Chansky’s Notebook: Pass The Smelling Salt

Okay, heart-stopping Heels, enough with the drama.

What moniker do you want to give Carolina’s football team that is literally taking our breath away? Beating Pitt with two seconds left on the clock and stunning Florida State on a long field goal as time ran out? Two reasons why this madness has to end. Now.

First, the Tar Heels proved they were better than Pitt, coming back from a game-long two-touchdown deficit after only possessing the ball for 33 seconds of the first quarter. And they dominated the 12th-ranked Seminoles for the entire first half before mistakes, fatigue and penalties allowed FSU to almost take the game away.

Second, you can’t continue winning like this and keep a collective fan base from fainting. And sooner or later, you are going to lose a game that goes down to the final ticks, so finish what you started earlier. Larry Fedora’s game plan at FSU was fabulous, a two-headed running game that shredded the ‘Noles defense and built a three-touchdown lead, and Gene Chizik’s defense that bent but did not break until the “D” got gassed in the second half.

Carolina’s offense continues to break records, led by roommates Mitch Trubisky and Ryan Switzer who have an uncanny connection on the field. Hopefully, Elijah Hood will be back for Saturday’s home game against Virginia Tech, because with T.J. Logan the Tar Heels were balanced and bruising on the Seminoles, who had won 22 straight games in Tallahassee.

One possession turned the game around, the sack near the goal line first called a safety that Florida State turned into a 98-yard drive aided by a roughing the kicker penalty and two fourth-down conversions. Carolina’s defense was on the field for almost nine minutes in what was now a one-score game. After a three-and-out, FSU used another seven-minute drive to tie the game and leave it to two kicks – Nick Weiler’s blocked point after and his stunning 54-yard shot that split the uprights by 5 yards as the clock went to 00.

The imperfect play should be perfect fodder for Fedora, who can get the team’s attention while Tar Heel Nation is still going nuts.

Chansky’s Notebook: Pass The Smelling Salt

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