Tar Heels know Hurricanes will be ready for payback

Posted 9:22PM on Tuesday 25th October 2005 ( 19 years ago )

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) North Carolina's players have had more than enough practice talking about payback and trying to avenge losses in recent years. Being the team with the target on the jersey? Now that's something new. The Tar Heels know that sixth-ranked Miami remembers last year's stunning loss here. They know the Hurricanes want to avenge that defeat and stay in second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference's Coastal Division. That means North Carolina is just days away from a crash course in playing as the hunted team against an angry opponent on a hostile field. ``We've got to go in there and basically play our best game of the year,'' tailback Ronnie McGill said Tuesday. Consider this the next test in the Tar Heels' attempts to climb into the league's perennial elite. In many ways, North Carolina (3-3, 2-1 ACC) appears poised for the resurgence coach John Bunting has promised for years. The Tar Heels have improved significantly on defense after three years of embarrassing performances, and have played well against a tough schedule except for a 69-14 loss at Louisville. They're coming off a 7-5 win against Virginia, bouncing back from that humbling loss to the Cardinals by holding the Cavaliers to 199 total yards. That kicked off a stretch of six straight league games, with four of the first five coming at home. That road game, however, is at the Orange Bowl home to the team that the Tar Heels upset 31-28 on Connor Barth's 42-yard field goal as time expired last October. It was North Carolina's first win against an opponent ranked in the top five, and it followed a bye week and a 46-16 loss at Utah in which the Tar Heels allowed a school-record 669 total yards. Those memories still run strong here. ``I was on the sideline and I just ran on the field and started jumping,'' safety Trimane Goddard said. ``It was exciting.'' Bunting ranked the win as one of the top moments in his football career, which includes winning the ACC title as a linebacker here in 1971, playing in the Super Bowl for Philadelphia in 1981 and serving as an assistant for the St. Louis Rams in their 1999 title season. ``In light of where we came from last year after the Utah debacle and the bye week, to come back and play that game with that kind of emotion and poise was really special,'' he said. ``I won't ever forget that game.'' The Hurricanes (5-1, 2-1), however, went on to lose two of their last four regular-season games and finish tied with the Tar Heels for third in the ACC. The Tar Heels know memories of Barth's kick are likely just as fresh in Miami as in Chapel Hill, and Bunting acknowledged revenge can be a powerful motivator. ``Some people see it as payback, some just see it as playing another game,'' McGill said. ``That's how I like to see it. I don't really like to say, 'They destroyed us last year so we need to go out there and destroy them.' I always see it as, 'This is a game that we have to win this week.''' (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/10/123197