Salisbury Post Online:  Local news, weather, sports and more!
Serving historic Rowan County, North Carolina since 1905.

Tar Heels hit rock bottom against Furman

BY MIKE LONDON
SALISBURY POST

Empty seats outnumbered full ones at the 1:30 kickoff, perhaps because Tar Heel fans anticipated a huge mismatch against 1-AA foe Furman.

Those fans were right on the money. It was a mismatch, all right, although not necessarily the one they had imagined.

Because, at this moment, North Carolina (1-7) has as much chance of beating the Paladins (7-1) as Pat Buchanan has of being elected president.

Furman destroyed coach Carl Torbush’s reeling Heels 28-3. And the Heels’ sixth straight loss really wasn’t even that close.

“We felt coming up here that we’d win if we played well,” said Furman coach Bobby Johnson, who had a smile as wide as the holes that Paladin back Louis Ivory romped through all afternoon. “Obviously, though, we didn’t think we’d be winning 28-3.”

It was North Carolina’s first loss ever to a 1-AA school. It was Furman’s first win over a 1-A school since it stunned N.C. State in 1985.

The Heels had bigger stacks of high school press clippings than the kids that Furman can coax into coming to school in Greenville, S.C., but the Heels were out-fought, out-thought and even outmuscled by the mystery guests wearing white and purple.

North Carolina’s sorry quarterback situation has been well-documented. The season-ending injury to Ronald Curry and an illness that knocked out Antwon Black left the Heels with two options on Saturday.

Luke Huard who throws OK, but can’t move enough to survive behind a weak offensive line and tailback-turned-QB Domonique Williams, who moves OK, but can’t throw.

“I’m not gonna make excuses,” said Torbush. “I haven’t made them and I won’t start now. You play with what you got and right now, they’re what we’ve got. They played hard.”

But the only Tar Heel whom Torbush called “productive” was punter Brian Schmitz, and that obviously was a mixed blessing.

So hapless was the Tar Heel offense that Schmitz had to boom nine punts.

“We’re searching,” admitted Torbush. “At a number of places.”

Furman’s Johnson on the other hand, isn’t searching. He’s already found outstanding players at quarterback (Justin Hill), running back (Ivory) and receiver (Des Kitchings) and has a tough defense anchored by a bunch of guys too small to interest ACC teams.

Furman, the leader in the Southern Conference, scored three first-half TDs and none were flukes. The Paladins went 73, 80 and 90 yards on a Heel defense that was once feared.

The basic Paladin play was the 5-11 Hill keeping on the option or pitching to Ivory. Furman chewed up yardage so consistently and the Heels missed so many tackles (Torbush counted eight on one play), that Carolina’s defensive backs had to cheat ever closer to the line of scrimmage.

When they were suckered in sufficiently, Hill went deep, exploiting one-on-one coverage on Kitchings.

Kitchings, a lithe 177-pounder, burned the Heels, gathering in perfect pegs for scoring strikes of 49 and 60 yards.

The Paladins were delighted to learn that the same stuff that works against The Citadel and VMI works just fine against the Heels, too.

“We executed great,” said Johnson. “We’ll run, run and run and when you get tired of that we’ll try for a big play. Sometimes the gamble pays off.”

Carolina got into Furman territory three times in the second half, but on all three occasions failed to convert a fourth-down play.

The Tar Heels only points on the awful afternoon came on Josh McGee’s 36-yard field goal, which made it 21-3 at the half.

That score gave McGee a school-record 45 3-pointers, but even that brief moment of triumph was accompanied by disappointment. Because the Tar Heels should have gotten a TD instead of a field goal.

Julius Peppers, a 6-6, 280-pound end, handed the Heels the ball at the Furman 25 when he sacked Hill, forcing a fumble. Sherrod Peace recovered, but stumbled over two teammates when he could have returned the ball for a TD.

Carolina’s Ronnie Robinson wound up getting stuffed on third down three plays later and much to the displeasure of the crowd, the Tar Heels settled for a McGee three.

After the halftime show, at least half the original crowd did not return, although attendance in the small purple-clad enclave remained strong.

The discouraged fans who beat the traffic didn’t miss much. Furman spent the second half grinding down the clock and the Heels couldn’t find a way to stop them.

“Furman has a good football team and they would have beaten a lot of people today,” said Torbush. “Still, North Carolina should not lose a football game to

Furman.”

That’s what the fans kept saying. And the media. And even the Heel players.

“We just lost to Furman!” moaned fullback Deon Dyer. “That’s really hard for me to deal with.”

n

NOTES: UNC will have its first losing season since the bad old 1-10 days of Mack Brown in 1989. The Heels’ streak of seven straight bowl games is obviously over. ... Furman hasn’t lost since it was upset in its season opener by Elon. ... Unless the Heels can beat Wake Forest (Saturday) or Duke (Nov. 20), they will go winless at home for the first time since 1952. ... Hill completed all seven of his passes in the first half, giving him 9 straight successes over three weeks.