A Cardinal sin

The vocal leader of the North Carolina football team held court on one side of the Kenan Stadium players' lounge to express his disgust with the way his team had performed.

A week removed from a season-saving win against Georgia Tech, the Tar Heels still were trying to understand how they could have played so poorly in a 34-0 rout at the hands of No. 24 Louisville on Saturday.

"We have a lot of good football players who are very, very young," said a visibly angry Jason Brown. "Some guys are very good, very talented, and they still don't understand the entire realm of football.

"We need those younger guys. We need them. We need them to have consistency, and we need them to execute every play for us to be a great football team - or for us to be a good football team."

The newest face on the North Carolina team sat on the other side of the room, confusion in his eyes, sorting through what he'd seen on the sidelines.

"People weren't trying to fight it out," said freshman defensive end Terry Hunter, who made his debut Saturday. "People weren't trying to fight out the game. People saw we gave up a couple of big plays, and people started dropping their heads on the sidelines. We can't do that. We've got to fight the whole game."

But as frustrated and disappointed as the Tar Heels appeared after the game, they could do nothing to reverse the outcome of a disaster they never saw coming.

Six Louisville ball carriers rushed for 278 yards and scored four touchdowns on the ground. Junior Eric Shelton led the way with three touchdowns and a season-high 86 yards, and sophomore Michael Bush rushed for 82 yards of his own.

On the Cardinals' first offensive play of the third quarter, Shelton carried the ball through a huge hole on the right side and outraced the North Carolina secondary for a 37-yard touchdown.

The score increased the Cardinals' lead to 17-0 and swiftly and effectively ended any opportunity for a rally.

"Nothing like holding a team to 10 points in the first half, and then coming right out and giving up a touchdown," said linebacker Fred Sparkman. "That just kills a team's momentum right there."

The Cardinals then forced North Carolina to punt, and they took the ball at their own 30-yard line. The critical play of the drive came when five Louisville receivers spread the defense far enough for quarterback Stefan LeFors to find Montrell Jones across the middle for a 20-yard gain.

Six plays later, Shelton blasted through the Tar Heels' goal-line defense for a one-yard touchdown and a 24-0 lead.

By the time the final whistle blew, the Cardinals had added another touchdown and an icing-on-the-cake field goal, and North Carolina still showed no signs of finding a chink in the armor.

The game served as a startling reminder that wins still have to be earned - they won't be handed out on a silver platter.

"I don't know how Louisville is going to hand anything to you except a big spanking," Bunting said. "(They) took us out behind the shed, took our pants down and belted us."

The only way for the Tar Heels to avoid that fate, it seems, is to play with unrelenting focus and near-flawless execution.

"We have to go out there and execute," Brown said. "We tell ourselves we're a good team, but you know what? If you're a good team, you can go out there with consistency and do it week after week."

Even the perpetually dependable Darian Durant couldn't get it done Saturday. The senior quarterback completed 10 of 19 passes for just 80 yards - the rst start of his career in which he threw for less than 100 yards.

His only interception of the game came at perhaps its most critical point. North Carolina drove the ball to the Louisville 21-yard line late in the second quarter, but linebacker Brandon Johnson picked off a pass across the middle to stifle the threat.

With Ronnie McGill still sidelined with a sprained ankle, the Tar Heels couldn't muster anything on the ground, either.

Senior Chad Scott ripped off the longest run of the day, a 31-yard sprint sprung by a block from Durant in the second quarter, but the Tar Heels managed just 77 total rushing yards.

Possibly the only bright spot for the Tar Heels was a first-half effort that, if nothing else, put them in position to rally in the second stanza, but they couldn't capitalize.

"It's a 10-0 game at halftime," Bunting said. "That game's not even close to being over, but we went out and stunk the joint up."

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.