CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Pedaling away on a sideline stationary bike, North Carolina tailback Ryan Houston refused to take off his helmet. The junior was determined that a bruised thigh, suffered in the second quarter, wasn't going to sideline him for the entire fourth quarter against Boston College.
So when teammate Deunta Williams made his third interception of the game and returned it to the Boston College 1 with 4:42 left, Houston appealed to his coaches: "Can I go in, can I go in? It's one yard. If I'm on a stretcher, I can get one yard," he said.
And that's what he did, putting the Tar Heels ahead 28-13. They went on to win their fourth straight game, 31-13, at Alumni Stadium.
"When we get down to that goal line, it's always going to Ryan," quarterback T.J. Yates said. "He got hit by three guys on that last touchdown, and he kept going somehow."
Houston hadn't been going from about midway through the third quarter, when he was replaced by a combination of Anthony Elzy, Johnny White and Greg Little because the Tar Heels were ahead and the coaches didn't want to risk further injury.
White said he took a helmet to the thigh in the second quarter, kept going, took painkillers at halftime and kept nagging the coaches until they put him back in.
"I was ready for them to call my number, but they didn't call it until the goal line," he said. "I thought they'd put me in again after that, but they didn't."
He said the bruise isn't serious and he'll be fine.
E.J. at TE: The Tar Heels opened the game with a 70-yard march down the field for a touchdown, but even that had a defensive flair. Defensive lineman E.J. Wilson was in the game, as a blocking tight end, when Houston rumbled in for his first 1-yard touchdown of the game.
"I played [tight end] a couple times earlier in the season, but we haven't really had an opportunity to get in the goal-line package," Wilson said. "But we had a lot of opportunities to get in that look today, so I got the call at tight end."
Might there be any plays in which he could catch a touchdown?
"Maybe, maybe not," he said, grinning. "But I'm just happy blocking for people, man - doing like I did in high school, playing different positions. I'm just living in the moment right now, having fun."
Rough day for T.J.: After throwing three interceptions, quarterback T.J. Yates now has 13 this season.
"It was an ugly day for quarterbacks out there, I'll tell you that," he said. "The interceptions were uncalled for, poor decisions. The one in the end zone, that was a poor decision by me. The one that got tipped, the guy just made a great play. The other one was fourth-and-[12], I was trying to make a play. I knew it was going to be a turnover on downs either way. I just thought I'd give it a chance."
