By Andrew Jones and Steve Eubanks
FOXSportsSouth.com
Dec. 23, 2010
As non-BCS subplots go, the Music City Bowl matchup between North Carolina and Tennessee has all the makings of a Shakespearean sonnet, without poison, swords or long soliloquies, obviously. Not only will this be the first meeting between these two southern schools since 1962, it will be the first since UT canceled a home-and-home series that was to begin in Chapel Hill in 2011.
Our experts rank this SEC-vs.-ACC matchup and make the case for who's going to win:
Andrew Jones:
Five reasons the Tar Heels will win:
Defense: The Tar Heels have more NFL-ready players on their defense, and they are deeper and more experienced. Carolina's defense is ranked 32nd nationally, but that number doesn't accurately indicate the team's talent level for the bowl game, as several starters didn't participate in large chunks of the season. And going up against a freshman quarterback should give the Heels some opportunities to flip the field.
Quarterback: T.J. Yates, a senior, is UNC's career passing leader. He just turned in a tremendous season in which he passed for 3,184 yards and threw 18 touchdown passes to go with eight interceptions. Yates' best performance this season, though, might have been guiding the Tar Heels through a great deal of adversity as the face of the program. Tennessee, on the other hand, will start a freshman with only four starts under his belt, and if he struggles, the Vols will play Matt Simms, who was benched after a 2-6 start to the season.
Motivation: Picking bowl winners can be tricky because it's not uncommon for only one of the teams to be excited about playing. Human nature can do strange things to young men during bowl season, and it would normally seem this Carolina club wouldn't be so thrilled to take on a 6-6 team in a weekday game in Nashville, given the season's expectations entering August. But losing key players to NCAA sanctions and Tennessee having backed out of a home-and-home series slated to begin next fall in Chapel Hill should supply Butch Davis' team with plenty of motivation to play hard and well.
Something to prove: Several Tar Heels who missed large segments of the season because of the NCAA investigation would like to leave a lasting mark on their UNC careers. They'd also like to make one final impression on NFL scouts to judge them as football players, and playing well against the Vols is a way of making that happen.
UNC is just better: Tennessee is in a rebuilding phase, which is why it canceled the series, and the Tar Heels are just a better football team. UNC has talent everywhere on the field, has built a great deal of depth this season and is well coached. It also has motivation behind it, and that's enough of a combination to make them a favorite to defeat the Volunteers.
Steve Eubanks:
Five reasons Tennessee will win:
Trajectory: Despite low expectations, a new coach and a program that was generally considered a hot mess in early August, the Vols had an undefeated November and played themselves into this bowl game with solid numbers late in the seasons. On the other side, UNC was expected to play for the ACC title. Instead, they saw their season go south with losses to Georgia Tech, Miami, Virginia Tech and in-state rival North Carolina State. Momentum means something in college football and Tennessee is on the right side of the confidence swing.
Quarterback: You never know with freshmen, but the Vols have the real deal with Tyler Bray, who came off the bench midway through the season and led Tennessee to four consecutive, impressive victories. He threw for 325 yards and five touchdowns against Memphis, 323 yards and two TDs against Ole Miss, 232 yards and two scores against Vanderbilt and, most impressive, 354 and two touchdowns in an upset win over Kentucky to get the Vols bowl eligible. The offense believes in Bray, and he has gained confidence with each snap. Sure, UNC has senior T.J. Yates at QB, but for enthusiasm, leadership, and a sense of invincibility, you have to give the edge to Bray and the Vols.
They looked better losing: The Vols showed signs of being a good football team in spurts. They could have, and perhaps should have, beaten LSU and South Carolina, two of the best in the conference. And they played Florida great for a half. Sure, they were 2-6 on Halloween, but they looked better in their losses than North Carolina did falling to Georgia Tech, Miami and N.C. State.
No scandals: Lane Kiffin is gone and forgotten and the players suited up in Orange are dedicated and scandal free. In August, UNC's Robert Quinn, Marvin Austin and Greg Little looked to be among the elite in the ACC and NFL prospects. They never played a down and were eventually kicked off the team for cheating. In all, 15 UNC players have gone through some form of suspension. The Vols haven't been the best team on the field this year, but by comparison they have been relatively scandal free.
Coach: As far as exceeding expectations go, Derek Dooley is the most beloved guy in Knoxville right now. After the Kiffin debacle, nobody expected the Vols to be in a bowl of any kind. Dooley gets all the credit for pulling this team together quickly and efficiently. Butch Davis, on the other hand, has been on the hot seat since Labor Day. Anytime a head coach has to have an early season news conference to answer questions about a female tutor, it brings leadership into question. Give the coaching edge to Dooley, enough in fact to put the Vols over the top.
