Hammer or the Nail

My Dad always told me that “adversity introduces a man to himself,” and, for our Tar Heels on Saturday night, that was the case in a good ole rainy clash against ACC foe Wake Forest. The Heels, in my opinion, were the superior team in regards to personnel, but the self-inflicted wounds did us in.  Not many teams can overcome 87 yards in penalties, two red zone opportunities that yielded field goals rather than touchdowns and sloppy secondary play (at best) and walk away with a road game “W”.

My concern is that the excitement and chest pounding from a week ago is going to be replaced by the moaning of “here we go again…same old Carolina!” Please, please, please …don’t fall into that trap, and if you have already gone to the dark side, pull yourself out by the boot straps right now because these young men are going to need us!

I can tell you that nothing can prepare you for difficulties and challenges in football like the real thing — nothing artificial, just the real thing. And the real thing knocked on our door at BB&T Stadium — a 75 minute rain delay, the absence of Gio Bernard (our most dynamic playmaker) and the adjustment to competing against ACC talent as compared to the reasonably light load that Elon brought forth a week earlier. Add to this your QB getting shaken up after a 1st half collision that I felt all the way from row FFF (which I can assure you is a loooong distance from the field) and now you have a recipe for some real adversity.

To be honest with you, I think it is exactly what this team needed. Not the loss obviously, but to have your confidence and moxie tested early will make this team stronger in the long run and ultimately these fork-in-the-road moments will be the foundation that this program will be built on going forward.

I hate going back to old quotes, but Coach Fedora has left us with so many that make sense in these kinds of situations that I can’t help but reference what he told Tar Heel Nation when the NCAA sanctions were announced. In regards to the challenges that lay ahead, he said, “I’ve got a saying with the football team that adversity, when it strikes, it’s going to happen and it brings out the best in all of us. But when it does, you look it in the eye, you grab it by the throat and you choke it. … That’s what we’re going to do with whatever adversity comes up, now or in the future.” – (Associated Press)

Folks, I can tell you when I read that, I get excited about the challenges and successes ahead for this football program, and I can tell you that the players in that locker room are getting that message pounded home to them this week.

With a daunting challenge ahead of them this week facing a top 20 opponent, what are we going to do? What are we going to be this week in Papa Johns Stadium — the hammer or the nail? Knowing the culture that Coach Fedora wants to instill in this program, and barring any unforeseen hurdles before kickoff, there is no reason in my mind why our Heels can’t be the hammer!

SMART.FAST.PHYSICAL. GO HEELS!

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FORD CORNERS: A Silver Lining

The Duke game was ugly, there’s no doubt about that if you are a Carolina fan. But, with young kids, that can happen when the unexpected happens. We’re still trying to figure out our roles and we had been playing well. After the great win at Maryland, maybe coming home to the Smith Center made […]

Lessons

Watching the Miami game while listening to Doris Burke’s analysis was a bad combo for a Tar Heel fan this weekend. We weren’t playing well and Ms. Burke was singing Miami’s praises. The discussion of Miami as a #1 seed didn’t seem too farfetched after watching them RAIN threes on us in the first […]

Be Good At Things That Matter

I grew up caddying at Oakmont Country Club just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  It is a great golf course that hosts major tournaments regularly.  Some of my coaching philosophy was developed there as a teenager helping golfers navigate the course.  I learned quickly that a golfer better be good at things that matter if he/she […]

Those Cheating Ways

When the Tar Heels visit Duke Saturday night, they will be playing one of only 44 major colleges that have never been placed on NCAA probation in football. It used to be 45 before UNC got hit with the three years in 2011. Those who believe that college football is corrupt and teams have much […]

Best Of Both Worlds

I think highly of Bud Foster, the DC at Virginia Tech.  He coaches an interesting defensive scheme and I wonder why more teams don’t run it.  They describe their defense as a 4-2-5, that is four defensive lineman, two linebackers, and five defensive backs. But the techniques they employ are different than most 4-2-5 teams.  […]

A Coach's Choice

Duke’s Hall of Fame Coach Mike Krzyzewski is very likely one of only two people on the planet who knows what happened with his former player Lance Thomas during the 2009-10 season.  The other person is Thomas. Krzyzewski has to know because he asked and the former player had to tell his former coach the […]

The Irish: Nowhere Else To Go

Sure, it is a boon for the ACC to add fabled Notre Dame as its 15th school, but let’s look beyond the lore of Touchdown Jesus to the reality of the situation.   Notre Dame, at least for now, will not be a football member of the ACC and will keep all money from its […]

Louisville More Explosive

UNC and Louisville are very different teams from when they played each other last year. The Cards made offensive staff changes in the middle of last season, and of course we are all familiar with the total overhaul at UNC. Our staff last year thought the Cards were good on defense. With their struggling offense, […]

Winning is Fun and a Goal Worth Striving For

Friday evening found us gathered around our kitchen table for a rousing game of competitive Chinese Checkers. Before that, we played an invigorating game of competitive Scrabble. We ended the evening with a cutthroat game of competitive Memory. You might have noticed a common theme here. At our house, we take our games seriously. We […]

My Fantasy Football Season in Review

If this were a perfect world, I would be proudly reporting to you that I went undefeated in all of my Leagues every week this year and ended up with 3 Fantasy Football Championships. Unfortunately (more so for me), this is not the case, but fortunately (more so for you), my absolutely putrid luck allows […]

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