College Football Nation: Casey Barth
Here’s a look at the top moments from the 2010 season:
Elsa/Getty ImagesBoston College LB Mark Herzlich made his return to the field this season after missing all of 2009.2. The NCAA investigation. Unfortunately for UNC, this season will forever be linked to an NCAA investigation into agent-related benefits and academic misconduct that eventually sidelined 14 players for at least one game, including seven players who missed the entire season. Assistant coach John Blake resigned, star defensive tackle Marvin Austin was dismissed, and while a bowl win over an SEC team was something to be proud of, this season will always be remembered for what could have been had the entire roster remained intact.
3. Virginia Tech’s loss to James Madison. Face it: it’s one we’ll never forget. A positive spin? It changed the Hokies’ season. This loss was the catalyst for an unprecedented turnaround in the FBS. No other program has ever started out 0-2 and finished the regular season undefeated. Virginia Tech rallied to become the first ACC team since 2000 to breeze through the ACC schedule undefeated, but the poor start quickly knocked Virginia Tech out of the national title conversation.
4. Florida State’s state championship: FSU’s combined wins over Miami and Florida marked the first season sweep of state rivals since 1999 -- by the widest combined point margin in school history. Jimbo Fisher became the only FSU coach to pull off that sweep as a first-year coach. The Seminoles’ 31-7 win over Florida snapped a six-game losing streak to their in-state rivals, beating the Gators for the first time since 2003 -- also the last time FSU was able to score that many points against Florida. With the win, Jimbo Fisher clinched the most wins by a first-year FSU coach in 50 years. Not even Bobby Bowden won his debut against Florida.
5. John Kevin Dolce’s hit on Miami quarterback Jacory Harris: This hit changed Miami’s season. Not only did it knock the Canes' starting quarterback out for a few weeks, it also dashed Miami’s hopes at winning the Coastal Division and gave Virginia its first win over a ranked team since defeating No. 21 Georgia Tech in 2008. Said Dolce: "When you chop the head off a giant, the rest of the body goes with it.”
6. Military Bowl crowd chanting Ralph Friedgen’s name. The ACC coach of the year had been fired, but in his final game at Maryland -- a 51-20 drubbing of East Carolina -- Friedgen lived up to the title he had earned with the second-best turnaround in the FBS in 2010. After winning just two games in 2009, Friedgen led his team to a nine-win season, and his players and fans thanked him for it on a cold day in RFK Stadium.
7. David Wilson’s kickoff return against Georgia Tech: With 2:23 remaining, Virginia Tech running back David Wilson scored on a 90-yard kickoff return to give the Hokies a 28-21 win over the then-defending ACC champs. It was a dramatic play that answered Georgia Tech’s 80-yard, game-tying drive, and one that separated Virginia Tech from the rest of the Coastal Division. Also in this game, Georgia Tech star quarterback Joshua Nesbitt broke his right forearm late in the first half, leaving the Jackets without the heart of their offense for the rest of the season, and ending Nesbitt's record-setting career too early.
8. Tyrod Taylor’s ACC title-game performance: There were trademark scrambles, big plays and no interceptions from the ACC’s player of the year, who finished with four touchdowns and 267 total yards in a 44-33 championship game win over Florida State.
9. North Carolina’s double-overtime win against Tennessee in the Music City Bowl: The Tar Heels have a flair for the dramatic when it comes to bowl games, but this one was one of the most bizarre. After declaring the game over, officials reviewed the clock and determined there was still one second remaining. It gave kicker Casey Barth just enough time to tie the game at 20 and send it into overtime.
10. Dustin Hopkins’ 55-yard game-winner: A week after missing the game-winning field goal against North Carolina, FSU's kicker made a career-best 55-yard field goal to beat Clemson, 16-13, as time expired. Hopkins had missed two fourth-quarter field goals in a loss to the Tar Heels the previous week. It was the third-longest field goal in Florida State history.
Instant analysis: UNC 30, Tennessee 27 (2OT)
How the game was won:With instant replay. Thanks to an official review, the Tar Heels got one more chance and one second back on the clock in regulation -- just enough time for Casey Barth to tie the game at 20 with a 38-yard field goal. Regulation ended with terrible clock management by North Carolina, as the Tar Heels let about 11 seconds run off the clock before spiking the ball. The officials said “the game is over” and mass confusion ensued before they decided on putting a second back onto the clock. Tennessee imploded with three costly penalties in the final 30 seconds, including a 13-yard personal foul that landed the Heels on the 12-yard line to start overtime. UNC quarterback T.J. Yates scored with a 1-yard run in overtime, but Tennessee answered right back, sending it into a second overtime. Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray, who got a little brash in the first overtime, threw an interception in the second overtime and Barth kicked the game-winning, 23-yard field goal.
Turning point: With 25 seconds remaining in the game, Todd Harrelson’s catch for 28 yards was reviewed, upheld, and a 15-yard personal foul was tacked on, setting the Tar Heels up with a first down on the Tennessee 37-yard line. It was the play in regulation that kept UNC's hopes alive for a chance at a field goal to send the game into overtime.
Stat of the game: North Carolina held Tennessee to just 27 yards rushing.
Player of the game: UNC kicker Casey Barth. His 39-yard field goal tied the game at 20 and sent it into overtime, and his 23-yard kick gave the Tar Heels their first bowl win since 2001.
Unsung hero of the game:UNC running back Shaun Draughn. Filling in for suspended starter Anthony Elzy, Draughn ran for 160 yards and one touchdown with an average of 7 yards per carry.
What it means: UNC took the next step in the postseason under coach Butch Davis and won the close game, snapping a three-game bowl losing streak. It was a fitting end to a season defined by Carolina's relentlessness through the NCAA investigations. North Carolina hasn't been at full strength all year because of injuries and the investigations, but they've dug deep all season to find ways to win, and this game was a microcosm of that effort.
The curse of missed field goals carried over to the Jimbo Fisher era, as the usually-reliable Dustin Hopkins missed a 40-yard attempt with less than 10 seconds to play, allowing the Tar Heels to escape Tallahassee with a 37-35 win. Both quarterbacks played well and shockingly there were no turnovers in this game. Casey Barth, though, made three field goals in the second half, and UNC won with just 34 rushing yards.
NC State should be kicking itself for losing to Clemson today. Maryland should be kicking itself for losing to Miami. And Florida State? Well, let's not talk about their kicking. All three teams are now tied with 6-3 overall records and two conference losses each. The Atlantic Division race got much more interesting today with all three teams losing.
Considering today's results, it makes Virginia Tech's 5-0 league record all the more impressive. And it makes next week's UNC-VT game all the more interesting.
North Carolina kicker Casey Barth literally got swept up in the moment.
Upon kicking his team’s 21-yard game-winning field goal for a stunning 20-17 victory over Virginia Tech last Thursday night in hostile Lane Stadium, Barth was hoisted into the air by center Lowell Dyer and consumed by celebration.
On Friday, after having had some time to digest the magnitude of the win, Barth summed it up succinctly:
“I think it saved our season,” he said.
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| Scott Halleran/Getty Images | |
| Casey Barth was carried off the field following Thursday’s win over Virginia Tech. |
It very well might have.
After opening the season with three straight conference losses and feeling the pressure to stop a downward spiral, North Carolina (5-3, 1-3 ACC) did the seemingly impossible and marched into one of the nation’s most difficult places to win on a Thursday night and stunned the Hokies. Now the Tar Heels have increased their chances of finishing the season with a bowl game and a respectable record in Butch Davis’ third season.
“I think the guys needed the win -- skip the records and all that -- just on a personal level,” said safety Deunta Williams. “We put in so much hard work during the offseason, and for it not to manifest during the season, it was tough for guys to understand that. For us to go down there against a ranked opponent, a very good team, and just us against the world and no help from anyone at all but us, we come out with the win, it was more of a confidence builder, self-esteem builder, all of that good stuff. We really needed that.”
And Davis, Barth said, had a lot to do with giving the team the confidence it needed to actually pull it off.
“He has the stats, that last year we beat a lot of good, ranked teams, and obviously we have the athletes to do it,” Barth said. “He told us we definitely have the ability to beat them, we just have to put our best effort out there.”
They did, in all three phases of the game -- for all four quarters -- and that was the difference. Offensive coordinator John Shoop won the chess match against Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster, and the return of several healthy players helped him do it. Williams said UNC’s defense, which was humbled two weeks ago in the second half of a nationally televised loss to Florida State, was playing for pride as much as anything else.
The plan, Williams said, is to keep it up, but it doesn’t get any easier, as UNC will host its rival, Duke, on Saturday in another key Coastal Division game. The Blue Devils have won their past three conference games, including two on the road, and control their own destiny heading into Chapel Hill.
North Carolina, though, knocked off a team that just weeks ago was still in the running for the national title. And the Tar Heels did it in Lane Stadium, where the Hokies entered the game with a 9-2 record on Thursday nights.
“It wasn’t just a fluke or anything like that, especially playing against Virginia Tech,” Williams said. “It would be different if you were playing against someone who was less talented, but overall I think it was a good team and -- it’s not the first time we’ve done that, but it was the first complete game that we’ve played in all three stages, besides the ECU game, that we all came together and won as a team.”
And when that happens, it’s easy to get carried away.
“It was awesome,” Barth said. “I’ve never really experienced anything like that. It was one of the best moments of my life.”
Posted by ESPN.com's Heather Dinich
The Tar Heels begin spring practice today and coach Butch Davis and his staff have a lot of work to do in order to improve upon last year's impressive eight-win season. At the top of the list is finding a few players who can catch the ball.
Here are the highlights of our conversation, with the warning that Davis turns around programs faster than he tends to answer questions (not that there's anything wrong with that):
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| Bob Donnan/US Presswire | |
| Greg Little will be someone the Tar Heels look to this season. |
Everyone knows you have a lot to replace at wide receiver. What can you tell me about the guys who have the potential to step in there this spring?
BD: That will probably be our No. 1 main objective going into the spring, at least from a position standpoint, is replacing those three unbelievably talented wide receivers. And Cooter Arnold was a really significant player when we got into four wide receiver packages, but having said all that, I think that we've got five guys on campus right now that we're excited to find out about. They've had an opportunity to watch for this last year or so. They watched those three guys practice, how hard they practiced, how much film they studied, how much trust and confidence they developed with the quarterback, and certainly Greg Little is probably the most experienced player that we have. He's played wide receiver, and he's started games at wideout, he's played as a running back. He's got pretty significant game experience.
After that, then most of the guys, they're kind of somewhat young, but we think they've got some talent. Dwight Jones was one of the most highly recruited receivers in the country a couple of years ago. We think he is poised to step in and be able to contribute and do some things. We're also very excited about Todd Harrelson, a receiver we recruited last year that redshirted this past season. We think that he's got some things he can certainly bring to the table. One of the most highly recruited kids in last year's class was Josh Adams, that enrolled in midterm. So he's been going through our offseason program and that was part of the recruiting program, knowing a year ago we were going to lose some guys to graduation. We didn't know Hakeem (Nicks) was going to go out early in the draft, but that was one of the things in trying to get Josh. We knew he'd be able to come in at midterm. We've got another kid that's going to be a junior, Rashad Mason.
A lot of these guys have been waiting in the wings, flying under the radar, so to speak, because we had those three guys that did probably 85 percent of the playing over the last two years. So now will be a time for us to really work with some consistency, some continuity in the springtime, and it will be an ongoing process all summer long and certainly into training camp. We think by the start of the season we've got some other kids we signed -- we signed three other receivers to come in in this class that we think they'll have an opportunity to add a little bit to the position.
Posted by ESPN.com's Heather Dinich
Yes, Russell Wilson was named NC State's starting quarterback, but he knows there's more to life than football games. Baseball games, too. His father is still in the hospital after suffering a stroke this summer.
There is still a season opener to be played, though, and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier took a few people by surprise on Monday when he announced running back Taylor Rank will start against the Wolfpack instead of senior Mike Davis.
There shouldn't be any more surprises coming out of Coral Gables this week.
No Robert Marve? No problem. Jacory Harris is a "rock star." Michael Cunningham says Randy Shannon's poor timing is just that, and won't affect the team. So far, he's right.
Shannon wasn't thrilled with the idea of his son, Xavier, joining the football team. And now that Xavier Shannon is a Hurricane, there's no favoritism -- or much talking about football -- going on.
Florida State's running game looked good in its final scrimmage, but the quarterbacks? Still looking for consistency. If the Noles are going to have a good season, the offense is going to have to play well for more than "a minute and a half." It might help if everyone who is supposed to be there was actually cleared to play.
UNC's game against McNeese State is a sell-out, but will the Tar Heels put on a season-long show for their fans? When asked for specifics about his kicking game, Butch Davis decided to punt. It looks like Jay Wooten and Casey Barth will get things done together.
I'm not the only one who thinks Clemson can actually git 'er done this year. Ron Morris points out plenty of reasons why Tommy Bowden should have a breakout season. Of course, there's always that question about the offensive line, but better to be concerned about your backups than your starters, no?
It's never good when a headline starts off with "Despite being tied to an academic scandal ..." but hey, Virginia defensive coordinator Bob Pruett is still "having a lot of fun."
As for offensive coordinators, I told you this guy was good.
Posted by ESPN.com's Heather Dinich
Until he wins an ACC title, Clemson coach Tommy Bowden knows he's going to be answering questions about whether or not he actually can.
It's not like he doesn't have the talent to do it. Just look at how many veterans are being pushed by talented rookies in this program.
Bowden said he planned on using a significant amount of freshmen this season, but a few prominent newcomers have been relegated to the redshirt ranks.
Maryland should surprise some people in the Atlantic Division this year, and the Terps' veteran offensive line is a major reason why.
On the Coastal side, even Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer has had to temper his expectations because he had so many questions to answer this summer. Could a defensive tackle nicknamed Taco be one of those answers? Possibly, now that he's slimmed down a bit.
With Eric Moncur and Allen Bailey battling injuries all summer, the freshmen on defense have had to turn it up a notch. Marcus Robinson has been impressive enough to earn consideration to start in the season opener. We don't know who the starting quarterback is at Miami yet, but we know what his backups are doing.
Georgia Tech had a game-style scrimmage Thursday night to prepare for its season opener against Jacksonville State, and it wasn't exactly pretty.
Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner isn't Matt Ryan, but he's tried to be. Now he's ready to be himself -- unflappable.
Boston College walk-on cornerback Mark Maglio has never gotten paid for doing his impersonations before -- unless a scholarship counts. Corner DeLeon Gause already has a scholarship, and there's no question he's going to earn it this season, as teams are likely to pick on BC's inexperienced secondary.
The same can be said at UNC, but as Kendric Burney points out, it's not like they're going against no-name receivers in practice every day.
With punter/placekicker Graham Gano out, who will step up?
Speaking of kickers ... can UNC's Casey Barth break his brother Connor's records? First he has to win the job.
And Virginia coach Al Groh isn't ready to name a starting quarterback, but he declared Yannick Reyering his new kicker.
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