UNC Football: The Highs are Never as High as the Lows are Low.

I hate that saying.  I hate even more that its so true.  I capped off a very good family beach trip with the Elon v UNC game.  It was fun watching Gio Bernarddo his thing.  The defense looked very good.  We were playing Elon.  While conflicting, it was exciting.

September 15, 2012; Louisville, KY USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Larry Fedora during the second half of play against the Louisville Cardinals at Papa John

I never had an inkling Bernard may not play against Wake Forest.  Until he didn’t.  Ugh.  Suddenly Wake Forest showed the ability for a team to put together sustained drives against us, including the 93 yard game winning drive that put them up 28-27.  Renner got knocked out.  Literally.  We still had a shot and we were without arguably the two most important pieces of our offense.  Say that out loud if you wanna be Mr. Brightside.  (or Mrs. Brightside.  All are welcome here).  For me, the highlight of the weekend comes as a notation from a friend via text that read “In my fake football games, I am rooting both for and against Darren McFadden.  Wish me luck”

Then comes the Louisville game.  Woulda been great in basketball.  Turned out to be pretty tense there at the end too.  Below you can find the texts a friend of mine sent me.  I’ll time stamp them as best I can.

33 minutes into the game – “We are going to lose.  Badly.”

“Our first possession – punt.  Theirs – TD with little resistance.  Our 2nd possession – INT on second play.  Theirs – TD 1st play.  Down 12-0.  At least we can stop 2-pt conversions.”

“We just got a first down…and then snapped it 200 feet over Renner.  Now 2nd and 34.”

“Our 4th possession – fumble.  I mean, eventually you run out of bullets to shoot yourself in the foot with, don’t you?”

Fast forward to 6:30 PM EST.  “Shhh…we are threatening to make it interesting.  Blocked a UL punt, scored right away.  Down 11 with 9 minutes left.”

“Down 5 with 4 minutes to play!!”

“FUMBLE ON THE KICKOFF!!! UNC BALL!!!”

I’d like to take a minute to draw comparisons to the LSU game from two seasons ago.  I was in the Georgia Dome for both the worst and best game I’ve ever been to.  I sat through the first half in sheer misery as LSU couldn’t do anything wrong and UNC couldn’t do anything right.  I remember saying “If it weren’t for Johnny White out there killing himself playing 80 percent of the plays… I’m not leaving until he does.”

As we came to the end of the third quarter, it clicked.  “OHHHHHH.  I SEE.”  And in both games, we had a 4th and goal.  And in both games, we should have lost to a better team.  And in both games, one could argue a flag coulda/shoulda been thrown.  But it wasn’t.  But the circumstances were different.  I walked out of the Georgia Dome thinking “Man!  What a game!”.  But against Louisville, a team just as embattled did almost the same thing and my reaction was much like getting punched in the same place twice.  It hurt worse the second time.

I hope we figure it out on defense.  I know they are trying with all their might.  I’m proud of the offense.  They just kept going.  And they almost pulled it off.

Almost.  You know another saying I hate?  Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. It makes me want to throw horseshoes and hand grenades at people who say that.  More of the latter than the former if we’re being completely honest.  You know what saying I can get behind?

Enjoy the ride.  Lets see where this takes em.  We’ve come along way in 10 years.  You don’t get better overnight.  Its a painful process but I think the UNC football program is headed in the right direction.