Oct. 12, 2003

Sunday wasn't a completely free day for the Tar Heels following Saturday's win at East Carolina. They didn't practice, but there was the normal routine of injury check at one o'clock, followed by lifting and running. Then came a team meeting before the players broke up into various sessions with their position coaches. Their day was topped off at five o'clock with the traditional victory dinner of steak and lobster.

"I wanted the players to enjoy today," their head coach said. Monday is normally their off day, but John Bunting knows some will stopover at the Kenan Football Center to watch tape of Arizona State, this week's homecoming opponent. The Sun Devils had been nationally ranked before losing three straight, but they pounded Oregon 59-14 this past weekend. "Our coaching staff has already begun preparing for Saturday, so it's over for us. We got last night, and that was it. We've already begun work to try and get a win in Kenan."

Bunting was pleased overall with the way the offensive line played in the 28-17 verdict at East Carolina. "Last week at halftime we talked about running the football and then we went out there and tried, but we didn't do it. In this game we thought we might be able to make some progress with East Carolina because they do fly around. When they fly around as fast as they do sometimes they will make a mistake or two. That's where we were able to get a couple of gashes and run the football well. It was a matter of being patient with run game, then calling it and getting a rhythm going."

After running the ball for only 42 yards in 14 carries during the first half against the Pirates, the Tar Heels came out in the second half and force fed the football to the team in the loud purple. Carolina rolled up 169 yards in just 29 attempts--that's nearly six yards a crack--while East Carolina was limited to just 48 yards in 16 tries. That's after the home team had ground out 133 yards in the first 30 minutes and controlled the ball for more than 11 minutes in its two scoring drives.

"We're running a two-back offense with two halfbacks," Bunting said. "We started that back with Syracuse after Gary Tranquill (offensive coordinator) and Andre Powell (running back coach)put it into the offense, and we've expanded it now to the point where those guys have become lead blockers which might help our run game. That's obviously the objective.

"We would like to run the power offense. We would like to run the iso-draw and the isolation, and if those guys hold up maybe we can do some more with it. It's been lacking in our game. We were able to do some of it Saturday, and there's no doubt in my mind it helped us win the game."

Bunting was also pleased with the play of the defense in the second half. The Tar Heels limited the Pirates to just 113 yards in the second stanza, and seemed to gain confidence as the game progressed.

"You gain confidence by doing things well over and over again. Until you become comfortable with them, and then you react. That's developing a feel, getting true confidence by doing the right thing, taking the right steps, taking the right angle and using good judgment. That's what is happening with some of our players. We need to get more guys to continue to get better, but as we get more repetitions for these guys they'll play better."

Bunting hopes what happened Saturday night in Greenville will now carry over to this Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill. If it does, there may be another Sunday which the Tar Heels can enjoy.