Quote:Tar Heels ready to put last two years behind them

By Brian Murphy
Telegraph Staff Writer


The past two seasons have been no fun for North Carolina defensive tackle Chase Page.

Page, an outgoing, fun-loving senior, hasn't found much to smile about on the field as the Tar Heels have struggled to a 5-19 combined record in the last two seasons.

"I'm weary. I'm ready to stop losing. Football is fun when you're winning. It's not fun when you're losing," Page said. "It's hard. It's a really hard sport to play in college. There's such a demand on your time and your energy and when you're not getting the reward of victory and a potential bowl game, it's not the best thing to go through."

Last season's 2-10 performance, including the Tar Heels' first loss to arch rival Duke in 14 years, was the worst season at North Carolina since 1989.

Page - who played out of position at defensive end in the final three games - and the defense ranked 116th out of 117 Division I-A teams in yards allowed. The Tar Heels allowed 505.3 yards per game and 38.3 points per game.

All of which has put head coach John Bunting on perhaps the hottest seat in college football. The constant talk of Bunting's job status has also grown weary for Tar Heel payers.

"It gets kind of tiring, but at the same time, in order to make all that stop, you've got to win games," senior quarterback Darian Durant said. "As a team, we don't focus on Coach Bunting's status. The main thing we want to do is win games."

In order to do that, Bunting retooled his coaching staff. He hired John Gutekunst and Marvin Sanders as co-defensive coordinators to replace Dave Huxtable.

Bunting's charge is simple.

"We need to be more competitive on defense. We need to slow them down. We can't give up big plays," he said. "With the people that we've got in place, with the people that are coming in, we will be."

North Carolina is also simplifying its approach on defense. Instead of adjusting to every offensive personnel change, the Tar Heels are planning on hoping to be simpler and more fundamentally sound.

"We tried to be too perfect. Defense is more about playing tough, playing with great pursuit angles, playing fast. We're faster on defense now," Bunting said. "We have more football savvy now because we've played more players, they have more experienced. We're going to be much improved "

The Tar Heels, who have brought in highly touted recruiting classes each of the last two years, return seven starters on defense and eight on offense, including Durant, a three-year starter who owns most of the school's passing records.

In hopes of changing the team's fortunes, Durant asked off the cover of the media guide, where he has appeared each of the last two years.

"I've been on it in 2002 and 2003, and we've had bad years. The main thing I wanted to do this year was make it more of a team thing, more of a team concept and maybe the guys will come together more as a team," Durant said. "Hopefully that will lead us to winning more games."

After the last two seasons, the Tar Heels are willing to try anything.