Looking back at the 2007 football game between South Carolina and North Carolina
Disgruntled fans, injuries, players crying in the locker room. A detailed peak inside the wild 2007 South Carolina-North Carolina game in Chapel Hill.
2007 USC vs UNC game
- Thread starter heelzfor2
- Start date
Crazy how 05 and 06 were so much fun, then this happened and it just felt like we got stuck in a rut for a few years.
Thank you for posting, a lot of us have been wondering what the hell happened at halftime that day.
"“I’ve had a lot of people ask me about the second half of that game, and to this point, I haven’t seen it written about before, but something happened at halftime of that North Carolina game,” Smelley said.
The USC freshman quarterback said he “vividly” remembers a “toxic energy” inside the team’s locker room that day. Things got emotional.
“It may have been this sort of, ‘Are we really good enough to be seventh in the nation?’ There were some doubts in the backs of peoples’ minds. I vividly remember the negativity and players crying in that locker room,” Smelley said. “There was a lot of negative emotion let out at that halftime. Why it happened then? I don’t know. I really thought it shook everybody up in a negative way."
Wtf? Why were people crying?
"“I’ve had a lot of people ask me about the second half of that game, and to this point, I haven’t seen it written about before, but something happened at halftime of that North Carolina game,” Smelley said.
The USC freshman quarterback said he “vividly” remembers a “toxic energy” inside the team’s locker room that day. Things got emotional.
“It may have been this sort of, ‘Are we really good enough to be seventh in the nation?’ There were some doubts in the backs of peoples’ minds. I vividly remember the negativity and players crying in that locker room,” Smelley said. “There was a lot of negative emotion let out at that halftime. Why it happened then? I don’t know. I really thought it shook everybody up in a negative way."
Wtf? Why were people crying?
Crazy thinking about a locker room full of SEC players including a ton of future NFLers sitting there crying up 18 points.
I remember for several years after this game that trolls posted on FGF that UnCarolina was "too uppity" to play in Columbia but the writer correctly quotes Hyman that UnCarolina had an opportunity to play a season-opener in Atlanta (I think it was vs LSU) in 2008 and of course we graciously agreed to postpone the return visit. Personally, when you schedule someone in a home-and-home, I prefer it not be in back-to-back seasons (more like 2-3 years down the road, not 6-7).
Below is a marvelous analogy IMO.
I have a brother who is a corporate attorney in Columbia. He mentioned to me that he once had a scheduled meeting with someone representing the other party who asked that the meeting be postponed because an opportunity to play the links at Augusta National fell into his lap. Of course they agreed to postpone the meeting.
Below is a marvelous analogy IMO.
I have a brother who is a corporate attorney in Columbia. He mentioned to me that he once had a scheduled meeting with someone representing the other party who asked that the meeting be postponed because an opportunity to play the links at Augusta National fell into his lap. Of course they agreed to postpone the meeting.
I felt so helpless the rest of that '07 season. I didn't know as much about football and was genuinely confused why we couldn't do anything seduce half and then we lost out and had to have it explained to me that NC showed that a very minor adjustment threw a wrench in our run defense. And then the tail off the schedule were just better teams.
Edit: never heard it attributed to energy and confidence, one of the coaches at my school days when teams take wonder OL splits that our DL wasn't good at getting penetration and it cleared out the scrum and forced the LBs to make their choices and that made it easier for RBs to pick their holes. Idk if that's true, but this article is one more point for why culture matters.
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Yeah. Odd. Obviously Smelly wasn't a part of whatever was going on. Some players collectively can create a negativity that spreads. Wonder what the root of the negativity was.
I think they were looking at the whole season and the large herculean task ahead and felt that weight. This is why a big part of Saban's system is effectively forcing players to be in the moment. It sounds like we were in the season, whereas most teams are in the game and Saban wants his guys in the play. This was during Beamer's first year here, when he was still a younger coach, and you gotta wonder if that had impact on his emphasis on love and positivity as the cornerstone for his culture.
It really is insane how fine the margins are when you don’t have elite talent all over the field to cover up deficiencies.
I think the article has it wrong. I remember the original agreement being 2007 and 2010. We were supposed to open with UNC in Columbia in 2010 but ESPN wanted them to play LSU in Atlanta. So we got southern miss on a Thursday night instead(Lattimore’s 1st game) and wouldn’t get the home game against UNC until 2013
Fair enough, and I appreciate the details you've posted.
My point is that the trolls were annoying.
Also, I wish that Hyman had asked for and gotten a home-and-home for men's hoops in exchange for postponing the return trip. Maybe he broached the subject with Dick Baddour and got stonewalled, for all I know.
Whatever it was - whatever was behind it all, it carried over big-time.
And yet despite a lengthy article and a couple of quotes from someone who was *in the locker room ... we still don't know what really happened. 
What was done or what was said and/or who said it?
Was there a physical altercation amongst players? Amongst Coaches? Amongst Coaches *and players?
I wish the entire true story would come out so that we can acknowledge it, learn from it if we must, and then make peace with it.
What was done or what was said and/or who said it?
Was there a physical altercation amongst players? Amongst Coaches? Amongst Coaches *and players?
I wish the entire true story would come out so that we can acknowledge it, learn from it if we must, and then make peace with it.
This is a good point. There should have been some type of additional game for us agreeing to move it back….like a basketball series.
It ended up working out for us. But yeah we were upset about the game being delayed and there were many Gamecock fans that didn’t believe the Tar Holes were coming until they saw them on the field in 2013.
I really think this is much to do about nothing. We looked like crap from that second half to the end of the season.And yet despite a lengthy article and a couple of quotes from someone who was *in the locker room ... we still don't know what really happened.
What was done or what was said and/or who said it?
Was there a physical altercation amongst players? Amongst Coaches? Amongst Coaches *and players?
I wish the entire true story would come out so that we can acknowledge it, learn from it if we must, and then make peace with it.
Maybe something happened in the locker room that day. Maybe North Carolina just exposed our weaknesses as a team and every other team exploited those weaknesses the rest of the season.
I find it hard to believe that if something happened that it has been kept quiet this long. People just can’t keep a secret these days.
I was at that game and thought the Heels were going to pull it out in the end....was a great college football game.
I was at the game that day as well and had an excellent time even with though the second half was rough.
side note: I was pretty inebriated walking into the stadium that I walked right up to and into the Ram Club, in garnet, and was never questioned. That was until I literally walked into Roy Williams and the Hansborough (sp) dude.
side note: I was pretty inebriated walking into the stadium that I walked right up to and into the Ram Club, in garnet, and was never questioned. That was until I literally walked into Roy Williams and the Hansborough (sp) dude.
The way they played in the second half I almost expected that pass to be completed. It was a heck of a game. I wish we played yearly. Both sides need to come together and make this happen…in all sports.
Agree 1979, recently read and article where Mack Brown basically said the same thing.
At least Chapel Hell has kept the annual baseball matchup in Charlotte going.
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