CHAPEL HILL -- This bowl game is for Quinton Coples, who filled the void on the defensive line left by his wayward teammates and as much as anyone represents the good that came out of North Carolina's season.
This bowl game is for T.J. Yates, whose leadership helped the Tar Heels navigate a season full of self-inflicted distractions.
This bowl game is for Anthony Elzy and Ryan Taylor and Quan Sturdivant and all the other Tar Heels - including injured Bruce Carter and Alan Pelc - who wrote their own papers and managed to play within the rules.
They deserved something for their effort, and a trip to Nashville is as good as anything.
This bowl game is not for any of the 14 players who couldn't follow the simplest of NCAA, university and moral guidelines, crippling a potentially groundbreaking season before it ever got started. Some will play in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30, having served their punishment, but it's their fault North Carolina never got the chance to play for the ACC title that seemed so possible a year ago.
And it is not for Butch Davis, who through deliberate action or inexcusable inaction allowed all of this to go on under his watch. That includes the relationship between now-suspended agent Gary Wichard and former assistant coach John Blake, Davis' old friend and new ex-employee, and the tutor at the center of the academic investigation, who continued to be employed in the Davis household even after the university cut her loose.
So it's off to the Music City Bowl, and for the players who have earned the right to play in a bowl, it's a deserved reward. The other gift this season has given them is a healthy case of what-might-have-been.
"This season has just been about perseverance," Coples said. "The whole team has overcome so many obstacles that hit us. ... At the end of the day, I'm the most proud of the way our team stepped up with the hit that we took and what we accomplished, going to a bowl game."
The whole season at North Carolina has been about redefining expectations, whether those were the ACC title aspirations that encouraged a talented junior class to turn down the NFL and return for a final season that some eventually forfeited the right to play, or the realization that the good conduct North Carolina has traditionally expected of its athletes (and assistant coaches) can no longer be relied upon.
From a football perspective, the Tar Heels will take the Music City Bowl and run with it, but this is still underachievement by the standard set last January.
"I'm sure there will come a time when we look back and say 'Gosh,' with a little bit of sadness," Davis said. "Sadness for the kids who didn't get a chance to play, and sadness for the guys who did play. But I will tell you that I am probably more pleased and happier with the way the season went than probably most of you could imagine."
Meanwhile, the giant, gleaming blade of the NCAA looms overhead. While there are North Carolina fans who continue to believe that the university has done nothing wrong and will be completely exonerated, presumably with a letter of commendation written in kryptonite ink on a parchment made from unicorn hide, the rest of the world knows judgment is coming.
On both fronts, the advice is to enjoy it while it lasts, because not only did the Tar Heels overachieve to get here, they could face some kind of bowl ban by this time next year. These are the good times. The players who earned it deserve it.
