Welcome to Kenan Stadium.

So it was Senior Day for guys like Matt Baker. Tommy Davis. Derrele Mitchell. Chase Page. Tommy Richardson. Jarwarski Pollock. It was against Duke. The rival. The 1-9 Blue Devils. The terrible, terrible team.

Welcome to Kenan Stadium.

We scored on the first drive. Great. Harder than it should have been, but we were going to win this one by 38 points, right?

Welcome to Kenan Stadium.

We give up a touchdown to Duke. Whoops. A goal line stand and then Asack goes in on 4th down. Okay..... We're still going to win this one by 38 points, right?

Welcome to Kenan Stadium.

We go down 14-7. Wait. This isn't supposed to happen, is it? This is a joke, right?

Welcome to Kenan Stadium.

Baker connects on a 38 yard TD pass to Mitchell. Senior to senior. Nice. 14-14. Here we go, right?

Welcome to Kenan Stadium.

Wrong. Well, we got a Barth field goal to close the half up 17-14, but we're still playing Duke, right?

Welcome to Kenan Stadium.

Cue a pretty boring second half. No third-quarter scoring. Then in the 4th, we go into "play not to lose" mode. And give up another touchdown. So we're down 21-17 with five minutes to play. We're down. At home. To Duke. Football.

"This is your Senior Day, Matt Baker." That's what I kept saying to myself. I had my hat inside-out, like Randy Quaid in Major League II. Hands in pockets, wearing a disgusted frown; I was the anti-fan. "This is your Senior Day, Matt Baker."

Welcome to Kenan Stadium.

Ronnie McGill gets a generous spot on a 4th down run and we're driving. Ronnie's running and we're driving. Matt's running on 3rd and 10 and we're driving.

"Did he get it? Did he get it?" The HBG (HeelsBlogGirl to you new readers) says to me. I nodded my head. She turns around, bouncing up and down in time to the fight song.

Ronnie's in and we're up 24-21. Tommy Richardson intercepts ("This is your Senior Day, T-Rich") and we win. Sigh.

Duke did an excellent job bringing their personnel in to play. They also did an excellent job attempting to hurt North Carolina's athletes, ripping off helmets, shooting for knees and blocking in backs. I once had respect for Ted Roof. Felt sorry for him and Duke football, even. No more.

The Heels played terribly and won a game that would have been a thriller against a better opponent. Normally I would say we have a shot at an upset this weekend at Virginia Tech, but with injuries and the attitude with which the Heels approached this game (this game against Duke), I just don't see it happening. The Hokies need to beat us to go to the BCS. We need to beat the Hokies to go to 6-5 and have a shot at a bowl bid.
Guess who's got the most motivation?

Welcome to Kenan Stadium.
Sigh.