2010-2011
College Football Season
Music City Bowl
Post-Game

Game Recap

by CFP Staff
December 30, 2010

Casey Barth's 23-yard field goal in the second overtime gave North Carolina a 30-27 Music City Bowl win over Tennessee on Thursday, snapping the Tar Heels' 3-bowl losing streak.

Tennessee fans will long believe it wasn't the field goal, but rather the officials, that won the game for North Carolina. Time appeared to have expired when the Tar Heels attempted a running play from the Volunteer 25-yard line with 16 seconds on the clock and no time outs left. After a 7-yard gain on the play and the clock ticking, chaos ensued and QB T.J. Yates finally spiked the ball as the clock ran out. Tennessee players and coaches celebrated and UNC appeared to have conceded defeat, but officials opted to review the play and determined 1 second was left and North Carolina was guilty of having too many players on the field. The rulings allowed Barth to kick a 39-yard field goal and force overtime with a 20-20 tie.

North Carolina began the first OT at the Tennessee 12-1/2-yard line after Tennessee was flagged for roughing the kicker on the extra point. The Tar Heels needed just 4 plays to go up 27-20, but the Vols answered in just two plays to re-tie the game.

Tennessee opened the 2nd overtime and turned the ball over on an interception. Barth kicked the game-winner three plays later.

It was the second time this season that Tennessee lost a game they appeared to have won. The Vols began celebrating a victory over LSU in the regular season before officials ruled they had too many men on the field for the final play. The Tigers scored the game-winning touchdown on the next snap.

Tennessee fell to 6-7 with the loss while North Carolina finished 8-5.

Both teams had to overcome adversity to get to the postseason. North Carolina went through Agentgate and Tutorgate and was under the direction of its third head coach in three seasons.

North Carolina was favored by many to win the ACC, including CollegeFootballPoll.com's preseason forecast which is based on the Congrove Computer Rankings (a.k.a. CCR Top 120). But the Tar Heels faced a wave of NCAA scrutiny in the weeks leading up to the opening game with LSU, ranging from improper benefits to academic misconduct.

When all was said and done, 14 players missed one or more games, seven others missed the entire season, assistant coach John Blake had to resign and agent Gary Wichard was suspended for 9 months by the NFL Players Association. The defense, which was expected to wreak havoc and lead the Tar Heels to the ACC title, became decimated with permanent ineligibility declarations for four players, including standout defensive tackle Marvin Austin who was kicked off the team in October.

In a span of just over 14 months between November 3, 2008 and January 15, 2010, Tennessee saw Philip Fulmer get pushed out, Lane Kiffin get hired and annoy most everyone before leaving for USC, and Derek Dooley get hired.

The Vols were forecasted by the computer to go 5-7 overall, 2-6 in the SEC. It didn't miss that prediction by much as they finished 6-6 overall and 3-5 in the conference, thanks to a four-game season ending winning streak.

Ironically, these teams were scheduled to have a home-and-home series begin next year, but that was cancelled when the Vols decided to soften the front-end of their schedule while rebuilding the program. As a result, this game was a sellout with a heavy Tennessee contingent snapping up tickets.

North Carolina improved to 13-15 overall in bowl contests and Butch Davis notched his fifth win in seven bowl games as a head coach. He is now 1-2 with North Carolina after going 4-0 with Miami.

Tennessee's bowl record slipped to 25-24 with its second consecutive postseason loss to an ACC team. The Vols were trounced 37-14 by Virginia Tech in last year's Chick-fil-A Bowl, which turned out to be Kiffin's last game as the head man in Knoxville. Derek Dooley's only previous bowl experience as a head coach came in the 2008 Independence Bowl where his Louisiana Tech Bulldogs defeated Northern Illinois.

The Vols are tied for third for the most team bowl appearances in NCAA FBS history.

ACC and SEC teams have split six Music City Bowl matchups. Virginia Tech beat Alabama 38-7 in the first-ever Music City Bowl and Clemson won last season's edition 21-13 over Kentucky. The SEC claimed three Music City Bowl trophies from 2006-2008 with two wins for Kentucky and a rare bowl victory for Vanderbilt.

North Carolina was a 5.32-point computer favorite over Tennessee.