DTH SPORTSATURDAY | 10/4/08
SPORTSATURDAY
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DTH SPORTS EDITOR
POWELL LATIMER,
DANIEL PRICE, JOE
MCLEAN
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MIKE EHRLICH
SPORTSATURDAY EDITOR
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SPORTSATURDAY DESIGN
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Cover photo: DTH File Photo
During the Week...
Monday
7:00 am Monday Press Conference with Coach Davis
Tuesday
7:00 PM Butch Davis LIVE
Thursday
7:00 PM The official kickoff with Jeff Hamlin
THE MOST COMPLETE COVERAGE OF UNC FOOTBALL ON THE AIR!
Davis living up to expectations
Credit Cameron Sexton with saving
the Butch Davis bubble.
Before last Saturday, quarter
back T. J. Yates’ absence hung over North
Carolina’s season like a plague. With the
starter out from a foot fracture for most
of the season, the Tar Heels’ 2-1 record at
the time looked like the farthest beyond
.500 UNC might get this year.
No. 1 backup Mike Paulus had shown
nothing except the ability to throw the
game away, and an offseason full of hype
had dissolved into the Kenan Stadium turf.
But out of the deep end of the depth
chart, Sexton came through, and UNC
climbed out of a 14-point deficit
And Davis delivered exactly the kind
of exhilarating win that UNC needed.
Davis’ expectations had been balloon
ing since his hiring as the head coach in
Nov. 2006. It didn’t matter that he was
a complete outsider whose last visit to
Chapel Hill had been to pick up his son
Drew from golf camp the new coach
(and his resume) commanded loyalty.
He rebuilt Miami into a title-winning
program, and he would rebuild here, too.
The UNC athletic department was the
first to pledge allegiance. A 4-8 record
through his first dozen games at UNC?
Dick Baddour gave him a $291,000 raise
DELAY OF GAME
JOE MCLEAN
I GOT MY NAME ON THAT CAKE
and a one-year contract extension.
At the time, UNC fans were ticked. A
Daily Tar Heel letter to the editor called for
an end to money “lavished on UNC’s tro
phy coaches.” An editoral a day later sug
gested the program would “be better off
letting him go and finding someone who is
more committed to actually rebuilding our
program.” Both compared it to the ulti
mate UNC groaner tuition increases.
But soon enough, fans began to hop on
board with Davis. In 2007, the season
opener was sold out In 2008, all 36,250
season tickets were sold before mid-July.
And the bubble kept inflating.
Yates showed up on a sleeper list for
the Heisman. The Tar Heels were picked
second in the ACC Coastal Division, and
expectations continued to rise.
With 18 returning starters, all signs
pointed to this being the year Davis would
- sagrclasßE'
Pre-Game
4:00 pm Countdown to Kick Off with Ron Stutts
5:00 pm Off the Top Sports, Live from Top of the Hill
6:oopm Tar Heel Sports Network Pre-Game
Post-Game
10:00pm Tar Heel Sports Network Post-Game Show
11:00PM Ham’s Postgame Party
KICKOFF
shine. The streak of six years without a
winning record was history, we thought
A mediocre performance against
McNeese State let a little air out but the
44-12 Rutgers showcase on Thursday night
national TV more than made up for it
But two weekends ago, the balloon of
hype was nearly deflated. UNC blew a
14-point lead and lost at home against
Virginia Tech, supposedly its only rival for
the division title. Yates was out and the
redshirt freshman Paulus threw two inter
ceptions in his first meaningful playing
time in collegiate football.
The Tar Heels even had 14 penalties for
121 yards, and who else could the blame
fall on but Davis and the coaching staff?
So against Miami, the whole bundle of
expectations was get this expected
to burst The Tar Heels were underdogs
against Davis’ former school on a year
when the Hurricanes were on the upswing.
Instead, they turned it into a 4-point
victory. Call it a gift from John Bunting
though Sexton’s 242-yard, two-touchdown,
zero-interception comeback was unlike
most games he had in the Bunting era.
The win took UNC one step closer to a
winning season and a bowl bid. But more
importantly, it puts some more weight
behind those hopes we all had for Davis.
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