Oct. 5, 2003

John Bunting stood on the Kenan Stadium sideline Sunday afternoon and watched Carolina lose a second straight game to a Virginia team. Hargrave Military Academy built a big lead, then held off the jayvees 37-27, but the head coach thought his reserves played hard. It was the third straight year Hargrave has visited Chapel Hill for such a contest, and Bunting thinks it's a good test for his younger players and a wonderful opportunity for the Hargrave players to be on campus. Of course, the Tar Heels have had a past recruiting interest in several of the visitors from Chatham, Virginia.

Early Sunday the Carolina staff broke down the tape of Saturday's 38-13 loss to Virginia and found very few positives. "I thought the special teams played extremely well," Bunting said. They didn't get to return Virginia's pooch punt, but they held the Cavaliers to just 10 yards on three punt returns. The visitors had only 37 yards with two kickoff returns, while Mike Mason averaged better than 25 yards with his three returns. Late in the game Mason got flagged for roughing the Virginia punter, but Bunting said the Rocky Mount, N.C., rookie just did miss his block point.

Bunting insisted Chase Page played his best game at defensive tackle even though the Cavaliers became this year's fourth opponent to roll up more than 500 yards of total offense. Going back to last year, it's the seventh time out of the last nine games the defense has suffered a 500-yard outing. That's why the Tar Heels are calling on more and more young players. "Some linebackers were finally among our leading tacklers," he pointed out, "and, I liked the way (Larry) Edwards and (Fred) Sparkman flew around." Edwards had a dozen stops, and Sparkman was credited with nine.

Offensively, Darian Durant became's the school's first 5,000-yard career passer, and he's set all sorts of UNC passing records because the Tar Heels haven't been able to move the ball on the ground with any consistency. The 58 rushing yards were this year's low point, and it marked the 10th game out of the last 14 Carolina has failed to generate 100 rushing yards.

"We were not physical enough up front. We couldn't move their nose tackle or the defensive ends." However, the Tar Heels haven't been able to knock many opponents off the ball. "We have not been able to find a fullback or H-back to block for the running game. I thought we would have a lead blocker when I moved Madison Hedgecock to defensive end, but nobody has emerged."

Bunting challenged his players in the locker room at halftime to run the ball, but they couldn't get it done. "I still don't understand why we didn't play better in the second half," he said. "We had a good week of practice. The team really flew around on Wednesday. Some of it carried over to Saturday. Just look at the special teams. However, some of it didn't carry over."

There is something Bunting does understand. He knows what the atmosphere in Greenville, N.C., will be like, and he hopes it will motivate the Tar Heels. "We responded pretty well at Wisconsin, and I thought we were fired up over at State." Saturday's game--scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. start--will be UNC's first ever football trip to East Carolina, but Bunting was there in 1987.

"That's when I was coaching defensive line at Rowan University, but I was also the radio analyst for Temple football, and I came with the Owls to Greenville." Art Baker's Pirates won 31-26 in front of about 20,000 fans, but Bunting says he was impressed with the team, the school and the facilities. "I became a fan of ECU at the time," he claims.

Not many of those wearing purple and gold watching two winless teams in Saturday's sellout crowd of 43,000 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium will believe him.