I'd take a defensive showdown like that any day of the week over those ridiculous 45-38 College Bowl games. If anyone was expecting a lot of scoring with the #1 and #5 overall defenses squaring off, you obviously didn't pay attention to the last few games. Carolina was known to be completely shut down for entire halves (NFC Champ game), Denver never really had an explosive offense, and add in the fact that there were some outstanding defenses on the field, I was surprised to see the winning team score 24 points.
Carolina also shot themselves in the foot plenty of times. Missed field goal, fumbles, sacks, dropped passes, penalties, etc. I just don't think they were ready for that spotlight. They come back next year, however, and they will be dominant.