Well, after blowing a monumental lead against a team that plays defense about as stiff as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, the North Carolina Tar Heels are in big trouble and could and very well be staying home in December to watch the basketball team wax Presbyterian by 70. Everything was set perfectly for a UNC win - a drunken and rowdy student body off on fall break, a full stadium for once, a nationally televised game, Lawrence Taylor and Julius Peppers on the sideline, and a Florida State team that tackles as well as Ashbrook High in Gastonia - but the Heels blew it. Now what?

What happened to that vaunted UNC defense? Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder ripped through that defense in the second half like a monkey on a cupcake. It was reminiscent of what Duke’s Thaddeus Lewis did to N.C. State.

It’s not just the fact that UNC is now winless and in DFL (dead effing last) in the Coastal Division, it’s that all that great and super talent that head coach Butch Davis is supposedly bringing to Chapel Thrill isn’t producing and it looks as though the unthinkable is going to happen - home for the holidays.

But is it unthinkable? Let’s look at the evidence, shall we? Dating back to last season, North Carolina is now 3-6 in its last nine games against Division I teams. Moreover, the Heels are 1-5 in their last six ACC games. That’s the ACC, which is not to be confused with the SEC.

Even so, North Carolina can still make a bowl, but it has to go 3-2 the rest of the way to qualify. Yes, the Heels have four wins, but two came against I-AA opponents and teams can only count one win against that level per season. So in essence, UNC has three bowl qualifying wins.

It’s still very possible the Heels could qualify for a bowl. Lucky for them they play in the atrocious ACC. They have five games remaining and two of them (Virginia Tech and Miami) are most certainly losses. However, the other three games are against Duke, Boston College and N.C. State. It is entirely possible UNC can win those three games.

But why is North Carolina so bad? Everyone knows that Davis is good for one or two losses every year due to his in-game coaching decisions. He did it at Miami, the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, and he’s already done it a few times with the Heels. However, there’s got to be more to it than that. Yes, the Heels have no offensive line, no receivers and no running backs. Well, I guess I just answered my own question. But truth be told, neither does Virginia, which spanked UNC.

All I know is that the two celebrated coaches that came to the Triangle together three seasons ago could very well be watching Duke in a bowl game this year. And to that I say, the only thing left that could be even more stunning is the Clemson basketball team winning in Chapel Hill.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 1:51 pm and is filed under UNC Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.