2011 North Carolina Media Guide
Issue link: http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/39383
MUSIC MEN By: Lee Pace chores--specifically the effort its special teams puts into blocking extra points and field goals. It has always struck me watching from the sidelines that no matter how much Davis and his defensive coaches might be irked that the Heels just surrendered a touchdown, they are every bit as intense and precise in signaling the kick-rush call into the defense and watching the ensuing play as they are during any routine snap. “Are you going to lie down and give them the kick?” Davis muses. “Or are you going to get off the ground after giving up a touchdown, dust yourself off and give a hundred percent and try to block one? You never know when that one point will make a difference.” As Tennessee took the ball with 1:36 to play, Tar Heel tailback Shaun Draughn slumped deadly still on the bench, his torso bent forward, his head buried in his hands. Dwight Jones shrugged off consolation pats from several teammates after having dropped a fourth-down pass that ended what appeared to be the Tar Heels’ last gasp attack. Quarterback T.J. Yates was numb and despondent: He had thrown for 9,330 yards over four years and apparently the numbers stopped cold, then and there. “A lot of guys didn’t realize we’d get a second chance, myself in- cluded,” Yates admitted an hour later. But on one end of the Tar Heel bench, offensive line coach Sam Pitt- man told his players to keep loose, keep their heads in the game. “All we need is three,” Pittman said. “All we need is three.” Three points and not four, thank you very much Donte Paige-Moss. Tar Heel coach Butch Davis has mentioned at times over his four years at Carolina that a team’s moxie can be defined in the most remote of TarHeelBlue.com • 103 It certainly did on this night as Paige-Moss blocked the Vols’ point- after following their score with 5:16 to play. Thus the Heels could tie the game if they could forge into the neighborhood of Tennessee’s 30-yardline, giving ace kicker Casey Barth ample room to ply his sneaky long leg and icy veins. Pittman’s thinking was simple: “We hit them fast and hit them hard at the end of the first half, no reason we couldn’t do it again,” he said, referring to Carolina’s five-play, 72-yard drive in one minute’s time that ended with a scrambling Yates hitting Erik Highsmith for a 39- yard touchdown. Upstairs in the coaches’ box, offensive coordinator John Shoop was at first morose, thinking the game was over. But as Tennessee’s of- fensive possession unfolded and it became apparent the Vols were going to run the ball and try nothing flashy, he had second thoughts. Tennessee had accomplished squat on the ground all night: less than 30 yards rushing and only three first downs. No reason to think that trend would change now. paragraphs Thursday night on their laptops in the press area above LP Field: T The wire ser ennessee freshman T Thursday night. The T th Carolina in the Franklin American Mor , to lift the V three touchdowns, the last an eight-yarder to Justin Hunter with just over five minutes to play Nor vice guys were already clicking out their lead yler Bray passed for 292 yards and ennessee band was striking up the school’ and the denizens swathed in orange were clearing their throats for yet another stanza: Once two strangers climbed on rocky top lookin’ for a moonshine still; strangers ain’ they never will. olunteers to a 20-17 victor tgage Music City Bowl s Rocky T y over t come back from rocky top, guess op fight song,