After FSU loss, Davis rights Tar Heels

Regardless of which side wins the North Carolina-at-N.C. State football game Saturday, Tar Heels coach Butch Davis deserves a lot of credit for keeping his team out of a ditch.

After Carolina's defense had a rare lapse in the second half of an Oct. 22 game with Florida State in Chapel Hill, there was some reason to believe Davis' team might go winless against an ensuing schedule that included Virginia Tech, Duke, Miami, Boston College and the Wolfpack.

The Heels exited the 30-27 FSU loss 4-3 overall, 0-3 in the ACC, with only two wins over legitimate opponents and facing a possible meltdown by quarterback T.J. Yates.

Shortly thereafter, the team's top rusher, Shaun Draughn, was sidelined for the rest of the season by an injury, and the already patched-up offensive line underwent another period of mayhem.

A similar series of mishaps and missteps flipped State from a 3-1 team with a win over Pittsburgh into the bowl-dead, 4-7, 1-6 ACC band of strugglers and stragglers Carolina will confront at noon Saturday in Carter-Finley Stadium.

The primary difference between the teams' seasons has been a Carolina defense that stops opponents while producing points. But it's also clear that the team has responded favorably to Davis and his staff.

Given the offense's limitations and the frustrating midseason home losses to Virginia and Florida State, there was a danger the players could splinter and pursue any number of separate agendas. The defensive unit, which has several pro prospects, very easily could have drifted into disillusionment with key players progressively becoming more worried about NFL Combine workouts than the rest of the schedule.

To Davis' credit, everyone stayed on topic under duress. The reward is that the Heels now have a chance to go from 4-3 to a 10-3 record that long could serve as a benchmark of the Davis era.

It's been a profound swing of fortune since preseason for Carolina and State.

In July, the leadership nucleus of quarterback Russell Wilson, running backs Toney Baker and Jamelle Eugene and linebacker Nate Irving on State's roster - plus a 41-10 win late in 2008 - indicated that Tom O'Brien's program had opened a competitive advantage over Carolina.

Things changed quickly when Irving was lost for the season as a result of an auto accident and the Wolfpack went through a third straight season of debilitating injuries. O'Brien obviously worked as hard on a salvage operation as did Davis, but State's players just couldn't gain any traction at all in successive losses to Wake Forest and Duke during the same general time frame Carolina was falling to Virginia and FSU.

It would be easy to say Carolina got the break of the year when Virginia Tech running back Ryan Williams fumbled the Tar Heels into a season-changing miracle on Oct. 29 in Blacksburg, Va. But the Tar Heels made that hit, forced the fumble, recovered and had the motivation to capitalize on the opportunity.

Davis played a primary role in the developments that led to that play and that have unfolded since. He made the correct adjustments and simplifications while admirably shuffling personnel on the run.

That said, Davis still will hear some hooting if his record slips to 0-3 against State. But even if they lose, the Heels will finish the regular season 8-4, when 5-7 or 6-6 looked more likely just a few weeks ago.

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