Pittsburgh Panthers vs. North Carolina Tar Heels - Meineke Bowl Preview

Two weeks before Pittsburgh and North Carolina square off in a bowl game, the head coaches of the Panthers and the Tar Heels might sit down to watch a documentary about the team - and the coach - who brought them together.

The film "The U" - a two-hour look at the 1980s Miami Hurricanes football program - airs Saturday, Dec. 12, just 14 days before the Meineke Bowl is contested at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. The much-publicized movie premiere - which will occur after the Heisman Trophy ceremony - isn't just another movie for the men who will lead Pitt and Carolina into the home of the NFL's Carolina Panthers. "The U" is the place where Dave Wannstedt and Butch Davis cut their teeth in coaching.

In 1987, the Miami Hurricanes won a national championship with help from defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt and defensive line coach Butch Davis. When their shared mentor, Jimmy Johnson, took the Dallas Cowboys' head coaching job following the 1998 season, Wannstedt and Davis assumed the same positions in Big D. When Wannstedt then signed on as head coach of the Chicago Bears in 1993, Davis filled in for Wanny as the defensive coordinator for Dallas. The Johnson-Wannstedt-Davis triangle - with Miami as its centerpiece - carries resonance even now, as kickoff time approaches on the day after Christmas.

Jimmy Johnson makes the Florida coast a favorite hangout in his post-coaching life; the FOX studio analyst was a hard-charging, take-no-prisoners competitor when he coached at "The U" two decades ago, but he's made it a point to enjoy this new phase of his journey. It's fascinating, then, to realize that while Johnson has moved into a much more cushy existence, his old assistants - now head coaches - have retraced some of his career footsteps.

Johnson coached the Miami Dolphins after his stormy but successful tenure as the boss of the Super Bowl champion Cowboys, and sure enough, when Johnson retired from coaching in January of 2000, Wannstedt - Johnson's defensive coordinator - became the head coach of the Phins. Wannstedt remained on the job through 2004, until he returned to Pittsburgh in 2005 to revive the flagging football fortunes of his alma mater.

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On the other side of the ball, the matchup doesn't get any easier for Pittsburgh. Curiously enough, this might be the Panthers' more difficult matchup. Navy's defense, led by linebacker Russ Pospisil, is the backbone of this year's Midshipmen. Navy won't light up the scoreboard the way it has in the past, but coordinator Buddy Green has a defense that swarms to the ball with fury and forcefulness. After giving up a first-drive touchdown in last week's game against Louisiana Tech, Navy's defense blanked the Bulldogs the rest of the way. This is a unit that knows how to clamp down, so Pitt quarterback Bill Stull--coming off a picture-perfect performance versus Buffalo on Sept. 12--will need to maintain the instincts and ball-security that were very much in evidence in upstate New York.

Navy is not some easily-beatable upstart. The Midshipmen can scare anyone, as Ohio State so fully learned in week one. If Pittsburgh displays anything less than full-out effort on Saturday, the Panthers are likely to pay the price. If Wannstedt's whiz kids win this contest, they know, to a man, that they will have accomplished something significant.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer