Nov. 10, 2002

The Carolina defense spent most of Sunday afternoon at the movies, but it was not very entertaining. For a fourth time this season the Tar Heels surrendered more than 500 yards in Saturday's 42-12 loss to Clemson, and head coach John Bunting sat with the defenders and went over every one of the Tigers' offensive plays.

Many of the things which happened during Clemson's 70 snaps are recurring problems. "A front just gets handled at times," Bunting explained, "and, that's bad. It's hard for a great linebacker to play great defense when you're getting handled up front. I did see signs of some guys learning a lot from this experience, but they've got to get a lot more physical."

Again Dexter Reid made a lot of tackles. However, his 15 hits, which was his ninth double digit effort of the year, were probably too many for a free safety. Now he must play the last two games without "Rabbit" Waddell at the corner on the left side. Waddell fractured his left fibula in the loss, which means Derrick Johnson and Chris Hawkins will get more playing time, but the head coach wants to see some significant time for rookie Cedrick Holt.

"He's strong legged. He's got a burst, and he has a knack, a good feel for the routes which the receivers run. I think he could be a Kevin Knight, and a bump-and-run type corner. He's really strong, and a physical guy."

The Carolina defense, which played adequately in the first half of the season, still ranks last in the league statistics at 468 yards a game. Despite having only three returning starters, Bunting thought his defense would be much better. "It's really frustrating for me," he lamented, "especially with my defensive background to stand over on the sideline and watch people run the ball on us game after game after game."

The Carolina offense is only one notch better at 367 yards a game, and over the last 14 quarters the Tar Heels, averaging just 75 yards a period, have tallied only three TD's.

"Again we did not run the ball very effectively, but I thought our quarterback played pretty well for the most part. He got hit a lot, particularly in the second, and that's disappointing, but I showed several of his runs to the entire team. He played very courageously, and I'm proud of him."

Bunting was also proud of Sam Aiken. His eight catches against the Tigers allowed the senior wide receiver to set a school record with 58 receptions in a single season. He's now just 115 yards shy of a 1,000-yard season.

"I saw something special last year in Sam Aiken, and the way he worked in practice, the way he worked in the strength and conditioning program, and this year he has taken it to another level. You wish all of your players were like him. You can win a national championship with players like Sam Aiken."

It would take a lot of Sam Aikens for Carolina to have a chance in Saturday's 3:30 P.M. regionally televised game at Florida State. The nationally-ranked Seminoles (7-3) have their sights set on another ACC championship, and they certainly remember the 41-9 drubbing the Tar Heels administered last year in Chapel Hill.

"I'll never forget the experience after the game," Bunting remembers. "It was the most exciting moment of my life on a football field to be a part of the spectacle down on the field of tearing down the goal posts and that kind of stuff. This week we're going to keep grinding and see if we can get our players to play better."

You may find this hard to believe, but Bunting claims he's excited as heck to go down to Tallahassee and play those guys.