Sept. 29, 2003

For the first time since 1988, which was the beginning of Mack Brown's 10 years at the helm, Carolina is off to an 0-and-4 start. It certainly doesn't ease the disappointment, but the losses have come against a quartet of capable opponents. In fact, Jeff Sagarin, the MIT match guru who does a weekly power rating for USA TODAY, lists the Carolina slate this week as the nation's toughest.

The Tar Heels have faced a top ten schedule throughout the early season, but that's been the norm in recent years with the likes of Oklahoma, Texas, Florida State, Wisconsin and Arizona State mixed with the rest of the ACC opponents. Florida State, which has climbed to #5 in the national polls, is 5-0 this week. Syracuse is 3-1. Wisconsin, which was rated #14 at one point, is 4-1, and N.C. State, which also got as high as #14, is 3-2. That's a combined record of 15-4.

"We have played some good teams," said John Bunting when told about his team's strength of schedule. "We played three of them real tough. I mean we played very well against Syracuse and lost. We played Wisconsin really tough and lost. Then we dropped a heartbreaker this past weekend. We battled back into that game against N.C. State at halftime. I thought we were going to come out smoking in the second half, but a big explosive play on the first play of the third quarter really took the wind out of our sails. We weren't able to ever recover completely from it, but we still continued to battle until the very last second of the game."

No opponent has stopped Phillip Rivers, and few have been able to contain him. The Tar Heels, except for a goal line stand late in the first half, weren't able to slow him down. His 423 passing yards marked the second best effort of his superlative career, topped only by the 433 yards earlier this month at Wake Forest, and the 463 yards of total offense was his personal high.

The 217 receiving yards by Jerricho Cotchery was the third best performance by an opposing receiver.

Those performances overshadowed what Darian Durant tried to do for Carolina. His 323 yards turned out to be the third best game of his career and another top ten effort. His 389 yards of total offense was the second best total of his three-year career, topped only by the 426 yards last year at Arizona State, and the fifth best game ever recorded by a Tar Heel quarterback.

Jawarski Pollock's 11 receptions for 134 yards tied for third as the most in a single game. His yardage total matched the two career leaders from 1966. Charlie Carr had 16 catches and Bud Phillips grabbed an even dozen.

However, with 81 points and nearly 1,200 yards of total offense between the two rivals it seemed the defenses never showed up. Actually, the last 14 games, dating back to early last year, have been a most frustrating stretch for Carolina defenders.

When Bunting returned to his alma mater he knew well in advance his second year would be very difficult. Julius Peppers, Ryan Sims, David Thornton, Quincy Monk and Joey Evans were going to be missing from the defense. All five were drafted by various NFL teams. Then last fall, in the third game against Texas, the defense began to come apart as the Longhorns piled up 52 points along with 569 yards. The following week Georgia Tech had 396 yards in a 21-13 setback for UNC, but the very next week, out in Tempe, Arizona State racked up 657 yards. Somehow the Tar Heels were able to salvage a 38-35 victory. Since then only one opponent, Duke, has gained less than 400 yards.

Two weeks ago Wisconsin gained only 402 yards, but a defense, which Bunting had hoped would be improved despite its youth and inexperience in some spots, is giving up an average of 522 yards and nearly 43 points this fall.

In the last 14 games the Carolina defense has surrendered an average of nearly 492 yards and almost 39 points per game. There have been six contests, including three this year, during which the opposition has gained more than 500 yards. Offensively, the Tar Heels have responded in two of the three games with more than 500 yards of their own.

So how does the Carolina defense keep trying to get better? There's not a quick fix, so don't expect one in the coming weeks, but it might mean the Tar Heels have to get younger and even more inexperienced at some spots as the season progresses. It could mean some true freshmen will get more playing time against the rest of the schedule which includes four teams previously listed in the Top 25.

Sagarin has Carolina listed 68th in this week's power ratings. That rating would be better if the Tar Heels didn't have the nation's toughest schedule, at least for this week, but Bunting still believes his teams will only get better by playing some of the best.