SO STRANGE, SO SAD

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WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN?

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I was talking to a NC State fan recently and he was telling me that State would not even miss Russell Wilson this season. I told him "you are crazy." Wilson looked awesome in his Wisconsin debut and Mike Glennon looked very fair. Glennon is NC State's 6-6 240 lbs. QB and has all the skills to be really good one day. I love a prototypical pocket passer like Glennon, but what I told that State fan next is very interesting in retrospect. I said," Glennon may be good, but he is not going to be better than Bryn Renner(UNC QB)."

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Well, Renner looked awesome Saturday. I thought Renner would be good this year, because he almost put UNC Senior T.J. Yates on the bench last year. Why is this so impressive? One reason is that Renner was just a freshman then and another reason is T.J. Yates is playing well in the NFL this year. Well, Renner was not only good on Saturday, he was unbelievable. Renner had arguably the most impressive QB performance of the weekend. Now no one is comparing Renner to Andrew Luck yet. UNC was beating up on James Madison to be fair, but James Madison did beat Virginia Tech last year. Renner's statistics in his first start were incredible. Renner was 22-23(96%), 277 passing yards, 2 TDs in the air and another on the ground. UNC looked really good in all facets of the game. Quinton Coples looked unstoppable on defense. Coples looked like the National Defensive Player of Year candidate that he is.

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North Carolina would have won 10 games last year minimum(if it wasn't for the suspensions), and "what could have been," still stings Tarheels' fans today. Then to add injury to insult, right when the sun seems to be peaking through the clouds and turning the sky Carolina blue, UNC chancellor fires Butch Davis a week before the season starts. The sad thing is that UNC could have been really good this year, and maybe they still will be, but Butch had the Tarheels ready to break through and contend for an ACC Championship every year. UNC has the best college basketball program in the nation and UNC fans were ready to have a football program to match. So was the University who just added seats to the stadium, including brand new luxury boxes.

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Here is the weird thing, sources close to Davis say, "he never saw it coming." So, with all the rumors swirling, it would make sense that there was bad blood on both sides(Davis' side and the University's). Yet, with all the verbal jabbing that has gone on between both parties, Butch Davis was at the game Saturday. A source who I spoke to personally, sat in the the one of new luxury boxes right near the box Davis was in. The source even rode in the elevators with Davis on Saturday. With everything that has happened, why and how was Davis at the stadium, and so publicly visible. All the events that have transpired with Davis and the UNC football program have have been strange, to say the least, but to UNC football fans, the whole situation is so sad!

Out of the Blue...

"He never saw it coming!"

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I got off work today and heard about the firing of Butch Davis. Butch Davis was the coach of the University of North Carolina football coach, until today. The consensus in the Triangle(no matter who you pull for) is the that the timing of this firing is odd(eight days before the season starts). Many people believed Davis would be fired, but over the last year and a few months Davis has seemed to weather the storm. Then, today, Butch is gone; it seems Davis just couldn't shake off all the dirt. As a Carolina fan, I have a right to be mad at Butch Davis, but I just don't know... Many in this area believe that Davis had to know somethng about the infractions going on and should be held responsible. I agree Butch knew about some of the things going on and maybe he tried to put the fire out. I just have a hard time putting too much blame on him. Local sources still say "there is no proof linking Davis to the wrong doing."

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As I watch the reactions of the fans and students around the campus on TV, it seems to be a mixed bag as usual. Some saw it coming and were just surprised at the timing of it all. Others seemed more disappointed with the season so close. This event will hang a dark cloud over Kenan Stadium all year. Very few people seem to be really mad at Davis. Most don't even blame him. Local radio guys who are not UNC fans are reporting the firing and seem to be gloating on the inside. In this area, either you hate Carolina or you love them.

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The Chancellor at UNC, Holden Thorp, seems to be the one who finally pulled the trigger on the Butch Davis dismissal. Here is an official quote from the Chancellor, "Our academic integrity is paramount, and we must work diligently to protect it." Thorp also said,"The only way to move forward and put this behind us is to make a change." It seems that Thorp finally fired Davis because in his opinion Butch and his staff had done more than embarrass the football team, he embarrassed the University.

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I heard another guy on the radio say in his opinion, "Butch Davis should have been fired last December and that this move at this time, makes no sense." This move may not hurt UNC too much this year. After Butch Davis left Unversity of Miami, Larry Coker( one of the most clueless coaches I have ever seen, who was later fired) won a National Championship. But UNC's future is totally up in the air and no one knows how this story will play out 2 or 3 years down the line.

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I don't much more than this, sorry. As an UNC fan, I am still trying to digest the whole thing. If anyone knows any more interesting facts about this story, please comment. As I learn anything new I will comment on this entry, stay tuned!