18 Jan 11 UNC Tar Heels Football Suspensions Update: What Does It Mean If Heels Don't Win?

Streeter Lecka/Getty ImagesThe NCAA disclosed a ruling on two North Carolina football players Wednesday, taking the next step in an investigation that has been ongoing since July. The NCAA ruled that cornerback Kendric Burney and safety Deunta Williams, both seniors, have to miss more games and pay back benefits to charity. The NCAA student-athlete reinstatement staff decided that Burney had received $1,333 in agent benefits stemming from trips to California, Atlanta, and Las Vegas. In order to regain his eligibility, Burney must sit out an additionalWashington Redskins jersey
four gamesmaking it six totaland pay $575.19 to a charity of his choice. Williams will miss two more gamesfour totaland pay $450.67 to a charity of his choice after receiving, according to the NCAA, $1,426 in benefits after making two reported trips to California. For now, thatall we know. UNC athletic director Dick Baddour said the school will appeal the suspensions, but the NCAA has zero reason for overturning its initial ruling. While I respect the NCAA process, I believe the penalties to be unduly harsh given the individual circumstances in these cases, Baddour said. Four to six games isntoo harsh for a player who broke NCAA rules and received free benefits from an agent if thatthe type of message the association wants to send.Shoot, Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green received a four-game ban for selling his own jersey to a man who proclaims he isnan agent. The NCAA claimed otherwise, and forced Green to sit. While any progress is joyfully accepted in Chapel Hill, the decisions on Burney and Williams doneven come close to wrapping up this investigation. Defensive starters Marvin Austin, Robert Quinn, Charles Brown, and DaNorris Searcy all remain sidelined. Wide receiver Greg Little and running back Ryan Houston also remain under investigation and will not play for the time being. The problem is that unless North Carolina turns its season around quicklyand quickly would include winning the must-win game at Rutgers this weekall of this news will be irrelevant. Nobody knows the fate of the remaining players under investigation, Reebok Arizona Cardinals Larry Fitzgerald Realtree camo Jersey
but they presumably will not be eligible to play before Williams does in Week 5. And by then, Carolinaseason may be all but over, Butch Davis job all but gone. The 0-2 Tar Heels go to Rutgers this weekend, and they had better come out on Saturday like their season depends on it, because it does. If Carolina falls to 0-3, it returns home to face a dangerous East Carolina team that Butch Davis has beaten only once since coming to Chapel Hill.There are few games on North Carolinaschedule as important to the instate football fans than Carolina-ECU, and the Pirates will come to Chapel Hill ready to roll. You can count on that. The only silver lining is that Carolina will have played only one ACC gamea loss to Georgia Techwhen Williams returns to a defense that is begging for stability. The Tar Heels will still have seven ACC games left to play, plenty to remain competitive in the conference and compete for a conference crown. Carolina would probably have to go 6-1 in ACC games the rest of the waymaking the Heels 6-2 in ACC play for the yearin order to have a shot at playing in the Orange Bowl. For a season that started out with dark-horse national title talk, winning the ACC is the only way Carolina will get to a BCS bowl this season. Getting Williams back will help the defense regain some confidence and leadership, two things it greatly lacked last weekend against the Yellow Jackets. Georgia Techtriple option exposed Carolinainexperience as the Tar Heels repeatedly blew assignments and allowed quarterback Josh Nesbitt to execute his offense at will. The fact that Carolinadefense is its weak link is shocking, but thatexactly what these investigations have done to the program.Quarterback T.J. Yates has done his part in the first two games, showing improvement and a sense of urgency and command that he missed last year. Yates gross numbers will not jump off the page. Were not getting him mixed up with Denard Robinson here, OK. But the reason why Yates has kept Carolina in both of its games is because he has shown the ability to make much better decisions with the football. If the throw he wants isnthere, henot forcing it. Hell check it down and gain three yards, hell tuck it and run, or at worst he will throw it away. But theregoing to come a time, and that time is probably Reebok Baltimore Ravens #5 Joe Flacco Realtree camo Jersey
this weekend, when Yates will have to gamble on some throws in an attempt to put this team on his back by putting points on the board. He knows what the defense is right now, and itnot the version he played with last year. But somehow, someway, Carolina will have to win while waiting for the NCAA to wrap up its investigation. If not, the investigation, much like a once-promising season, wonmean a thing. Andfor the seniors that abided by the rulesthat would be a shame.