University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Duke
North Carolina Ends Regular Season With 59-21 Blowout Of Duke
November 18, 2000 | Football
Nov. 18, 2000
North Carolina 59, Duke 21
By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer
DURHAM, N.C. -- North Carolina completed another late-season surge with an exclamation point Saturday.
Ronald Curry rushed for two touchdowns and passed for two as the Tar Heels set the Atlantic Coast Conference record for points in a half in a 59-21 victory over winless Duke.
The win by the Tar Heels (6-5, 3-5 ACC) was their third in a row, 11th straight in the series and handed the Blue Devils their second 0-11 season in the last five years.
Coach Carl Torbush is 17-18 overall in three years at North Carolina, but is a combined 10-2 after Nov. 1.
The 52 points in the first half and 35 in the second quarter were also school records for the Tar Heels, who became bowl eligible with the lopsided victory after going 3-8 in 1999.
Curry rushed for a career-high 105 yards and passed for 218 more in breaking the school's single-season total offense mark with 2,676 yards. He became the third quarterback in school history to rush for 100 and pass for 200. The last time was in 1968 by Gayle Bomar.
North Carolina's players were virtually untouched on five TDs as the Tar Heels scored seven times in 12 minutes and 46 seconds of possession time.
The offensive outburst was unexpected despite Duke's defense being ranked second-worst in Division I-A. The Tar Heels bogged down the last two weeks and had scored a combined 39 points in their last three games.
But Curry rebounded from a season-low 42-yard passing game last week to post one of the best games of his career. He passed for 184 yards and rushed for 92 more in the opening 30 minutes alone and finished 18-for-24 passing.
Curry's 43-yard quarterback keeper up the middle in the first quarter gave the Tar Heels the lead for good at 14-7 and helped spark 45 unanswered first-half points.
Bosley Allen also had a spectacular half, returning a punt 63 yards for a score and catching a 16-yard TD pass from Curry 11 seconds before the half. The TD pass was the first for the Tar Heels in six games.
Allen became the first North Carolina player to return two punts for TDs since Charlie "Choo-Choo" Justice did it in 1948.
Allen added a 13-yard scoring reception from Curry in the third quarter.
Julius Peppers led North Carolina's dominating defense with an interception return for a score, a forced fumble that led to one of Curry's scores and two of his ACC-high 15 sacks.
Sixty-nine of Duke's 86 yards in the first half came on a scoring run by Chris Douglas that tied the score at 7-7. But the longest play for the Blue Devils this season proved to be their only bright spot before the Tar Heels went on their scoring binge.
The ACC record for points in a half was 50 by Wake Forest against Virginia in 1975. The previous North Carolina record for points in a half was 45 against Wake Forest in the second half of the 1928 season opener, while the mark for points in a quarter was 28 three different times.
Players Mentioned
