Carolina vs. Miami (Ohio) prediction
August 29, 2002

Year 2 about to begin!

Raleigh__  It's really just a wild-eyed guess to make a prediction for the first game of a new season.  Every year the teams have a new personality because of personnel loses and new unproven players.  That's true about this years' version of the Tar Heels, especially on defense.

"Defensively, we're not as talented," Bunting said recently.  "We're not as experienced.  Therefore we're going to struggle at times.  And when you think about the depth situation, if we get an injury or two, we could really struggle."

A lot of people are worried about our defense this year.  But I think we'll be OK for 2 reasons: a second year of conditioning by Coach Conners and a second year with most of the coaching staff intact.

In speaking of the challenge Bunting said, "Mostly that challenge right now is of the unknown, finding out about this football team and how it can play in a game situation.  Many, many players will be learning on the job.  And that's tough.  That's tough on those young guys."

But you know what?  I'm not all that worried.  Dave Huxtable begins his second season as North Carolina's linebackers coach and first as its defensive coordinator.  And I can't think of a better coach to help the big question mark we have with the linebackers.  If nothing else, our young defense will be well conditioned and prepared, and play with intensity for 60 minutes.

To me, the Heels had better start and finish this game with focus and intensity.  Miami (Ohio) will.  The RedHawks are 5 - 1 in their season opener since 1996.  They have talent and come out of the gate quickly.  And it we don't match their intensity from the opening gun, we'll be playing catch-up ball.

Miami can run a spread, no-huddle offense.  Their second year quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, had a record setting season last year.  He can go underneath or long, and he's mobile.  With our defensive strength in our safety and corners, I expect him to try picking us apart with short crossing patterns.

Slinger Durant 100% back!

That begs the question, what is our counter-attack?  Can you say, Darian Durant?  Forget the controversy.  He's back!

"I just want to earn the respect of everybody on this team," Durant said.  "I'm hopefully going to earn back the respect of all the fans, because I know when the decision was made during the winter, it was kind of hard for people to be 100 percent followers of me.  I want to say to everybody that I'm -- 100 percent -- and I'm just ready to get this rolling."

As a side note, I believe Durant gave about 90 to 95 percent effort last season as a result of having to share time with Ron Curry.  With his close call on losing the opportunity to continue his Tar Heel career, I would bet the farm that we'll see 110% effort this year.  If the offense jells, can you imagine the numbers he'll put up this season?

And that is my focus on this game.  I think we'll see a quarterback shoot-out.  The RedHawks "Big Ben" will probably spend the day with short crossing patterns over the middle in trying to exploit our linebackers.  And they have an adequate running game to mix it up enough to keep a young defense guessing.

Look for a wide open, up-n-down the field type of game and lots of points on the board.  I've included last seasons' comparison stats for both teams at the bottom of this page for illustration.  Had Durant consistently played quarterback with Curry as a slot back, our offensive stats would have been off the chart.

I say we'll see a lot of points and exciting action.  And we'll see the impact of Camp Connors with our better conditioning in the fourth quarter.  Don't you love seeing the Heels hold up 4 fingers at the start of the fourth quarter.  That's where we put the game away.  So color me light blue and very optimistic.  Our new guys will excel in learning on the job.  Let's go with Carolina 41 - Miami (Ohio) 30.

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