Sept. 29, 2002

John Bunting didn't sleep very much Saturday night. He was still mad about his team's mistakes in the 21-13 loss to Georgia Tech. It was a second game this season which Carolina could have won, but didn't. Then he saw the score from Tempe. Arizona State won its fourth straight outing with a 65-24 thrashing of Stanford.

Bunting thought his defense had a great game plan for Georgia Tech, and he thought his coaches did a good job putting it together and teaching it to the players. The Wednesday practice was good, but only parts of the sessions on Tuesday and Thursday suited the head coach. Other parts did not, and that irritates him.

"I will not tolerate that any longer," he stated. "We have got to practice better."

Bunting was really disappointed in the secondary against Georgia Tech. That was suppose to to be the strength of an inexperienced defense, but each of the players in the back end did not play as well as they have been playing. "Kevin Knight and Dexter Reid didn't play their best games, and I took Michael Waddell out because he was hurting us.

"Michael is a great young man with a lot of talent, and he's really doing well in school. However, we want him to return for that last year of eligibility after he graduates, but he's got to practice better so it carries over into the games."

The coach acknowledged the use of Defonte Coleman at safety because he wants Chris Curry to play better, but there is limited competition in the secondary.

"Cedrick Holt is a guy I have to get out there on the field," Bunting explained. "Yes, he's a true freshman, but he's played a little bit on special teams. He's earned the right to get out on the field and compete for playing time."

The coach promised he was also going to get some other guys playing at linebacker. "Clay Roberson is going to get on the field. He practices well, and he deserves an opportunity."

After playing reasonably well in the first two games, the defense has been shredded for almost 1,000 yards in the contests against Texas and Georgia Tech. The Jackets converted 11-of-17 third down situations, including 7-of-11 when they had five yards or more to move the chains.

"A large part of it had to do with somebody not making a tackle. We had a couple of communication problems, but mostly it's the mentality. We've got to continue to work on the youthful mentality of this football team and make them understand just how important it is to make the play."

The head coach thinks the offense is right on the edge of really playing great football, and he believes it can score points if it will keep from shooting itself in the foot and get off to good starts. Thus far, the Tar Heels have scored only four touchdowns in the first half of their opening four games.

"We've talked about that problem. We even talked about rearranging the way we go out to pre-game warmups. There has also been some talk about us maybe being out on the field too long. I think basically we just need to focus in on what we need to do offensively in terms of run-pass ratio. I think we probably need to pass a little more than we've been doing, particularly on first down."

Defensively, Bunting knows very well the Tar Heels are not going to get a lot faster, and a lot stronger with their front. Those are the things Jeff Connors and his staff do during the off-season. So the coaches will continue to try and scheme.

"We'll continue to try and put players in good position to make plays, but it all comes down to each of the players individually getting better in each practice. They have to get better in practice so they have a better feeling for the game of football."

Now comes the challenge of trying to contain an opponent which has rolled up 900 yards and 104 points in its last two games. That's why John Bunting won't sleep very much this entire week as he and his staff prepare for the trip to Arizona State.