University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Football History Book
June 21, 1999 | Football
June 15, 1999
The University of North Carolina has played in 23 postseason bowl games, including seven consecutive heading into the 1999 season. The Tar Heels are 11-12 alltime in bowl games and 5-2 in the 1990s. Carolina has the eighth-longest active bowl streak in the nation behind only Nebraska, Michigan, Florida State, Ohio State, Tennessee, Penn State and Florida.
UNC and Clemson are tied for the lead in bowl appearances among schools that were charter members of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Tar Heels have the most appearances of any charter school since the league was formed in 1953.
Carolina's bowl history started with three New Year's Day appearances during the late Forties when Charlie Justice was the big star of some of the school's greatest teams. Perhaps the most famous of those games was the 1947 Sugar Bowl which matched UNC against Georgia. This game produced one of the most controversial plays in bowl history.
Carolina was leading 7-0 in the third period when Bulldog defensive end Joe Tereshinski intercepted a Tar Heel pass. He then flipped a lateral to Dick McPhee who raced to the UNC 14. Carolina argued the lateral was a forward one and the play should have been called back. However, the officials ruled differently. Georgia went on to score and a 20-10 victory.
Justice was sensational running and punting when the Tar Heels returned to the Sugar Bowl two years later, but Oklahoma won the game, 14-6. Justice also played well in the 1950 Cotton Bowl, but Carolina lost to Rice, 27-13.
The Tar Heels' next bowl appearance did not come until 1963, but Ken Willard made the wait worthwhile in sparking a 35-0 win over the Air Force in the Gator Bowl. He ran for 94 yards and scored the opening touchdown to key the runaway victory.
Beginning in 1970 Carolina made 12 bowl trips in 17 years. After dropping a 26-14 decision to Arizona State in the 1970 Peach Bowl, the Tar Heels and Georgia made bowl history in the 1971 Gator Bowl. This is the only time in history brothers have opposed each other as head coaches in a bowl game with Bill Dooley's Tar Heels taking on his brother Vince's Bulldogs. The game was a great defensive struggle with Georgia coming from behind to win, 7-3.
Carolina capped an 11-1 season in 1972 with a dramatic 32-28 win over Texas Tech in the Sun Bowl. Quarterback Nick Vidnovic was the big star, completing 14 of 26 passes for 215 yards. It was his 62-yard touchdown pass to Ted Leverenz which gave the Tar Heels a 24-21 halftime lead.
Tech came back to go ahead, 28-24, but Vidnovic hit Leverenz with a 13-yard TD strike with just a minute to play to bring Carolina back. The Tar Heels then sealed the win when tackle Ronnie Robinson dropped Red Raider quarterback Joe Barnes for a safety.
Mike Voight and James Betterson each had big days rushing in the 1974 Sun Bowl, but Carolina couldn't stop the veer attack of Mississippi State. The two teams combined for 901 yards of offense, but the Bulldogs won, 26-24, when the Tar Heels were stopped on a fourth-and-one at their own 43 during a last-minute drive.
Kentucky blanked Carolina, 21-0, in the 1976 Peach Bowl and the following season the Tar Heels dropped a heartbreaking 21-17 decision to Nebraska in the Liberty Bowl. Sparked by quarterback Matt Kupec, Carolina had a 17-7 lead in the fourth quarter. But, the Cornhuskers rallied behind the play of reserve quarterback Randy Garcia.
Kupec and Amos Lawrence were the biggest stars in Carolina's 17-15 win over Michigan in the 1979 Gator Bowl. Lawrence rushed for 118 yards and Kupec hit on 18 of 28 passes.
Lawrence again was the big star in a 16-7 win over Texas in the 1980 Bluebonnet Bowl. He rushed for 104 yards and had a 59-yard touchdown run. Carolina's other scoring came on a two-yard plunge by Kelvin Bryant and a field goal by Jeff Hayes.
But, the key to this game was a Tar Heel defense which limited the Longhorns to just two first downs and only 36 total yards in the second half. Lawrence Taylor was all over the field making sensational plays, although safety Steve Streater was chosen the game's defensive MVP with an interception, fumble recovery and a 63-yard punt.
In an eerie setting the following year, Carolina defeated Arkansas, 31-27, in the Gator Bowl. The field was shrouded in fog much of the night, making it almost impossible to see the action from the press box. Bryant ran for 148 yards and his backup, Ethan Horton, added 144.
Horton again was the big star in the 1982 Sun Bowl as Carolina came from behind to defeat seventh-ranked Texas, 26-10. Coming off the bench for an injured Bryant, Horton rushed for 119 yards and one touchdown.
The Tar Heel defense was brilliant, making two great goal line stands and shutting down the Texas attack in the second half. Rob Rogers and Brooks Barwick added a pair of field goals despite weather conditions which featured a wind chill factor of 12 degrees and snow throughout the game.
That Sun Bowl game made Carolina the first Atlantic Coast Conference school ever to win four straight bowl games. But, that streak came to an end with a 28-3 loss to Florida State in the 1983 Peach Bowl.
The Tar Heels spotted Arizona a 30-0 lead in the 1986 Aloha Bowl, before putting on a big second-half rally. Torin Dorn finally got Carolina going against a rugged Wildcat defense with an Aloha-record 58-yard touchdown run.
Norris Davis made two big defensive plays, intercepting a pass and blocking a punt. Mark Maye threw to Randy Marriott for a score, but Arizona held on, 30-21.
Following the 1992 season the Tar Heels rallied from a 14-0 halftime deficit behind MVPs Natrone Means (128 yards rushing, one TD) and Bracey Walker (two blocked punts, one forced interception) to beat Mississippi State, 21-17, in the Peach Bowl.
Walker picked up his second blocked punt and returned it 41 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 14. Moments later, early in the fourth quarter, Walker broke up a Bulldog pass and Cliff Baskerville intercepted the ball and ran it back 44 yards for the winning score.
The 1993 Tar Heels battled defending national champion Alabama to a 10-10 tie for the first half, but the Tide scored on a pair of 12-play drives of 65 and 66 yards in the second half to record a 24-10 win over Carolina in the Outback Steakhouse Gator Bowl.
UNC quarterback Jason Stanicek set school bowl game records for pass completions (19) and yardage (235) and Corey Holliday established a Tar Heel postseason record for receptions (nine) and receiving yardage (125).
Carolina lost a heartbreaking, 35-31 decision to Texas in the 1994 Sun Bowl despite record-setting performances from several players. The Tar Heels led the Longhorns, 31-21, early in the final quarter but Texas tailback Priest Holmes scored his third and fourth rushing touchdowns of the game in the final six minutes.
UNC quarterback Mike Thomas completed 23 of 39 passes for 298 yards and two scores, freshman wide receiver Octavus Barnes made nine receptions for 165 yards and wide receiver Marcus Wall added seven catches and returned a fourth quarter punt 82 yards for a touchdown.
Thomas established UNC bowl game records for most pass completions and yards and tied bowl game marks for pass attempts and touchdown throws. Barnes set Sun Bowl and Tar Heel records for catches and yards receiving.
Wall set an ACC bowl game record with 227 all-purpose yards. The 82-yard punt return was the third-longest ever in a bowl game.
Leon Johnson established a Tar Heel bowl game record as he rushed for 195 yards in Carolina's 20-10 win over Arkansas in the 1995 Carquest Bowl. The Razorbacks had won the SEC Western Division title. Johnson rushed for 172 yards in the second half, including a 28-yard touchdown run which gave the Tar Heels the lead for good in the third quarter.
Mike Thomas, starting his third career bowl game, iced the win with an 87-yard scoring pass to freshman L.C. Stevens. The reception was the longest in UNC bowl history and the second-longest in Carolina history. It also tied the mark for the fifth-longest passing play in college football bowl history.
Carolina secured a Top 10 national finish following the 1997 season with a 20-13 win over 25th-ranked West Virginia in the Toyota Gator Bowl. Sophomore quarterback Oscar Davenport made his first collegiate start a memorable one as he earned MVP honors by passing for 175 yards and rushing for a touchdown. Davenport was in the lineup because All-ACC quarterback Chris Keldorf had been injured in the regular-season finale.
Carolina compiled 289 yards of total offense against the Mountainneers, who had led the nation in fewest yards allowed per game. Davenport threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Octavus Barnes in the first quarter and capped a five-play scoring drive late in the second quarter with a 5-yard scoring run.
Freshman cornerback Dre' Bly, the nation's interception leader, picked off a pair of passes in the second half and safety Greg Williams recovered a fumble to thwart another West Virginia drive, as UNC held on for the victory.
The Tar Heels returned to the Gator Bowl following a brilliant 1997 season and thrashed Virginia Tech, 42-3. Keldorf earned Most Valubale Player honors as he threw for 290 yards and three touchdowns. Barnes caught a pair of touchdown passes (62 and 14 yards), Jonathan Linton rushed for 68 yards and a score and caught six passes for 81 yards despite a knee injury he suffered two days before the game and Dre' Bly recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown.
The Tar Heels scored 19 points in a 7:14 span midway through the opening half and were never seriously challenged. Carolina's No. 2 nationally-ranked defense held the Hokies to 185 total yards.
The win secured an 11-win season and placed the Tar Heels No. 4 in the final coaches poll and No. 6 in the final Associated Press poll. Defensive coordinator Carl Torbush was in his first game as Carolina's head coach. The longtime assistant coach had taken over as head coach on December 8 after Mack Brown had resigned.
Last year, the Tar Heels overcame an 0-3 start to the season and rallied for a berth in the Las Vegas Bowl against San Diego State. Despite blustery conditions and near freezing temperatures, the Tar Heels triumphed, 20-13. Freshman quarterback Ronald Curry was the game's Offensive MVP with a game-high 93 rushing yards. He ended the first quarter with a 48-yard touchdown run.
Early in the second quarter, Quinton Savage blocked a punt that David Bomar recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. Savage also blocked a punt in the 1998 Gator Bowl that Bly scooped up and returned for a score.
Punter Brian Schmitz was another standout in the Las Vegas Bowl. Schmitz averaged 44.0 yards on five punts, including a 66-yard howitzer into the wind late in the first half.
The Aztecs threatened to tie after a UNC turnover deep in its own territory in the final two minutes, but linebacker Keith Newman sealed the victory with an interception at the goalline.
It was the fourth consecutive year the Tar Heels held a bowl opponent to 13 or fewer points.
