each win out, they would be tied at 6-2 in the league, and the tie-breaker procedure would give the nod to the Heels since they beat Miami head-to-head.

In the case of a multiple tie, the "group" record is used--what are the won-loss records of those teams against the other teams in the group? And if that doesn't settle a winner, then you go to won-loss records within the division.

Wake Forest (6-3 overall, 4-2 ACC) holds the tie-breaker over FSU (7-2, 4-2) in the Atlantic Division and thus controls its destiny. Should the Deacons dispatch N.C. State in Raleigh and then Boston College at home, they win the division. How ironic would it be for Wake Forest and Carolina, which no longer meet on a yearly basis following ACC expansion and realignment, to travel to Tampa to square off?

The winner of the ACC championship game is contracted to represent the league in the FedEx Orange Bowl, scheduled for 8 p.m. New Year's Day. The exception would be if that team were to be among the top two teams in the BCS Standings and thus earn a ticket to the national title game, set for Jan. 8 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens. But that's not going to happen with any ACC team this year, so it's a moot point (Carolina at No. 16 is the league's highest BCS team).

After the champion goes to the Orange Bowl, the ACC has tie-ins with eight bowls, assuming that many teams are eligible with six wins or more. The bowls choose teams in predetermined order: Chick-Fil-A Bowl in Atlanta (formerly the Peach Bowl) at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 31; the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl in Jacksonville at 1 p.m. Jan. 1; and the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 27.

Three bowls then have a collective arrangement in the 5-7 slots to pick the best teams to match their dates, location and opponent: Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte at 1 p.m. Dec. 27; Music City Bowl in Nashville at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 31; Emerald Bowl in San Francisco at 8 p.m. Dec. 27. The last two bowls to select a team are the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho, 4:30 p.m. Dec. 30; and the Congressional Bowl in Washington at 11 a.m. Dec. 20.

I noticed Cam Sexton and the receivers looking to the sideline often after the line was already set Saturday. Are these sideline silent audibles based on how the defense lines up? I didn't pay close enough attention to see how often passing plays followed those signals. It's got to be something about the defense. Any ideas?
J.D. Hermann

There are times when offensive coordinator John Shoop will call one play from the press box and have it signaled to Sexton. There are others when he calls two, and it's Sexton's job to audible into the best play based on what he sees from the defense. And there are times also when Shoop doesn't call anything in the huddle and the quarterback comes to the line with a "check with me" call. Sexton gives a dummy cadence call to force the defense to show its hand, then backs off. Shoop quickly communicates to the sideline, and the final play call is signaled into Sexton.

It's these "check with me" calls that you are noticing. The goal is to get the offense to the line of scrimmage with at least 20 seconds left on the play clock in order to give everyone enough operational time.

"We've done quite a bit of that over the year," Sexton says. "We're just trying to keep the defense guessing. Coach Shoop always says, `Whoever has the chalk last, wins.' We're just keeping the chalk in our hand as long as possible."

One thing Shoop has liked about Sexton's development over the year in replacing T.J. Yates has been his skill in varying his cadence before the snap of the ball.

"T.J. had gotten really good at that," Shoop says. "With Cam, the cadence wasn't something we could pay much attention to those first few weeks. We were still working with the basics when he first came in. But against Georgia Tech, we were snapping the ball sometimes when they weren't near being set. We were changing tempos on them, doing different things. I really pleased with the progress Cam has made."

I was wondering the reason behind Cameron Sexton kneeling down on third down after the time out with approximately three minutes left in the first half.
Scott Letien, Sumter S.C.

That was simply a mental mistake on Sexton's part. The right defensive end jumped offside, and Lowell Dyer saw it and centered the ball prior to the pre-set snap count. Sexton thought the play was going to be whistled dead, so he dropped to a knee. But officials ruled the end got back across the line before the snap, so the play was live. Had the Tech player not gotten back across the line, it would have been a free play for Carolina and Sexton should have gone ahead and run the play.

I have attended all but one of UNC home football games this year and seen the rest on cable. There seems to have been an unusual number of official reviews of the completed plays, especially after big gains and scores. Have there been any statistics gathered to determine if we have more reviews in Chapel Hill than other locations? What are the criteria for an official review? It seems to me that any close calls get reviewed, even without the coaches throwing their replay flags.
Rex Simmons, Fairfax Station, Va.

I don't know about the breakdown of how many plays are reviewed per venue in the ACC and doubt that total is kept, but I did notice that Chris Fowler on the ESPN telecast Thursday night said that only "one-third to one-fourth" of plays reviewed in the ACC are being overturned.

There are two methods to stop a game to review a ruling on the field, and both are different from the review procedure in the NFL: (1) The replay official in the box reviews every play of the game and may stop the game at any time before the ball is next put in play, and (2) Either head coach may request that the game be stopped and a play be reviewed by challenging the on-field ruling one time during a game. The coach initiates this challenge by taking a team time out before the ball is next put in play and informing the referee that the coach is challenging the ruling of the previous play. After a review has been completed, if the on-field ruling is reversed, that team's time out will not be charged. After a review has been completed and the on-field ruling is not reversed, the charged team's time out counts as one of three permitted for that half.

Who is the fastest player on Carolina's defense? I could not believe it when I saw Bruce Carter catch Jonathan Dwyer at the goal line on Dwyer's 85-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Dan Pike, Concord

I noticed the same thing from the sideline and made mention of it on the Tar Heel Sports Network broadcast. Dwyer broke free, eluding middle linebacker Mark Paschal several yards behind the line of scrimmage and then running past and staying head of safeties Trimane Goddard and Deunta Williams. Carter came from an angle on the outside and looked in the homestretch like a horse passing slower horses in front of him en route to the checkered flag. He finally got to Dwyer and pulled him down at the goal line, but Dwyer stretched the ball over the plane of the goal for the touchdown. Carter might actually have caught Dwyer sooner, but he had to work his way around Paschal before he caught Dwyer.

Strength and conditioning coach Jeff Connors doesn't like to compare 40 times, but he will acknowledge that Carter is as fast as anyone Carolina has on defense.

"For raw speed, for straight-line speed, Bruce is fast, there's no question," Connors says. "One thing about that play was he ran more than 40 yards. Some guys are good at short bursts, at 20 or 30 or 40 yards. He was still full tilt at 60 yards. He was like Hakeem Nicks--Hakeem gets faster the further he goes."

I think the new navy blue jerseys the Tar Heels wore Saturday have a little "tougher" and "meaner" look than Carolina blue by itself. When you're talking football it always helps to look like you mean to kick some tail. Let's face it, Carolina bBlue being such a soft and light color doesn't exactly scream, "I'm going to rip your head off." For those who would think I've abandoned our old faithful color, it is still the most beautiful color and will always be the most recognized and respected shade of blue in the whole world. All I'm saying is that while it makes a beautiful basketball or baseball uniform, when it comes to football "pretty" isn't always the most desired adjective. Hats off to the Heels for not only looking tough but playing tough!
Charles West, Easley, S.C.

Opinions were mixed on the Tar Heels' unveiling of the navy blue jerseys last week, but this note best exemplifies what Butch Davis is doing with an occasional foray into navy blue land. Bill Dooley, Dick Crum and Mack Brown before him each made tangible and concerted efforts to "darken down" parts of the Tar Heels' uniforms. As I have written earlier, Crum actually ordered the navy blue jerseys during his final year in 1987 but was overruled by the administration. Those jerseys were later used as practice jerseys when Brown came in.

Page 198 of the 2008 football media guide lists Carolina's all-time record vs. Maryland as 35-32-1. Separately, it lists a 6-0 win in 1899 vs. "OLD" MARYLAND. What's that about?
John Elliot, Lake Wylie

The University of Maryland in College Park began as Maryland Agricultural College and was founded in 1856. It was renamed Maryland State College in 1916 and then became the University of Maryland in 1920. The institution referred to as "Old Maryland" was located in Baltimore and consisted of the professional schools--medical, dental, law and pharmacy.

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.