DTH Sport Saturday
Delay of Game
Open It Up
With the UNC defense allowing more than 30 points per game, the offense needs to score more to keep up the pace.
There’s no secret why North
Carolina has lost three of its last
four games: UNC hasn’t been
able to stop anybody defensively.
Those four opponents lit up the
scoreboard, averaging 39.5 points, and
the Tar Heels are yielding 30.2 points
per game overall.
It’s unlikely that the defense will
experience a dramatic change and
start putting the clamps on opponents.
And it’s tough to win if you can’t
stop anybody.
Yet it can be done. It happens every
Sunday. And the people of St. Louis
love it.
The Rams are easily the NFL’s best
team, but it’s not like they’re shutting
Sport Saturday
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flying c
“It didn’t work, so obviously it’s not a good
call. If it had worked, I would have been
one of the smartest coaches in the world.”
- UNC coach Carl Torbush on the botched
fake punt in last week’s loss to N.C. State.
“If we don’t pick up the blitz, it’s going to hurt
us. But if we pick up the blitz, then I think it’s
going to hurt them. They’re going to blitz and
do well at blitzing at times, and they’re going
to get caught in the blitz. Hopefully we can
make them pay for blitzing.”
- UNC quarterback Ronald Curry sees how
many times he can say “blitz” in one answer.
DTH Picks of the Week
Hie DTH Sport Saturday staff and one celebrity pick the winners of the biggest college football games each week. This week, Toronto Raptors point guard
Mark Jackson takes time out from throwing alley-oops to Vince Carter to assist us as the guest picker. One problem: none of us got any hips.’
Picks of the Week is a football thing. We’re
gridiron experts, not exactly wise in the ways of
the hardwood.
So Coach says we have to shoot free throws
after practice till we arf.
James “Player/Coach” Giza and T. “Pick ‘n’
Roll” Nolan Hayes got that jump shot down last
week, checking in at 9-3.
Will “Box Out” Kimmey and Matt “Ball
Movement” Terry couldn’t do better than some
dude from the Czech Republic.
At 8-4, Hurricanes center Josef “Short
Shorts” Vasicek showed some North American
savvy, keeping the guest pickers (unfortunately)
a lay-up away from the overall lead.
Mike “Bounce Pass” Ogle ran suicides by
himself last week at 7-5.
Rachel “Taking the Charge" Carter and Bret
“Triple-Threat Position” Strelow are building
houses with their respective bricks, tossing up
ugly-looking 6-6’s.
Mark Jackson looks at us and laughs.
people out every week. The Rams’
defense is downright offensive, giving
up 29.0 points per game.
Just three NFL teams allow more
points per game than the Rams, and
the combined record of the 49ers,
Falcons and Chargers is 2-17.
The only reason these teams rank
worse than the Rams in terms of
points allowed is because they’ve all
faced the Ram offense.
That creative, pass-all-day-long-and
mto-the-night offense makes up for the
defensive deficiency by scoring a mind
blowing for 43.7 points per game.
It’s time for Rams football at UNC.
Obviously, North Carolina doesn’t
have Kurt Warner, Issac Bruce and
“I think the problem is today so many high
flying dunkers. The highlights they should
be showing are basketball plays, and
they’re not because they’re not as pretty as
a windmill dunk. I enjoy watching the guy
who set the back screen for the windmill
dunk. Point him out.”
- Toronto Raptors point guard Mark Jackson, who
apparently can’t throw down a windmill dunk.
“It actually came down between here and
Clemson. But I thought they were a little bit
too close to home, and I hate orange.”
- UNC defensive tackle Ryan Sims, one of the
only athletes to avoid a college partially because
of an aversion to a secondary color.
T. Nolan Will Rachel Mike Bret James Matt Mark
Hayes Kimmey Carter Ogle Strelow Giza Tferry Jackson
Last Week 9-3 8-4 6-6 7-5 6-6 9-3 8-4 8-4
Record (59-25).702 (53-31).631 (57-27).679 (61-23).726 (47-37).56Q (58-26).69Q (49-35).583 (58-26).690
Clemson at UNC Clemson Clemson Clemson Clemson UNC Clemson Clemson UNC
Duke at Ga. Tech Ga. Tech Ga. Tech Ga. Tech Ga. Tech Duke Ga. Tech Ga. Tech Ga. Tech
UVa. at Florida St. FSU FSU FSU FSU Virginia FSU FSU FSU
Wake at Maryland Maryland Maryland Maryland Maryland Wake Maryland Maryland Maryland
Va. Tech at Syracuse Va. Tech Va. Tech Va. Tech Va. Tech Syracuse Va. Tech Va. Tech Va. Tech
Notre Dame at W. Va. Notre Dame Notre Dame Notre Dame W. Va. W. Va. Notre Dame Notre Dame Notre Dame
Purdue at Wisconsin Wisconsin Wisconsin Purdue Wisconsin Purdue Purdue Wisconsin Purdue
Boston Coll, at Pitt. Pittsburgh BC Pittsburgh BC BC Pittsburgh BC BC
Mich. St at Mich. Michigan Michigan Michigan Michigan Mich. St. Michigan Michigan Michigan
Alabama at Tenn. Tennessee Alabama Tennessee Tennessee Alabama Tennessee Tennessee Alabama
Arizona at Oregon Oregon Oregon Oregon Oregon Arizona. Oregon Oregon Oregon
Oregon St at UCLA UCLA Oregon St. Oregon St. UCLA Oregon St. UCLA UCLA UCLA
Kickoff
Marshall Faulk to bring in off the bench.
But it does have an exceptionally
athletic quarterback with a strong arm
in Ronald Curry and a stable of
speedy wideouts.
It’s time to open things up in a big
way. Shotgun formation every down.
Four wide. One back. Throw, throw,
throw, throw. And after that, throw
some more.
Curry can still take his usual scram
bles, gaining about 10 yards a pop
because the defense will need more
defensive backs to cover all the
receivers. That would also open up
the middle for draw plays by Curry
and the tailback, who would other
wise block and catch swing passes.
Saturday, October 21, 2000
Detractors say gimmick offenses
like this never work. Tell that to the
guy on the other sideline today.
Tommy Bowden employed a pass
happy offense for two seasons at
Tulane. The Green Wave averaged
39.7 points per game during the two
seasons he coached. But the proof lies
in the wins and losses. Tulane went 4-
18 in the two seasons before Bowden,
18-4 in two years with him.
Bowden’s done the same thing for
Clemson, resurrecting a team that
went 3-8, scoring 19.8 points a game
in 1998, the year before he arrived.
The ’99 Tigers averaged 26.8
points and improved to 6-6. This sea
son, Bowden’s offense is posting 43.9
AP Top 15
Team Record Pts Pvs
1. Nebraska (66) 6-0 1.770 1
2. Virginia Tech (D 6-0 1,656 3
3. Oklahoma (4) 6-0 1,603 8
4. Miami (Fla.) 4-1 1,546 4
5. Clemson 7-0 1,523 5
6. Florida St. 6-1 1,439 7
7. Oregon 5-1 1,290 9
8. Florida 6-1 1,242 10
9. Washington 5-1 1,147 11
10. Kansas St 6-1 1,118 2
11. 5-0 1,042 12
12. Georgia 5-1 898 14
13. Mississippi St. 4-1 865 15
14. Ohio St. 5-1 854 6
15. Southern Miss 5-1 845 16
16. Michigan 5-2 737 18
17. Purdue 5-2 586 21
18. South Carolina 6-1 517 24
19. Oregon st. 5-1 493 23
20. Notre Dame 4-2 458 20
21. Arizona 5-1 378 22
22. Minnesota 5-2 227 NR
23. UCLA 4-2 210 13
24. N.C State S-1 183 NR
25. Northwestern 5-2 146 17
Others receiving votes: Texas 134, Auburn 74,
Colorado St 25, lowa St. 19, Western
Michigan 16, Arizona St. 10, Tennessee 9,
Alabama 5, Toledo 4, Air Force 2, Pittsburgh
2, Louisville 1, Wisconsin 1
3
By Will Kimmey
SPORTSATURDAY EDITOR
per game and is 7-0.
Clemson QB Woodrow Dantzler
and Curry are very similar players.
The UNC wideouts are at least equal
to the Tiger receivers.
Even if it doesn’t work, at least it
would be fun to watch.
But what if it worked?
North Carolina, an offensive jug
gernaut. It could happen. And it
would be beautiful. The Tar Heels as
the college version of the Rams.
UNC’s already off to a good start.
It has the right mascot roaming the
sideline on a leash.
Will Kimmey can be reached at
wk@unc.edu.
DTH Top 25
Team Record Pts Pvs
1. Virginia Tech (24) 6-0 1,440 2
2. Nebraska (12) 6-0 1,416 1
3. Oklahoma (18) 6-0 1,404 8
4. Clemson (6) 7-0 1,326 7
5. Miami 4-1 1,278 3
6. Florida St. 6-1 1,224 5
7. Oregon 5-1 1,098 9
8. Florida 6-1 1,032 13
9. Washington 5-1 990 10
10. Mississippi St. 4-1 834 14
11. 5-0 810 11
12. Kansas St 6-1 792 4
13. Southern Miss 5-1 738 15
14. Ohio St. 5-1 666 6
tl 5. Michigan 5-2 594 17
tls. Georgia 5-1 594 16
17. Purdue 5-2 564 21
18. South Carolina 6-1 432 22
19. Oregon SL 5-1 372 19
20. Arizona 5-1 366 NR
21. N.C. State S-1 318 23
22. Notre Dame 4-2 312 20
23. Minnesota 5-2 306 NR
24. Northwestern 5-2 156 16
25. UCLA 4-2 102 12
Others receiving votes: Cotra Jackson 94,
Auburn 54, Texas 36, Alabama 12, Tennessee
12, Meat Watch 10, Garth Joseph 9, Western
Michigan 8, Riding the White Horse 5,
Leigh Ann Merryman 3, Penn St. 2. Idaho 1