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Heels' Defense Improves on Utes, 31-17

Chapel Hill, NC – What a difference a year makes! One year after allowing the Utah Utes to dominate them with 699 yards of total offense in a 46-16 loss, the North Carolina defense stepped up to hold this year’s version of the Utes to 378 total yards while causing five turnovers to avenge last year’s embarrassment, 31-17.  UNC’s defense rose to the occasion on several key drives in the fourth quarter while keeping Utah’s vaunted spread offense in check throughout most of the game.  Offensively, the Tar Heel offense moved the ball, but came up short on several scoring drives; otherwise the victory in Chapel Hill would have been by a much wider margin. QB Matt Baker forced passes in key situations that finished drives or resulted in turnovers.  Fumble recoveries by LB Tommy Richardson and big pass plays from Baker in the final period put the game away for the Tar Heels (2-2).  Utah (3-2), our 99^th team to get to The Goal, moved on the arm and legs of QB Brian Johnson, who passed the pigskin for 211 yards and ran for 98.  Both teams should have a shot at playing in one of this year’s many bowl berths.

      UNC’s Brandon Tate got things started with a bang as he cut to his left, burst through a hole and streaked 95 yards for a TD to start the game.  One lucky fan won a new Honda because his name was chosen in a random drawing to win if UNC returned either the opening or second half kick-off for a touchdown!  Connor Barth added the extra point for a 7-point Tar Heel lead thirteen seconds into the game. Utah got a good return on the ensuing kick-off from Ben Casteel to the UNC 39.  The UNC Defense held and took the ball back after a punt on their own one-yard line.  After an exchange of punts, UNC started from their own 16 and drove to the Utes’ eight-yard line.  PK Connor Barth came in for a chip shot and it went wide left - three points squandered.  Utah’s next series went back three yards prior to punting.  Starting from their own 38, the Tar Heels advanced to the Utah 33, where Connor’s 50-yard attempt had the distance on a hot, still day, but went wide right.  The Heels could have used former PK Jeff Reed, now with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who was sitting in the stands with some other ‘Burghers who were back to visit the alma mater during their NFL bye week. 

      The Utes were driving to begin the second quarter.  QB Johnson ran the ball 15 yards to the two.  After a one-yard loss, he ran it in from three and Dan Beardall’s conversion tied the score at seven-all.  Tate took the following kick-off out to the 42, but one of Baker’s forced passes was tipped into the air and intercepted by DB Casey Evans who got the Utes started from their own 20.  The field position benefitted the Heels though. A sack and fumble recovery by DE Khalif Mitchell on a third and long put the Heels on the Utah 20.  Utah held the Heels to a FG attempt once again, but Barth made it good this time from 32 yards away to take a 10-7 lead for North Carolina.  The Steelers’s Reed was introduced to the crowd of 50,000 with two other UNC alumni here for the bye week – rookie long snapper Greg Warren, and rookie and Steelers’ leading rusher, RB Willie Parker (327 yards).  The UNC defense held Utah to five yards and out before taking over after a punt on their own 31.  The offense seemed to click again, but Baker tried to force another pass that got tipped way up in the air to be intercepted by DB Tim Harris.  Utah took over from their 23 before time in the second period expired.  UNC took a 10-7 lead into the intermission. 

   Collegefootballfan.com had great seats in section 212 in the upper deck of the stadium on the north side.  We sat in the front row at the furthest end of Kenan Stadium where we had no obstructions of any type to obscure our view.  It was an intensely hot day, however, when the sun came out from behind the cloud cover, which caused CFF with Guest Game Analyst Laurie Koreivo (BCC) to seek shade with many others behind the stands during the half time show.  Fresh-squeezed lemonade with ice hit the spot though Laurie wished there was less sugar and more lemon.  I liked it just the way it was.  She commented that the Tar Heels’ student body rendition of “Hey, Baby! Won’t you be my girl?” was totally lacking compared to the strong voices belonging to the Corps of Cadets she had heard two weeks prior when the Black Knights hosted Baylor.  Maybe CFF can host a weekly contest to find the best student body singing section in the nation!  We’ll have to work on that when ESPN comes to us for ideas.  A quick glance at the Granville Towers Scoreboard showing scores of other games on the big screen had a slogan at the bottom which could be deciphered somewhat incorrectly.  It reads, “The place to be at UNC.”  I first read it as, “The place to beat UNC.”  I was promptly corrected by my wife, as usual.  She’ll be at other games in the future, but will probably stay in the parking lot to tailgate.

      The Utes started the second half from their own 23.  Utah seemed to find a chink in the UNC defense as Johnson threw for short out-passes to get down to the foe’s fifteen.  On a fake option, Johnson broke a tackle and passed to a wide-open WR Travis LaTrendresse over the middle for a 15-yard TD pass.  With Beardall’s conversion, Utah took its first lead, 14-10, and what’s more, the drive seemed to indicate they had strategy set now for beating the Tar Heel defense which played so well in the first half.  But Head Coach John Bunting, a former UNC and Philadelphia Eagle LB, had his staff make some adjustments right away.  Good defensive play in the backfield tipped a Brian Johnson pass later in the period to DB Cedric Holt.  UNC got the ball back on its own 32.  On a big third down conversion, Baker connected with his big TE Jon Hamlett (4 key catches for 61 yards), for a first down to keep the drive alive.  Instead of “First Down, Carolina!” the PA announcer exclaimed, “Touchdown, Carolina!”, even though Hamlett was stopped 40 yards away.  Never-the-less, the anticipation was well-founded as the drive continued and Baker hooked up with WR Wallace Wright for a 23-yard TD pass right under our great seats at Kenan Stadium.  The Heels re-took the lead 17-14 with 3:24 remaining in Q3.  After forcing a three and out punt, UNC took over from its own 34.  Before the period ended, Baker forced another pass to WR Jawarski Pollock on second and twelve that was intercepted and returned for a supposed Utah TD by DB Eric Weddle.  But, hold everything!  A roughing the passer call against the Utes gave the ball back to the Tar Heels with 15 additional yards and a first down to keep the drive alive.

      Baker started the final stanza with a 40-yard pass to WR Mike Mason to get to the Utes’ one-yard line.  RB Barrington Edwards (44 yards on 23 carries) went in from one for the score to extend the Tar Heel lead to 24-14.  The Utes offense seemed to get things rolling again on the next drive as Johnson ran 23 yards on an option keeper to the UNC eight-yard line.  On third down, he threw an illegal forward pass as he crossed the line of scrimmage for a five-yard penalty and a loss of down.  Beardall came on to convert a 35-yard FG to cut the UNC lead to 24-17.  The Utes held UNC and took the ball back on their 44 to start a drive for at least a tie, but on third and fourteen, Johnson fumbled and LB Tommy Richardson recovered for the Tar Heels at their own 19.  UNC garnered only a yard on its series before punting to the Utes for a fair catch on their own 35.  UNC P Dave Woolridge held the Utes to no return yards on his five punts this day averaging 39.8 per boot and keeping them high to force fair catches on each one. On the ensuing Utah drive, RB Quinto Ganther fumbled and Richardson recovered for the Heels again on is team’s 49-yard line.  Seven yards later, Baker fired a pass toward WR Jesse Holley, who focused on the ball as it was tipped, caught it on the right side and sped across and up the field to the left end zone where he seemed to slow down before taking the ball in for six.  With Barth’s PAT, the home team took a 31-17 lead with 5:11 left on the clock.  The fans in powder blue started to file out of Kenan.  The Utes drove to the UNC 39 before a pass break-up on fourth and five gave UNC the ball back right there.  The Tar Heels punted back, but another fumble by Johnson on a hard tackle by DE Melik Brown was recovered by UNC at the 31 of Utah.  UNC used up time as Utah used time-outs in what was already a three and one-half hour game due to 18 penalties, several wasted reviews ( I called the all correctly from my view above), and TV time-outs.  UNC gave the ball back on downs at the Utah 37, and time finally expired as the Utes had run out of TOs.  It was a good, exciting game.  Both teams had missed opportunities to score more often, but it was the improvement of the UNC defense from one year ago that was most noted in this game.  It will have to be ready again next week when it visits its last non-conference foe of the season, Louisville, who just slammed Florida Atlantic this weekend 61-10.  What Louisville team will show up for UNC though – this one or the one that was decimated by South Florida the week before? The Utes (3-2, 1-0) play their second conference game next week at Colorado State.  A preseason pick for the WAC title, we say that the Utes will not beat their prime conference competition, New Mexico, who we saw defeat Missouri, 45-35, earlier in the season.  If both teams are healthy, UNM’s balanced offense and good defense which has given Utah’s offense fits in the past several years will come out on top in their game at Salt Lake City on November 12.

 Extra Points:  The signs for parking off 54 West in Chapel Hill were confusing, and we ended up on the main drag in town, Franklin Street.  Failing to find street parking and finding that public lots were full, we lucked out when we saw a small sign for parking spaces at the Chapel Hill Museum.  They didn’t plan to have a lot of visitors that day, so it worked out well for us and for them as they make a little money on the side on game days.  It was closed when we went back as we found some other more worthwhile attractions first.  But now that we know where it is, we’ll have to plan some time there before our next UNC excursion.

     LB Tommy Richardson came up with 10 tackles along with his two fumble recoveries.  The senior replaced former starting LB and fellow senior Doug Justice, who was the team’s leading tackler until a foot injury against Wisconsin sidelined him for the season. JR LB Larry Edwards led the Tar Heels in tackles this game with 12.  We saw him play a great game his frosh year against Arizona State.  Supposedly, he had a sophomore jinx last season, but he may be coming around this year.  Here’s something unusual though.  Both he and starting RB Barrington Edwards share the same #32.  We can’t remember seeing two starters on the same team wear the same number! Not that Edwards would, but if the Heels ever wanted to put him on offense like ‘Cuse did with Diamond Ferri last year or BC does with LB/FB Greg Toal, would he be prevented because of having the number?  Our favorite name in college football, Jawarski Pollock, had three receptions for 29 yards.  He seemed to be hobbling still from a knee injury suffered against NC State the week before.

      Our Guest Game hosts for the weekend were our friends, Mary Jean and Bruce Shannon, who had us over for dinner and for the night at their home nearby, but couldn’t make it to the game with us since they had other plans with the kids this day. The entire family bleeds Tennessee Orange!  They were still thrilled and somewhat relieved by the Vols comeback on Monday night versus LSU.  They were rooting for ‘Bama to take it to the Gators this weekend, which they did.  The kids both know “Rocky Top” by heart and were proud to give us their renditions.  We hope to catch up with them for a future date at Neyland Stadium if we can work things out.  After we see all our teams play, we hope to focus on certain venues and rivalries we haven’t been to yet.

      It’s a long drive to Chapel Hill, so we found the Carolina Bar along Franklin for beers and appetizers before heading out to stay in the Richmond area on Saturday night.  We saw a few other places along Franklin that may have been of interest, but regretfully, didn’t have the time.  Next trip to Chapel Hill - Museum in the morning for culture, other places on Franklin at night for fun.

     We walked to the game with a student we met on Franklin who was nice enough to show us around the campus a little on our way and got us to a square where some of the pre-game festivities were taking place.  When we told him we were from NJ, he inquired if we were Duke fans.  We’re not, and told him as a matter of fact that we are Navy fans and would be at that game in Durham rooting for Navy had it not been at the same time to see UNC host our 99^th team. He said UNC people consider Duke the University of NJ at Durham since so many students are from Jersey.  I never knew that, but I guess enough people from up here can afford the $40,000, or whatever, tuition.  One of the biggest cheers at Kenan this day was when the score went up showing that Navy defeated Duke, 28-21.  Even though the Duke football program has been down many years, its still UNC’s primary rival, enflamed by the two schools’ basketball traditions and the mere nine miles between the two campuses. We'll watch for future DH opportunities between the two venues.