DTH Columns

Sept. 7, 2004 — Tar Heels exhibit new resilience

*NOTE* This version was edited with the help of Mick Mixon's Sportswriting Class (JOMC 191.2)

Entering Saturday's season opener against William & Mary, the seeds of doubt planted in the minds of most North Carolina football fans by back-to-back poor seasons had already bloomed in full.

The thought process of most fans went something like this:

"The Tar Heels are going to win this week. They can't lose to a Division I-AA team.

"Can they?"

Well, the answer is, "Yes, they easily could have."

But they didn't.

On the first drive of the game, UNC's Justin Phillips fumbled as he attempted to run over the last defender at the end of a 25-yard pass-and-run. Those blossoms of doubt immediately sprouted into full-grown trees, casting a smothering black shadow over Kenan Stadium - and not just for the fans.

"(Fumbles after big runs) happen frequently, and what you don't want it to do is happen one after the other," said UNC coach John Bunting. "Crazy thoughts start to enter your head, and I've got to drive them out of there - just stay calm, just stay poised. It's what the kids do, stay poised and hang onto that ball."

William & Mary took advantage only three plays into the next possession. Quarterback Lang Campbell evaded a tackler and launched a bomb down the sideline to Josh Lustig.

BOOM.

7-0 Tribe.

When the Tar Heels got the ball back, it happened again - this time Jacque Lewis handed the Tribe the pigskin at the 1, following a 47-yard run.

But then the Tar Heels did something interesting - the defense forced William & Mary to go three-and-out.

UNC took a shot to the chin and got back up, scoring a touchdown six plays later and establishing a pattern for the rest of the game.

Nothing William & Mary did could deliver a finishing blow - even Darian Durant's two second-quarter turnovers, both of which put the Tribe at the goal line, only yielded 10 points.

It wasn't pretty, and it sure wasn't ideal, but there was something in the air that made it seem that the Tar Heels weren't in for a repeat of the 2002 season-opening loss to Miami (Ohio).

And that was the difference between that team and the team out on the field Saturday.

Hope. Confidence. The ability to absorb momentum swings. And a defense that, while not great, could make a stop when it needed to.

"A lot of William & Mary's points came from us putting the defense in terrible situations," Durant said. "When the defense saw us putting points on the board, they fed off us."

UNC's depth allowed the Tar Heels to be rested enough to take advantage of the shift in momentum. Substitutions kept both units fresh, particularly the offense, which generated 180 yards on the ground in the second half.

Believing that the Tar Heels will be able to regularly accomplish feats like having two 100-yard rushers in the same game and going largely unpunished for allowing opposing quarterbacks to slip away is a bit naïve.

However, it's OK to feel good about this team's chances. At worst, they're going to give people some problems. At best, they've got bowl potential.

Most importantly, North Carolina won its season opener for the first time since 2000, planting the seeds of progress.