Despite the griping and moaning about North Carolina being the beneficiaries of late-game breaks, the Tar Heels not only deserved to win the Music City Bowl they rightly won the game.

The pro-Tennessee factions on the Internet are claiming that Volunteer defender Janzen Jackson should not have been called for a personal foul for leading with his helmet in hitting UNC receiver Todd Harrelson late in the game. Please look at the attached photo above and judge for yourself but, unless you’re in denial, you’ll see it’s obvious that Jackson led with his head.

Then they argue that Harrelson didn’t have possession of the ball following Jackson’s illegal hit until he was out of bounds. Having looked at the replay several times, not only is there no indisputable evidence that it wasn’t a catch, to me it looks as if his right shoulder hits down in bounds. There certainly was nothing in the replays that would overturn the officials call that Harrelson had possession of the ball in bounds.

Then they argue that Carolina’s poor time management at the end should have cost them the game. Funny thing is that a late hit perhaps should have been called on Tennessee’s LaMarcus Thompson following a Dwight Jones catch. That would have moved the ball to about the 12 yard line and stopped the clock. Had that happened, as perhaps it should have, there would have been no clock issues at the end. Volunteer fans have a point that UNC’s Ryan Taylor made contact with Thompson but clearly to me it wasn’t enough to make Thompson pop Jones like he did.

I certainly could forget about that late-hit call except for the fact that some argue that when TJ Yates alertly spiked the ball with one second left, Carolina should have been called for a 15-yard illegal participation penalty rather than a 5-yard too many men on the field call. If the late hit had been called and the illegal participation penalty had been called, the final field goal still would have been from approximately the same distance.

Even if a 15-yard penalty had been assessed, Casey Barth very well could have hit a 49-yarder to send the game into overtime. Not only has he missed just one field goal from longer than 40 yards this year, he’s hit a 49-yarder this season.

Then they argue that, by rule, the official should have stood over the ball as time expired in order to allow the defense to adjust. Now can you imagine the uproar if time ran out because an official wouldn’t get out of the way so Carolina could spike the ball? To me that would have been a much bigger injustice.

Yes, it was rather stupid that the Heels had players running all over the place in the final seconds. But would the NFL’s 10-second runoff rule really have been justice. Carolina was rightly penalized – should they have gotten the death penalty for confusion?

I may be the only person alive that doesn’t like the NFL’s 10-second runoff rule – when an offensive foul occurs in the final 10 seconds, the game is over. The game should be played until it’s over, especially if the ball is spiked or otherwise time is legally stopped (running out of bounds, incomplete pass, etc.)

David Parry, who oversees college football officiating for the NCAA, said that he anticipates that the NCAA rules committee would discuss moving to the NFL 10-second runoff rule. He also correctly said that under current college rules (which both teams had to play by I might add) the officials, as bad as they were (my words and you can read more about that here), correctly adjusted the clock to one second.

What everyone seems to be forgetting is that the penalty didn’t give Carolina another play. The legal spike by Yates gave Carolina another play. Again, the Tar Heels were appropriately penalized on the play.

Then the pro-Tennessee factions say that as soon as Carolina lined up for the field goal, the clock should have started and that one second is not enough time to snap the ball. If one second isn’t enough time to snap the ball, then games should end a second earlier. I’m not sure I follow that logic. Of course you can snap the ball as soon as time is started and it appears that’s what Carolina did.

While everyone is focused on the last 31 seconds, perhaps more attention should be paid to some other factors. For instance, Carolina held Tennessee to 27 yards rushing. UNC held the lead for most of the game. UNC blocked a PAT that allowed for the last-second efforts. Plus, Tennessee got away with several taunting and excessive celebrations after touchdowns.

If you wanna get specific
If you really want to get touchy, Tennessee often had linemen or backs moving on the snap of the ball on key plays and it was never called. In addition, tackle Ja’Wuan James, on most obvious passing situations, lined up off the line of scrimmage, meaning there weren’t enough players on the line. He sometimes lined up a yard and a half to two yards off the line of scrimmage. This gives a lineman a pass protection advantage.

To be specific, on a third-and-two play on the opening drive, Tennessee receiver Gerald Jones went into motion and as he came to a stop he went forward a half yard. You can’t move forward before the snap of the ball. The Volunteers converted that key play.

On a third-and-one play in Carolina territory in the first quarter, Tennessee’s left guard Jarrod Shaw started early. It wasn’t called. The Volunteers converted. Later in the same drive, on third and 10, James once again lined up well off the line of scrimmage and then came out of his stance before the snap of the ball. Neither was called. The Volunteers threw for nine yards, went for it on fourth down, got it, and then threw a touchdown to tie the score.

In the second quarter, on a second-and-10 play from their own 15, Tennessee tight end Mychal Rivera moved early. It wasn’t called and Rivera caught a pass for a first down.

On the play where UNC’s Kendric Burney intercepted the ball and then fumbled it right back, James was lined up in the backfield. Instead of Tennessee getting a fresh set of downs, had the penalty been called, the Volunteers would have had a second-and-19 situation at their own 21-yard line.

On Tennessee’s 45-yard TD pass play in the second quarter, while a beautiful play, tackle Daniel Hood could very easily have been called for holding UNC’s Jared McAdoo.

On Tennessee’s key third-and-18 play on the fourth quarter scoring drive to put them ahead, the Volunteers passed for 20 yards down to Carolina 8 yard line. Good thing for Tennessee that the officials didn’t see James move a tad early once again.

Yet on the ensuing Carolina drive the officials, having not called any of the motion penalties pointed out above, had the nerve to call a phantom illegal shift on a play where the Tar Heels went 25 yards into Volunteer territory with four minutes left. Then a couple of plays later, when Tennessee was offsides, the Tar Heels should have gotten a free play but officials wrongly blew the play dead.

But the same eagle-eye officials saw UNC’s Dwight Jones apparently step on the chalk on a play where he had picked up a key first down. Instead a penalty was called on Carolina for illegal touching.

Two plays later the officials charged UNC’s TJ Yates with intentional grounding because the ball didn’t make it to the line of scrimmage. Of course that’s pretty hard to do with defensive players hanging all over you.

Carolina, suddenly dealing with stickler officials, failed to convert on a fourth-down play with 1:36 to play and the game appeared to be over. But Tennessee played it conservatively and couldn’t get a first down, punting it back to UNC with 31 seconds to go and setting up the wild finish.

With 31 seconds left in the game, Carolina had 10 penalties and Tennessee had five. Late in the game and in overtime, Tennessee self destructed with three key penalties.

My point is that the game could have changed on any number of plays throughout the game, and that officials generally did not favor Carolina as some post-game analysts have suggested. In fact, if anything, the officials, who you remember wrongly called the game over and thus gave Tennessee the win when there was really a second left, hurt the Tar Heels more than the Volunteers.

Senior leader Tracy Smith is finally back in the lineup to help out the three freshmen that have led the way for N.C. State and the Pack is excited about the prospects.

“We’re coming off a good showing,” Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe said of State’s 76-54 win over San Diego. “Last game we had Tracy Smith back and obviously we’re excited about that.”

Smith has been out for all but three of State’s games because of a knee injury but he scored 16 points against San Diego and looked in midseason form.

Smith had been concerned about coming back too early but with only one nonconference game left Wednesday against Elon, the Pack needs him for the ACC run.

“He was a little hesitant to give it a try even with little slight discomfort,” Lowe said during his weekly media teleconference. “It’s a matter of him going out and understanding that there will be some discomfort but that the injury is gone.”

Smith told Lowe during the game that he felt great and wanted to stay in the game. As a result Smith played more minutes than Lowe originally anticipated.

So far, so good, Lowe said. “We’ll see if there is any further discomfort,” he said.

Despite more consistent play from a number of players over the last few games, UNC coach Roy Williams isn’t sure if his Tar Heels are ready for ACC play.

“You don’t ever know if you’re ready until you get out there and play the games,” Williams said, adding that the Heels have done what they can to prepare by playing a good schedule and playing good teams on the road.

“I would have like us to have played better in some of those games,” Williams said, especially pointing to the loss in Greensboro against Texas. “We did some nice things in the Texas game but we needed to win that game.”

The Heels led the Longhorns by seven with less than six minutes to play but ended up losing by two.

“We didn’t finish out the Texas game. You always have that in the back of your mind, wondering if you’ve gotten rid of that completely,” Williams said during his weekly media teleconference.

But Carolina’s defense has improved of late and that’s resulted in a pair of blow-out victories. “I don’t know that I’d say we’ve turned the corner by any means but we are getting better,” Williams said.

Williams said the work ethic, desire, efficiency, intensity and concentration is all there and gotten better during the season. “As long as you have those things, you have a tremendous opportunity to improve,” he said.

“We’re a work in progress but we’re excited to start ACC play.”

The Heels travel to 8-5 Virginia Saturday for a noon tipoff.

Following North Carolina’s 103-54 drubbing of his team, Saint Francis coach Don Friday sounds like a fan of the Tar Heels. He praised the way he and the team were treated off the court and even on the court. He said the Tar Heels have “classy kids” who’ll knock you down and then help you up.

Saint Francis is a young team that had little chance to win but any time you score more than 100 points and win by almost 50, it’s impressive. Coach Friday said Carolina just had too many bodies that wore them down with an aggressive, trapping defense.

Without any air of cockiness, UNC coach Roy Williams matter of factly summed it when he said, “we’re more gifted than these guys are.”

Eight Tar Heels scored in double figures. John Henson and Dexter Strickland led the balanced scoring with 13 points. Reggie Bullock and Leslie McDonald dropped in 12 points, Zeller had 11 and Justin Knox, Larry Drew II and Harrison Barnes added 10.

For more on the Saint Francis game, please click here.

Even though North Carolina led for much of the Music City Bowl, with the injuries, penalties, miscues and bad breaks, it never seemed like a game that was meant to be.

But it was. When all was said and done, the Tar Heels had defeated Tennessee 30-27 in double overtime tonight.

Down 20-17 with only 31 seconds to go, UNC’s Todd Harrelson, who made one catch all season long, made a remarkable high-wire catch near midfield and was roughed up by Tennessee defender Janzen Jackson who launched airborne leading with his head. The penalty moved the ball down to the 37.

A TJ Yates pass to Dwight Jones got it down to the 25 yet a very late hit by Tennessee’s LaMarcus Thompson was not called. Carolina instead had to spike the ball with 16 seconds left.

A run by Shaun Draughn moved it to the 17 but the Heels had trouble getting to the line to stop the clock in order to set up the field goal. The officials first announced that the game was over but upon review it was determined that, while some of the field goal team was on the field, there was a second left when Yates spiked it. There was a penalty for too many players on the field but kicker Casey Barth still was able to drill the 39-yard field goal to send the game into overtime.

Tennessee was called for a penalty – it’s unclear if it was for roughing the kicker or for a player throwing his helmet in disgust but it could have been either. The Vols luckily won the overtime toss because had Tennessee been forced to go on offense first, the Vols would have started from the 40 yard line. Instead, Carolina started on offense at the 12 and a half. Three plays later, including one where Tennessee was charged for another personal foul (facemask), Yates snuck it in from inside the one to put Carolina up 27-20.

The official inexplicably waited to see if Yates had the ball in the middle of the pile. Since Yates reached the ball over the goal line it shouldn’t have mattered. It was a touchdown as soon as the ball crossed the plane.

Nevertheless, Yates – fortunately for the Heels – still had the ball. Tennessee was able to score on a Tyler Bray to Luke Stocker TD strike on second down.

With the score tied at 27-27, the Vols went right back on offense. Four plays into the Volunteers’ series, UNC linebacker Quan Sturdivant reached high for an interception, setting the scene for Carolina to go on offense from the 25 only needing a field goal.

Draughn bumped outside for a 16-yard run to the nine and then he ran it to the six. Carolina opted to go ahead and try the short field goal on second and goal from there. Barth drilled it for the improbable win.

Draughn, a senior, who ran for 160 yards, was named the game’s most valuable player. Senior defensive back Deunta Williams wasn’t as fortunate as he broke his ankle in the first half. That was a big blow as Bray had more luck throwing after Williams went out. Defensive lineman Donte Paige-Moss was also banged up and missed some action but came back to block a Tennessee extra point by Daniel Lincoln, allowing Carolina to later tie the game with a field goal.

Tennessee fans – and they were in the vast majority by virtue of the game being in Nashville – littered the end zones with cups and cans and beer on several occasions late in the game and in overtime, including at the game’s end.

The Tar Heels led 7-0 early, then led 10-7 and led 17-14 into the fourth quarter. But penalties disrupted them, injuries slowed momentum and every break seemed to go Tennessee’s way until late. Carolina finishes the eventful, tumultuous season at 8-5.

Poor officiating

The Heels committed 11 penalties for 92 yards. Three of those penalties came on a late-game drive with Carolina trailing 20-17. At least one of the calls, an intentional grounding call on QB TJ Yates, was questionable. No, the ball didn’t make it to the line of scrimmage as the officials pointed out but two players were hanging on Yates. In that circumstance, he shouldn’t be expected to get it to the line of scrimmage.

While the officials ultimately got several key calls right, they not only took too much time but there were tough calls both ways. However, Carolina seemed to have to overcome more of the bad calls or the no calls.

Coming off watching Kansas State lose to Syracuse in great part due to an unsportsmanlike penalty where a player was flagged for saluting the fans after a score, viewers of this game must have wondered why no similar calls in this game.

After each of his four touchdown passes, brash freshman QB Tyler Bray made a slashing celebratory motion. Tennessee receiver Gerald Jones not only danced after a touchdown, he made a double salute motion to the fans. Later, Vols receiver Da’Rick Rogers, after a score, made some weird belt buckling motion. While in each of these instances the players “drew attention” to themselves, which was the explanation why the Kansas State player was flagged, not one flag was thrown.

Twice Tennessee converted big first downs on plays where offensive linemen should have been called for moving early. Meanwhile, on top of the questionable grounding call mentioned earlier, Carolina was called for a mysterious illegal shift. The announcers assumed it must have been because the fullback was rocking a bit as another player was in motion. Whatever – not much of an offence. If they were calling them that closely, the early motions on the Vols offensive line could have been called multiple times but was never called once.

When Tennessee’s defense was called for offsides, it worked to the Volunteers advantage because the officials, again inexplicably, called the play dead. It should have been a free play and Yates knew it as he was honing in on a receiver for what could have been a big gain. But whistles blew it dead.

Another controversial play that I suspect officials got right, even though replays didn’t show it clearly, was when UNC’s Dwight Jones presumably stepped out of bounds, came back in and caught the ball for what would have been a critical first down late in the game. Officials called illegal touching.

For any ABC fans reading this article, I urge you to watch it on replay before you dispute what I’m writing. I have the game taped and I have gone back and verified everything I’ve written.

After Duke destroyed UNC-Greensboro yesterday to notch Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s 880th coaching victory, surpassing Dean Smith’s 879 wins, the former UNC coach released this statement: “I congratulate Mike on this milestone victory. I am sure he would want to share the credit for the wins with all his players and staff. I enjoyed competing against Mike’s teams throughout the many years I was at UNC. I wish him continued health and personal success.”

Here’s video of Coach K celebrating with the fans and players after the win.

No one wants to finish a season with a 51-20 loss but it stings even more for East Carolina fans who braved the treacherous road conditions to drive up to D.C. only to see their Pirates not only lose big in a bowl game but finish the season below .500.

The way the Pirates defense has played much of the year, it really wasn’t much of a surprise to see Maryland rack up the points. But the Pirates, who averaged close to 40 points a game this season, had little to no offense and QB Dominique Davis looked his worst this season.

With so many bowl games, there are bound to be teams that go with a .500 record but it’s really a shame after the overachieving season the Pirates had to lose more games than they won. I know it’s a reward and it’s a financial plus I suppose but it might be better for most 6-6 teams to stay home and leave it at that.

ECU senior linebacker Dustin Lineback said, “We were picked to win two games. Memphis and Marshall – and we did that plus some. It’s alway down to lose the last game, we didn’t want that. But this team is a great team. In the future, the sky is the limit.”

Ruffin McNeill certainly brought excitement and more wins that most predicted. We at capitalsportsnc.com predicted that the Pirates would win four games but we did say that five wins was doable and that if ECU got to six wins McNeill should be considered for conference coach of the year. After that kind of final loss, maybe not but the future does look bright for the Pirates.

Also, word from my sources indicate that the rotund McNeill will have some sort of weight-reducing surgery before next season but I haven’t heard any official word on that. If he does get his weight under control, the future will look even brighter for ECU.

North Carolina seems to be peaking just as the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule is about to begin. The Heels appear to be 10 deep, especially evidenced by Leslie McDonald’s 14 points and Justin Watts’ 10 points in last night’s 78-55 win over Rutgers.

But there are at least three troubling trends. First, the free throw shooting is poor at 64 percent. Compare that with the 2009 team that shot 75 percent and the 2008 team that shot 76 percent.

Second, Harrison Barnes has not settled in as the star Carolina needs him to be. He’s shooting just 36 percent from the field, which is second worst on the team, even though he has more minutes played than any other Tar Heel. Against Rutgers he hit just three of nine shots.

Finally, John Henson seems to still be bothered by a thumb injury. He managed seven points and four blocked shots against Rutgers but he seemed limited and appeared to favor the hand.

Still, the team has survived with strong play from Tyler Zeller and Dexter Strickland, and good bench play. Against Rutgers, the Carolina bench outscored the Scarlet Knights bench 38-13.

The Heels have one more nonconference game before opening the ACC schedule at surprising Virginia, 8-4, Jan. 8.

For more on the Rutgers game, please click here.

The University of North Carolina football team and staff arrived in Nashville, Tenn., throughout the day Sunday to begin preparations for the 2010 Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl on Thursday, Dec. 30.

Senior tailback Anthony Elzy also did not travel with the Tar Heels to Nashville and will not compete in the bowl game after failing to meet his obligations as a student-athlete at UNC.

Elzy started the final three regular-season games at tailback in place of Johnny White and produced 531 all-purpose yards (176.7 avg.) in games vs. Virginia Tech, NC State and Duke. He had a career-high 118 yards rushing in his final game at Duke and had a career-high 178 yards receiving vs. NC State.

NC State’s C.J. Leslie was selected the ACC Rookie of the Week following his 15-point effort this past week.

In NC State’s lone game last week, Leslie finished with 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds in the Pack’s 72-70 win over Delaware State Wednesday. For the sixth straight game, Leslie led the Pack in rebounding. The Holly Springs, N.C., native also handed out a career-best four assists in his 34 minutes of action.