There is nothing like a weekend in New England to get you in the Thanksgiving holiday mood! This past Saturday I called the North Carolina-Boston College game for ESPN radio and we had a good one. It didn’t start out that way, though, with the Tar Heels defense scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter after their offense had already put up seven points. It had the makings of a blowout, but the Eagles made a game of it. Ultimately, North Carolina put the game away with a late TD and won 31-13. There were ten turnovers in the contest, six by Boston College – and that brings me to my first point of the week. Do you know who Everett Withers is? Time’s up. He is the Tar Heels defensive coordinator and his troops have been a turnover machine the last few weeks. They have 12 interceptions in the last month and have scored a total of four touchdowns in the last two games.
Back in October North Carolina suffered a defensive collapse in a loss to Florida State. But they turned the season around the following Thursday night with a win at Virginia Tech. Withers’s game plan against Tyrod Taylor was superb and North Carolina has gone on to win four in a row after the debacle against the Seminoles. Everett Withers is a big reason why.
One more note on the Tar Heels. They need to get jacked up when they face NC State. The Wolfpack treat this like the game of the year and have proven it on the field. Last year I called this game for TV and when I talked with the NC State coaches before the contest you could tell that, for them, this was like Clemson vs South Carolina, Michigan-Ohio State, Auburn and Alabama. The Tar Heels acted like it was just another day at the office. Not that they didn’t care, but it was just another game, or so it seemed to me.
Here are a couple of funny quotes from our meeting with the BC players on the Friday before the contest with North Carolina. Mike McLaughlin is the Eagles middle linebacker. The senior told us that in last year’s game at North Carolina, Tar Heel wide receiver Hakeem Nicks “wrote his NFL contract on my back”. Nicks, now a rookie with the New York Giants, caught three TD passes and ran for a fourth in the North Carolina victory.
BC quarterback Dave Shinskie, a 25 year old freshman, talked about working with 69 year old offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill. Tranquill was on Woody Hayes staff at Ohio State in the late 60s and has also coached for Bill Belichick and Nick Saban, among others. Shinskie said Tranquill read a poem at a team meeting the day before about the “Mighty Casey”. Of course the poem ends with “there is no joy in Mudville, because the mighty Casey struck out.” Shinskie then looked at us and said, “Why would a dude write a poem about a guy who choked?” We had no answer.
As you give thanks this weekend and spend time with family and friends, please say a prayer for two staffers from NC State. Dana Bible, the offensive coordinator for the football team, is battling leukemia and Gary Hahn, the long time “Voice of the Wolfpack,” is fighting prostate cancer. May they be back on the sidelines and in the broadcast booth soon.
I’ve got a double header this weekend for ESPN Radio: Auburn hosts Alabama on Friday and USC faces UCLA on Saturday. Check your local listings. Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday.
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Agreed. Carolina is clearly the more talented team as compared to State, but the Wolfpack aren’t going to just hand it to the Heels this year. I haven’t seen UNC really get fired up pre-game this year (even against, say, VT). But when we watch this game, I’m hoping to see, as a Carolina fan, some passion coming from these players vs. State.
That was a breakdown of near-epic proportions. Like I said – NC State isn’t going to just hand it over. In fact, apparently Carolina can’t even hold on to it when it was theirs to keep. Sad.