Sept. 1, 2003

The football team got Monday off. No, not because it was a holiday. The NCAA mandates a 20-hour week for the players, including Saturday's game, so Monday is normally the off day during game week. However, John Bunting and his staff were back at work early Sunday and again Monday trying to regroup after the 37-0 shellacking by Florida State.

Late Sunday afternoon Bunting confirmed what many fans in the terrific opening night crowd had seen. "It was pretty much what we saw on the field," he said. "A lot of people have been saying it was like last year, and to an extent I would agree. Florida State is a very, very good team. They are a talented group of players, and they did a good job executing their game plan. They attacked our perimeter, and we did not tackle. We had missed tackles by our corners and got almost zero productivity out of our defensive ends. We've got to find a way to get that changed."

Offensively, the head coach thought coordinator Gary Tranquill had a tremendous game plan, but he didn't get to execute all of it. "We moved the ball against a good defense at times. We had a few dropped balls, and if we could have made those catches maybe we could have scored some points and put a little more pressure on Florida State. Obviously when you don't score any points you don't put any pressure on them whatsoever. They're free to do whatever they want to do, and they're pretty good at doing what they do."

Bunting thought the offensive line played pretty well, especially with the Tar Heels throwing on almost every down. They put it up 47 times and allowed only one sack. Darian Durant played very well, and his coaches thought it was probably the best he has done in his efforts to better manage the game. Rookie Mike Mason showed he can play the game, and Bunting insists Mason, Bowman and Holley will continue to play. Ronnie McGill, another freshman showed he can be a starter at running back.

"I'm not going to make any final judgments on our offense based on playing the Florida State defense which is one of the best in the country. I've got a lot of confidence that our offense will get better as the season progresses."

"I couldn't ask for a harder working group of defensive coaches. I couldn't dream up as much scheme as they've dreamed up and worked on throughout the summer. They've done a tremendous job, but if we're going to play younger players we're going to have to scale back. We're going to havve to try and scheme people at times to make things happen. We're not a team who can sit in one front and play one coverage. We've got to do different things in order to be successful. We will continue to see where we can go with this defense, see if it can take on more or if younger players get on the field we are probably going to have to do less."

Bunting thinks now rather than later is the best time to make some personnel moves. He'll make some of the changes before the players get back to the practice field Tuesday, but wholesale changes will be made gradually. He doesn't have a number in mind, but by the time Carolina plays at Wisconsin there may be a new face on the defense.

"I've got to look at what will help us this week against Syracuse. I want to beat Syracuse this week, so I will try and get the best 11 players out there for every snap. Then I also want to get better as the season progresses, and we have to make our best guess as to how that happens. I don't have a magic formula, but I'm not going to sit still. It's been my policy as a coach to give people the opportunity to play, and right now we're going to see to it that some others get the opportunity to play."

Except for a breakdown on one punt return, the third-year head coach felt pretty good about the play of his special teams. However, he is troubled over Dan Orner's recent performance. He hit three field goals of more than 50 yards last year at Syracuse, and then connected on the 47-yard game winner in the regular season finale at Duke. That has been Orner's only successful attempt in his last six tries, including two misses Saturday night.

Topher Roberts, who handles kickoffs, may get an opportunity Saturday. If so, it might be just one of several personnel changes for the Tar Heels.