Sometimes as fans, or bloggers, we begin to think way ahead for our own good. We should really learn to work in the same way that the head coaches for the teams we follow do, and think one game at a time. It was not long ago, say a couple of weeks, that I was seeing this UNC football team making great strides and playing weel enough to get a nice bowl game. Fast forward to today at 3:30 pm EST, when North Carolina (5-3, 1-3 in the ACC) will meet up with Wake Forest (5-2, 4-1 in the ACC) in the friendly confine of Kenan Stadium, and a loss could put this squad in a state of collapse. With almost ten players for head coach Everett Withers’ out or doubtful it is not wonder that ESPN’s ACC Blogger Heather Dinich gives the edge to the Deamon Deacons, as does Andrew Jones from Fox Sports South. None of this truly helps this squad, who the Vegas insiders believe to be a touchdown favorite in this one. All of this does not bode well for a team that right now needs something, anything to go right with them. As quarterback Bryn Renner said this week…

“We’re a good team, we just have to start playing like it.”

The one silver lining, if you wish to call it that, is that for the first time in many decades Carolina will once again have a running back that rushed for over a 1,000 yards in a season. Tailback Giovani Bernard has already accumulated 811 yards (on 141 carries) and scored 9 touchdowns in the process. If you add in his receiving yards, 222 (on 30 catches), the young man has 1,033 overall for the season. Put that with the 703 yards (on 48 catches) with eight TDs from Dwight Jones and you can see that the offense is there to be a good team, as the young QB said, and now, today, in a game they need to win, the Tar Heels need to prove exactly that to the rest of the conference and especially to themselves. The first thing that must happen is that the turnovers must somehow stop, and UNC can not throw away scoring oppurtunities because of them. So, while we all knew or believe, the talent to be there, what I am not sure is if the power to overcome the turmoils off the field along with the ones on is there.

Let’s think about this for a minute, in the last year how much has this team as a whole, and these coaches and players, as individuals, have had to take in? From the initial scandal, to the John Blake issue, to the players not knowing if they would play or not, to the letting go of Marvin Austin, to the summer of hope that it was over that ended up with the firing of coach Butch Davis, to putting an interim tag on a coach that has to do above and beyond just to have a shot, to waiting on how the hearings in Indianapolis will go, to what type of sanctions will be handed down, to how much more I could say and have not! Physically players this age recoup like no one’s business, but mentally, that is another issue, especially when you add the fact that they are also still students. Now, I am not saying this to give them an excuse for their losses, or for what could happen today, I am saying it because like it or not, all that has been types here has gone on and affected most everyone on this team.

On the other hand, this game is basically a must win for Wake Forest, as no one would be able to catch Clemson if they were to get a two game lead in the Atlantic Division this late into the season. For North Carolina a win would put them two games behind Virginia Tech, but would keep them practically at the bottom of the Coastal Division, but would put them bowl eligible. So, both teams have plenty to play for, and what UNC truly needs, on both sides of the ball, is support, and that could be the difference today, as they play at home, hopefully to a packed stadium, and can have the energy of their fans help them out. In the end, with the team once again not doing well in the first quarter, I see North Carolina coming back and taking this one in a tight one, 28 to 27, using a balanced attack and with Bernard being less than 50 yards from the 4 digit mark in rushing.

As a side note, for a blogger like me, who lives so far away from the team I love, it is nice to see that they will be on the ESPN networks for the next three games, with the final one, against Duke, not yet scheduled for its game time.

While on the surface what happened in Kenan last Saturday was a loss for the Heels, the reality is that in those sixty minutes a lot more happened. With Miami (3-3, 1-2 in the ACC) taking down North Carolina (5-2, 1-2 in the ACC) 30 to 24 last weekend it brings many things into play. First and foremost, it does not put the Tar Heels bowl eligible, losing a game most believe they should have won. And while it is not the way to welcome in the new Athletic Director, Bubba Cunningham, who will replace Dick Baddour next month, this game could also be the one that could seal the fate of interim head coach Everett Whiters. While there was little chance that the coach would have gotten the job, if he had kept winning, you would have to imagine that the new AD would have to look at him as much as any other candidate. So, while for the fans this game was definitely what they were hoping for, the ones that look a bit past it, this game was a lot more than a “L” on the schedule.

The game began exactly like I thought it would not happen, or better said, as I hoped it should not happen, with Carolina struggling at the beginning and while the come back was great, it was not enough. Even with QB Bryn Renner, who has been added to the Manning Award Watch list, passing for 288 yards and two TDs and tailback Giovani Bernard going for 110 yards and a TD, the Tar Heels just could not come back from a 27-3 decifit late in the first half of play, down by two touchdowns before the offense ever saw the field. With all of that, UNC had a couple of shots at the Hurricanes’ end zone from the 30 and 37 yard line as time was running out. If I have to point out a negative on the offensive side of the ball, Renner seems to be thinking a bit too much while in the pocket. Even worst in all of this is that UNC had the ball seven more minutes than Miami, outgained their opponents by over 100 yards, but had 1 extra turnover than the ‘Canes, and that could have been the difference.

I guess in the end what this game truly shows that winning helps to cover the problems. This game was nothing much more than a Louisville game with more points. Sluggish, or use another name for it, is not the way this team should be on offense, and it’s not the way that they can do anything in the ACC if they want to go to a bowl game that matters. In the end, for North Carolina this game just brought up what some games before this one had shown but been forgotten because there was a “W” at the end of the sixty minutes. To add to this the last play of the game was just not what I would like to see when you have someone like Dwight Jones that can go up with the best for any jump ball. All in all this offense needs to figure out how to put up more points on the scoreboard, if they do that this squad can still be good enough to find seven or eight wins going into a bowl game, if not, welcome to early December bowl games.

Off the field, as the Athletic Director position changes hand, the NCAA meeting comes closer and closer, there is one more thing: ex head coach Butch Davis is trying to have his cellphone records be quashed. I truly thought that all of the things from last season would be behind us, but they aren’t, and I guess we will be going back to normal next year! On the other hand, as the old saying goes “nothing changes if nothing changes”, so, until all of the events are over and done we are still in the NCAA Violations mode. Hopefully that too will be finished soon and we can stop reading about anything else but the sport programs.

As the days go past the firing of the head football coach and we begin to look at both the upcoming season with the interim head coach, Everett Withers, and of course, as most fans do, at the bigger picture, which would be can Carolina get a big time name back to Chapel Hill, some thoughts come to mind. The first one is how long is the fan base going to stay divided on whether or not this was the right or wrong move, how long are we going to discuss the “why now” theory, how much will all of this detract from the fact that we all should be supporting the team no matter what, and most of all, is all of this going to cause UNC not to find a big time name coach for it’s gridiron program.

The was it right or wrong I doubt will ever go away, but I will say this about it, while I have read a lot of comments, on both side of the fence, I find it ironic that quite a few put this has being wrong and then say things like “we are not going to win because of it”. So, it is wrong because coach Davis should not have been fired, or, is it wrong cause now you will not see as many wins as you would like to? If it’s the first one, I compliment you, whether I agree or not with it, you are standing your ground. If it’s the second one, well, then the being mad at the events is for selfish reasons, and that, I am sorry, I can not compliment you on!

The “why now” is still one that will circle for a long time. As I said, my humble theory, is that the firing had to do a lot with the BOT meeting, the first one since the NCAA finally sent over the results. Add to it, that unlike myself, or most of the fans/bloggers/add who you want here, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill probably has a lot of people that are feeling the pulse of many things, such as: boosters, recruits, NCAA people, behind the scenes personnel, and so on and so forth. I doubt it that if any of these sources had told the school that making this move would be dumb that coach Davis would be gone today. But I am sure he would have been gone eventually. I guess we could say that the Tar Heels didn’t take a new road in firing the head coach of the football program, they just ended the journey prematurely for some and late for others.

And of course this leads us to another question/opinion that has a lot of people, both from the fan base and from other sources, chirping this week: how much will all of this detract from the team? In my opinion, if we cut it now, it won’t. The team has still to report, the pieces are all still here, the reality that the squad can win has not been shattered. There is no new offensive playbook, or a new D Coordinator, all the coaches are there, with the exception of the head coach. However, and this is key to me, if the fan base keeps pushing the “boycotts” of sorts, be it from games, buying stuff or whatever else, then this is going to become a distraction and guess what, the players that did nothing wrong will suffer from it. Cause no one is really thinking about that, are they now? The fact that with coach Davis’ departure basically all the components having to do with the NCAA investigation are gone. Yes, Butch Davis was never mentioned, but we do love to talk about the head coach of UK basketball and how he shady and he has never been mentioned either, right?

Finally, the big time name and how come he won’t come to UNC…

And to that I will just say: “let’s wait and see, and let’s not make the snap judgement cause you think you are right”. Carolina has proven to want to add to its football program, to the facilities, to the stadium. Now it has proven that it took a bold, brash move to make sure that the program and the school, keep flying right. In my opinion, and yes, bias as well, this job could be a dream job for many, including coaches with a proven track record of winning. Time will tell, and maybe our new interim coach will do a good enough job to get more than one year, and if that happens, I will support him as well, because in the end this is my school, I love it, I will back it 100%, cause that is the way I am!

Now that all of us have breathed some and maybe the boiling blood as lowered just a bit let me take some time to say some things that maybe, just maybe, had I said when this whole mess had come out would have been taken every which way but loose (sorry for the bad movie pun). I have read way too many threads, posts and tweets about how Holden Thorpe should be sent packing, how he did this, that and the other. You want to believe this, you go right ahead, but I do not! I do not for a second believe this was his decision, I could believe that he gave his input, as it should be, but definitely this came from way above him.

Let’s think about this, the chancellor had given his support to the head coach, coach Davis seemed very confident at the ACC kick-off event, not worried whatsoever about anything of this type. But, along came something not many are remembering now, the first meeting of the board of trustees, which had new members I believe, since the NCAA had given the notice of allegations to the college. There is a rumor, tweeted by someone which I value his opinion, that says it was the BOT that had the call on this.

Let’s think about this: if the chancellor had this idea before now wouldn’t have been preparing himself for a successor to coach Davis? Yet, Mr. Thorp didn’t have the name of the interim at the day after presser where Athletic Direct Dick Baddour decided to call it quits after forty five years at the University. Someone who had this plan in place for more than a day would have had someone ready, in his mind at least, to take over for Butch Davis. Instead, as we have seen, it took a bit more time, which to me is very telling. Also, had this plan been ready before the BOT meeting do we not believe that a “media mess fixer” would have been set in place as well? Anyone that watches the national shows, listens to the radio both national and local and reads the net, knows that no such plan was put in place!

I know this humble post of mine is not going to stop what seems the avalanche that this whole thing has created, but I am hoping that at least, for me, this is a way to show that I trust the people who are running the college I love. We are Carolina, we believe in the Carolina Way and Family, this is the time to prove those words, and I hope as a fan base we can show that in the coming weeks and months!

So, it seems that the events continue to unfold at Carolina, first Athletic Director Dick Baddour announcing his retirement, but will stay on to face the NCAA on this whole mess about the football program, and then the naming of Everett Withers, the defensive coordinator, as the interim head coach. What does it all mean? For me, easily enough, just one thing: “like it or not it’s time to move on from this”. Yes, it’s time that we begin to pick up the pieces and move on with our lives as UNC fans, cause the more we linger on this the more it’s just going to make the ABC’ers and haters love it!

You can see here, whether you believe it or not, that the AD was still part of this:

University of North Carolina Chancellor Holden Thorp and Director of Athletics Dick Baddour have named Everett Withers interim head football coach, effective immediately.

In the end, when you think about it, with the time left before the pre-season begins, this was the right choice. It is now time for the fans to stop all the rest and get behind this team, since they have done nothing wrong to anyone. And, since I been seeing this around the web boards being talked about, to all those of the national media that are bashing the way this all went down, I can understand it. However, I like to know this from them: when are you going to come on your shows, be it on the television or on the radio and admit when you were wrong about this, that and the other? I thought so!

As the story developed about head coach, or should I say now ex head coach, Butch Davis and the possibility of his firing I thought of one thing: “Tom’s BBQs“. Ok, bare with me and you will understand. Tom is a friend of mine, who always seems to do the right things, like have people over for sausage sandwiches or chicken or just hamburger and hot dogs, but decides to do it on the worst days, or to put it into a more UNC related like meaning, at the worst times. And just like poor Tom, the University of North Carolina choose the wrong time to do this, but, did they do the wrong thing at the end of the line? That question in my opinion will never be answered unless all of the information is released and we can see past the “maybe this happened” or “that could have occured”.

Right now, as of this moment, I do not know which side of the fence I am on, and not to want to be one without a comment, but this is a shock for many, including me. But I will say this: it was a shock to many but many, due to the timing, not the decision. Let’s stop a second and think about this as if it weren’t UNC, as if head coach Butch Davis might have been someone that coached, say basketball, in a small school in the northeast, then gone to a decent school in a bad conference and finally ended up at a power house school, one with the most wins ever in that sport, and tell me if the decision not to let him go would not have been on everyone’s lips? By this I just mean, are some of us, any of us, all of us, looking at this more because he was coaching the school we root for, the one we love, or are we looking at it as what happened? With USC, then OSU, then one of the schools in our own conference it just seemed to me that this would happen, my thought it would be at the end of this season, not at the beginning.

Like it or not, with the media searching for anything and everything in today’s day and age, I am sure that the same “job status” question would have been posed on a week in, week out basis. That, again, like it or not, believe it or not, want it or not, would become each and every time more of a distraction, not just for Davis, but for the staff and more importantly, for the team itself. Rumors would begin and each and every press conference someone would be asking about it, then more and more would dig and finally it would get to where the team was being asked more about what is going to happen to their coach, than what is going to happen on the field on Saturday! Yes, it’s true, the stories are flying today, but we are not in the middle of the season, and let’s remember this, this team went through turmoil, national media wide turmoil, on how they had all these future NFL stars sitting out the season a year ago, so to say this is going to be any bigger I would disagree completely with.

The other piece of the puzzle that might calm down the angry mob is that with this avalanche that the Chancellor dropped on us yesterday another member of the Athletic Department might fall, AD Dick Baddour. From the many posts I have read on this topic this sacraficial lamb of sort might just turn the negative into a positive. I have to say that I am truly not so concerned with this, as far as I can understand of the college sports scene any big time coach that the Tar Heels are looking to bring in will have to have assurance from way above the position of AD that he is going to have a fair shake at building, or re building, this program. Let’s face it here, with coach Brown the school showed they didn’t want to give the money to be a big time school, here, they can ill afford to show now that they will pull triggers for the sake of doing so anytime they feel like it. The man who comes into Chapel Hill has to know that if he does the right things noone will sand bag him for it.

In the end, this is going to be a nightmare for the school and the lines have been drawn, just check out twitter or any web board. It is up to Carolina now to show it’s fans and the entire college football landscape that the move they made is one that was done for the good of all and for the right reasons. If not, this is just going to be another cloud over the program that will linger a lot longer than it should!

As I continue to deal with real life problems (which if you follow me on twitter you will know of) let me get a post about the future as far as the North Carolina football team is concerned. On NFL.com there is an article about the Top 100 prospects for the 2012 NFL Draft. At number three, the first non QB, is a Tar Heel, Quinton Coples, a defensive lineman at his last season in the college ranks. Another UNC player, also on the defensive side of the ball for head coach Butch Davis’ team, line backer Zach Brown. He is a junior, and is looked at as the 27th player. At the 38th spot, once again a defensive player, is Donte Paige-Moss, a junior DL.

In all Carolina has three players in the top 50 and another two in the second fifthy including one on the offensive side. As we all know, seeing what happened last season, all these lists are great but with plenty of games to be played, by the end of the season none of these players could be where they are now. So, while I am hoping to see more from North Carolina, I know that it will be a long time before we know if anything will be as it is now. But, as I do with all the Tar Heels, let me wish all of the players, be the ones on this list or their team mates, the best of luch for the upcoming season.

I thought that the National Football League Draft would be the day(s) where the past for the Football team would begin to fade away and it would be time to begin focusing only on the pre-season. Was I wrong in that! As I posted a couple of days ago, Brendon Felder has left the program due to family issues. Now, reading around the internet three more players have made their way out of Chapel Hill. The worst of the three seems to be DL James McAdoo, who has been taken off the team due to “violating team rules”, and if the many hints going around are true, that would mean McAdoo not playing football next season might be the least of his problems. On the other hand, for those of us that follow the football team, we know this isn’t the first rodeo for the defensive tackle.

Head coach Butch Davis wished nothing but the best for Felder, saying this (from a WRAL article)…

“Brendon’s family is going through some tough times,” Davis said. “His grandmother is sick and he wanted to be closer to the family for support.”

Herman Davidson, a linebacker, is also transfering from North Carolina, but for now nothing is known as to where he is headed, or for that matter, why the move. While another LB is also not going to play for the Tar Heels, as Shane Mularkey has decided to no longer play football. Mularkey underwent season ending surgery last season after just playing in a couple of games. From what I read of the young man this was not the only injury, and Inside Carolina (of Scout.com) marked the sophomore’s career as “plagued with injuries”. The young man said the following…

“It’s just me accepting the fact that my body can’t take it anymore.”

You really can not argue with that, can you? I know I can not, and of course I wish him the best of luck! As far as the two players transfering I wish them the best as well. For McAdoo I hope, if what is being said is true, that has finally hit bottom and can take this and turn it from a negative to a positive. It’s a sad to see someone like him, with god given talent, to waste it in such a shameful way. Almost ironic how two different players, Mularkey and McAdoo, both who will not play football next season for coach Davis, are doing it so in such different ways.

As we all know North Carolina for many years was Running Back University, having a 1,000 rusher each season for over a quarter of a century. Now it’s been over a decade that this has happened, and for an old Heel like myself, I like to see that type of game come back to Chapel Hill. So, when I see some information about a back thinking about coming to UNC I always like to look into it. As I did my internet walkthrough this morning I found this tid bit about Greg Garmon, a 6’1″/190 lbs running back from Pennsylvania, who ran for 1,125 yards on 141 carries (8.7 yds per carry) with 11 touchdowns. The 2012 grad is listed by Scout has a four star recruit, with 19 teams interested in him, 18 having offered him a scholarship. Besides head coach Butch Davis some of the other programs looking at the young man are: FSU, Michigan, Penn State, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

From a site named Victory Bells Rings it says that right now Carolina is the leader to get the young man, with the other ACC team, Florida State, also being a “player” in the recruitment for his services. Other schools in the mix, as the RB looks to narrow his choices to 5, are Penn State and Michigan. One thing that is very interesting is that only three months ago Garmon didn’t have anywhere close to the offers he has now. Penn Live, on 02/19/11, said that the player from PA had seven, now, less than 90 days later, has close to three times as many. Good thing is that North Carolina was one of the seven that offered back then.

While I will not hold my breath, since we all know how recruiting works, I am definitely going to keep an eye on this young man. Here is a YouTube video of the young man in action…

As T.J. Yates begins the next chapter of his football career as a Texans there are some quotes from his new head coach, Gary Kubiak, and the scouting director for the Houston franchise. Yates, who you can follow on twitter under the name TJ_Yates, has the following message on his twitter page: Houston Texans QB, Tar Heel for life. I am extremely happy for this young man, who no one thought would be an NFL Draft pick ljust twelve months ago, is now on his way of getting a chance to play on Sundays. Will he become a starter in the National Football League? Only time will tell, but on the other hand a lot of people figured that he would not even start last season for Carolina, so I would not bet against him!

Here is the quote from his head coach…

Dougherty: “North Carolina quarterback T.J. Yates studied your offense in college. How often do you hear that?”

Kubiak: “It doesn’t happen very often any more in college, because there’s a bunch of spread football going on. Those type of things. He just happened to play for a coordinator that came from pro football a couple of years ago in John Shoop who we know very well. For him, walking in our meeting room the first day, whenever that is, and we put in ‘Flanker Drive’, which is one of our top pass plays in our offense, T.J. will know what’s going on. He won’t have to ask. So that’s a very comfortable situation, and we’re very happy to have him.”

And the quote from the scouting director…

Strahm: “Awesome young man. He’s from Marietta, Georgia. Three-and-a-half year starter, captain, natural drop-back mechanics. Got very good size at 6-3, 220 pounds. Trained in a pro-style offense. A lot of the tape work that he’s done in his career has been off of our quarterback and our system. Great, great leader. A quiet leader in that he’s more of a leader by example, about fighting through tough things. Not as vocal, but he’ll get out there and the team tremendously follows him. He’s got deep-ball ability, understands the passing game, very bright. Got great game management skills, which we really like. Led the team to eight victories this year, and you say, ‘Well, what does that really mean? He should, shouldn’t he?’ Well, you have to remember they had nine kids drafted off that team, and a lot of those kids didn’t even play this season. So there’s a lot of turmoil, and that’s when you really find out about somebody. When stuff’s falling all around you, how can you stand in the heat and take the battle and find a way to win? Well, this young man did that. Has got a big upside. He’s got a short learning curve. He fits our offense extremely well. Has a great play clock in his head. Big upside with this young man.”

I have to admit that while I can not stand the pre-season schedule of pro football, and this year there might be none, I am looking forward to seeing Yates take to the field. Maybe I am falling for a “feel good” story, but why not? Why can’t it be, that for once, the good guys do come in first? Last year, with the team surrounded by a lot of question marks and a huge dark cloud it was the senior QB that was the person that kept this squad together. So, for this old Heel, let me thank T.J. for what he did at UNC and wish him all the best at the next level!