University of North Carolina Athletics
TarHeelGame Day 2000
September 14, 2000 | Football
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North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Florida State Seminoles
Date: Saturday, September 16, 2000, at 3:30 p.m. ET
Site: Doak Campbell Stadium (capacity: 80,000, natural grass) in Tallahassee, Fla.
Series Record vs. Florida State: 0-10-1
Tickets: Available by calling the UNC Ticket Office at 1-800-722-HEEL or 919-219-2296.
TV: ABC (Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Lynn Swann)
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Radio Network, a division of Learfield Communications. Woody Durham (play-by-play), Mick Mixon (color) and Stephen Gates (sideline) provide the call. A live
broadcast also is available on the University of North Carolina's official athletic website, TarHeelBlue.com
Websites: North Carolina (www.TarHeelBlue.com),
Florida State (www.seminoles.com)
Injuries: LB Merceda Perry (out for season) fractured right ankle, CB Michael Waddell (left knee tendonitis) probable, DE Will Chapman (left shoulder sprain) probable
Tar Heels Meet No. 2 Seminoles in Tallahassee
North Carolina and Florida State, a pair of 2-0 teams, meet on September 16 in Tallahassee's Doak Campbell Stadium. Carolina has defeated Tulsa (30-9) and Wake Forest (35-14), allowing a total
of
17 rushing yards in the first two games. That is the best run defense in the nation. The Tar Heels are seventh in the country in total defense. Florida State beat BYU, 29-3, in Jacksonville, Fla., and
edged Georgia Tech, 26-21, in Atlanta.
The game is being televised by ABC. Brad Nessler, Bob Griese and Lynn Swann will call the game for ABC.
This is the home opener for Florida State. The Seminoles have not dropped a home opener since a 34-23 loss to Clemson on Sept. 9, 1989.
Carolina has opened the season with two straight wins for the first time since 1997 when UNC beat Indiana and Stanford en route to an 11-1 season. The Tar Heels won their first eight games that season before a 20-3 loss to Florida State in Chapel Hill.
North Carolina, Florida State Series Notes
* Florida State leads the series, 10-0-1. The tie was a 10-10 draw in 1986 in Tallahassee.
* Last year, Florida State scored 28 points in the first 6:27 and went on to a 42-10 win. The 32-point margin of victory and 42 points scored were series highs for the Seminoles.
* The Tar Heels have scored two touchdowns in the last four contests against Florida State. Ronald Curry had a 7-yard scoring pass to Kory Bailey at FSU in 1998 and Deon Dyer scored on a 1-yard
run last year in Chapel Hill.
* In the last eight meetings since Florida State joined the ACC, the Seminoles have beaten the Tar Heels by 18.7 points per game in Tallahassee and 22.7 in Chapel Hill.
* Carolina starts two players who reside in Florida. Wide receiver Bosley Allen attended Southeast High School and lives in Bradenton, Fla. Offensive guard Isaac Morford attended Keystone
Heights
High School and lives in Melrose, Fla.
* Ronald Curry has started two games against the Seminoles. In 1998, he was 5 of 13 for 49 yards and one touchdown and rushed three times for 17 yards. In 1999, Curry was 11 for 26 for 119
yards
and three interceptions.
* Wide receiver Kory Bailey caught a 7-yard touchdown pass at FSU in 1998 and had four receptions for 81 yards last season against the Seminoles.
Allen, Defense Shine at Wake Forest
* Sophomore wide receiver Bosley Allen amassed 264 all-purpose yards and scored a pair of long-distance touchdowns and the Carolina defense had 10 quarterback sacks as the Tar Heels knocked
off
Wake Forest, 35-14, at Winston-Salem.
* Allen scored on a 78-yard punt return and a 60-yard pass from Ronald Curry. The sophomore receiver had seven punt returns for 153 yards, just 13 shy of the school record and 14 less than the
ACC
single-game mark. He added receptions of 51 and 60 yards.
* Carolina sacked Wake Forest quarterback C.J. Leak 10 times, the highest figure in Carl Torbush's tenure at North Carolina. Joey Evans, Ross McAllister, Julius Peppers and Ryan Sims each had
two
sacks, and Kevin Knight and Sedrick Hodge had one apiece.
* Knight had three tackles for losses. He sacked Leak on a corner blitz for 11 yards, stopped an option pitch for a 5-yard loss, and tackled Leak for a 2-yard loss after the quarterback caught his own
pass after it was batted back at the line of scrimmage.
* Carolina held the Deacons to minus two yards rushing, a total that includes 77 yards in lost yardage due to quarterback sacks. The minus two yards rushing is the sixth lowest figure by the
opponents
in history and the lowest figure since Duke had ?12 in 1947.
* The Tar Heels outgained the Deacons, 323-162, and forced 11 punts, but didn't put the game out of reach until the middle of the fourth quarter when Allen scored on a punt return. In fact, Wake
Forest led 14-10 at the half after defensive end Bryan Ray sacked Ronald Curry and recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. However, Carolina's defense also scored a touchdown on
the
Deacs' first drive of the third quarter. Sedrick Hodge made a tackle behind the line of scrimmage and stripped the ball, defensive end Julius Peppers recovered and returned it 12 yards for a score. It
was
Carolina's first defensive touchdown this season and the third since Errol Hood scored on an interception return against Duke last November.
* Wake Forest's offense had 14 drives in the game. Eleven (11) ended in punts, the Deacons scored one touchdown (on the second drive of the game), they lost one fumble and turned the ball over
one
time on downs.
* The Tar Heels converted 40 percent of their third-down chances (6 of 15) and held the Deacons to conversions on just 3 of 17 opportunities (18 percent).
* Carolina has now beaten the Deacons 10 times in the last 11 meetings and won six in a row at Wake Forest.
* Allen's two longest career catches have both at Groves Stadium. He hauled in a 60-yarder for a touchdown last week and had a 70-yard, non-scoring catch at Wake Forest in 1998. Both long
throws
were by Ronald Curry.
Allen's Big Night Under the Lights
* Bosley Allen had one of those nights against Wake Forest that, if you saw it, you will likely never forget it. In addition to his two catches for 111 yards and one touchdown, Allen returned seven
punts
for 153 yards. That is 68 yards more than the Tar Heels had on punt returns in all 11 games last season. Allen had returns of eight, 17, five, 16, 21, eight and 78 yards. The 78-yard touchdown
return
was one of the most spectacular runs in recent Tar Heel history as he broke a number of tackles late in the run. What makes Allen's performance even more remarkable is the fact he missed the entire
1999 season while rehabilitating a devastating knee injury. He tore all the major ligaments plus blood vessels and nerves in his left knee on a kickoff return against NC State on November 28, 1998,
in
Charlotte. Doctors were not sure Allen would ever play football again, let alone return to action as a game-breaking speedster.
* Allen was named the ACC Specialist of the Week for his performance at Wake Forest.
* The 78-yard punt return for a touchdown was Carolina's first since Leon Johnson scored on a 39-yard return against NC State in 1996. It was the ninth-longest punt return in Carolina history and
the
longest since Marcus Wall's 82-yarder against the University of Texas in the 1994 Sun Bowl.
* Allen leads the ACC in punt returns with an average of 20.3 yards per return.
* Allen is second in the ACC in all-purpose yards with 162.5 yards per game. The ACC leader is NC State's Koren Robinson at 164.0 yards per contest.
* Allen is ninth in the nation in punt return average and 19th in all-purpose yardage.
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* Julius Peppers scored his first collegiate touchdown when he scooped up a fumble and raced 12 yards to the end zone. The touchdown gave Carolina a 17-14 lead, an advantage it would not relinquish.
* The touchdown marked the first time Peppers had scored six points in a Carolina uniform since he had six against Tulsa. Actually, he didn't score against Tulsa on September 2nd, but he scored six against Tulsa in March in the NCAA South Regional championship basketball game. Peppers added eight rebounds in that contest as the Tar Heels won and advanced to the Final Four.
* Peppers added two quarterback sacks for 27 yards in the win at Wake Forest. He had a 10-yard and a 17-yard sack. In two games against the Deacons Peppers has sacked the quarterback six times.
* Peppers was named the ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week for his play against Wake Forest.
* Peppers' touchdown was the first by a UNC defensive lineman since defensive end Greg Ellis recovered a fumble in the end zone against Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl on Jan. 1, 1998. It was the first regular-season score by a lineman since Stephon McQueen returned a fumble for a score at Maryland in 1997.
* Peppers is a preseason candidate for the Bronko Nagurski Award, which is given to the National Defensive Player of the Year by the Charlotte Touchdown Club.
Special Teams Improvement
* The Tar Heels averaged only 4.1 yards per punt return last year, a figure that ranked at the bottom of the NCAA statistics. However, the Tar Heels are averaging an ACC best 18.3 yards per return
throught the first two games of this season. In fact, Carolina had just 85 yards on 27 returns in the entire 11 games last year. This year, UNC had 85 yards on six returns against Tulsa and 153 yards
on
seven returns against Wake Forest.
* The Tar Heels are currently 10th in the country in punt returns.
* Senior place-kicker Jeff Reed has made four of his first five field goal attempts, including a 44-yarder in the first quarter at Wake Forest. Reed had not kicked in a competitive game since his high
school senior year ? in 1996!
* Reed is sixth in the nation with two field goals per game.
* Freshman Blake Ferguson is averaging 40.6 yards per punt on seven kicks. He had a 61-yarder against Tulsa.
Perry Out for Season
* Senior linebacker Merceda Perry will miss the rest of the season after suffering a fracture in his right ankle. The Asheboro, N.C., native was injured in the first half after playing just 19 snaps and
making four tackles.
* Perry would be eligible to apply for a medical hardship and play a fifth season in 2001. Perry played as a true freshman in 1997.
* Perry's injury marked the second year in a row a UNC senior linebacker suffered a season-ending injury in the second week of the season. Of course, Brandon Spoon ruptured a biceps tendon last
year against Indiana in week two and lost for the remainder of the season.
Four Straight Wins
* The 35-14 win over Wake Forest marked the first time in Carl Torbush's head coaching tenure at Carolina in which the Tar Heels have won four straight games. In 1998, the Tar Heels won three in
a
row on two occasions. Carolina last won at least five straight games in 1996-97 when it won the final two games in 1996 and the first eight games in 1997.
Defense
* It's too soon to say Carolina's defense is as good as it was in 1995-97 when the Tar Heels ranked No. 1 in the ACC and among the best units in the nation. However, through two games Carolina
has
posted some impressive defensive numbers. Consider Carolina's defense has:
- allowed just two offensive touchdowns
- given up just 5.5 points per game in the last four contests (NC State had six in 1999, Duke had none in 1999, Tulsa had 9 and Wake Forest had seven).
- yielded just 17 rushing yards in two games, an average of 8.5 yards per game (the best run defense in the nation through September 9th)
- forced 21 punts in two games
- recorded 13 quarterback sacks
- allowed just five third-down conversions in 32 attempts (16 percent)
- allowed only 2.8 yards per play
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Curry Second in ACC Pass Efficiency
* Junior quarterback Ronald Curry is second in the ACC in pass efficiency with 164.82 rating points. Clemson's Woodrow Dantzler leads the league at 212.3 rating points.
* Curry is 10th in the NCAA in pass efficiency.
* Curry was spectacular in his return from last year's Achilles tendon injury, gaining 261 yards of total offense in the season opening win over Tulsa. That figure ties for the 46th-best single-game
performance at Carolina. It was Curry's third-highest total offense total at UNC. He had 370 yards vs. Stanford in 1998 and 286 vs. Indiana in 1999.
* Curry was 12 of 22 for 192 yards passing and had a team-high 69 yards rushing against Tulsa. Curry has led the Tar Heels in rushing six times in 18 games.
* Curry led the Tar Heels on three touchdown drives in the season-opening win over Tulsa. Early in the second half, Curry sidestepped a blitzing Golden Hurricane, scrambled to his right and
flicked a
55-yard bomb to red-shirt freshman Jamal Jones to give Carolina a 17-3 lead.
* He completed six of 12 attempts for 143 yards and two touchdowns in the win at Wake Forest. He had a 46-yard touchdown strike to Sam Aiken and a 60-yard scoring bomb to Bosley Allen.
* Curry has three touchdown passes and no interceptions in the first two games this year.
* Curry will be making his 12th career start on Saturday and will be playing in his 19th game overall. He has rushed 163 times for 696 career yards and four touchdowns. He has completed 138 of
291
passes (.474) for 1,992 yards and has 12 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.
Parker Puts Up Points
* In his first career college game, red-shirt freshman Willie Parker scored two rushing touchdowns against Tulsa. Parker scored from one yard with 3:03 remaining in the first quarter to give
Carolina a
7-3 lead. He scored his second touchdown of the game in the third quarter with a 3-yard run that gave UNC a 24-3 lead.
* The last Carolina freshman to rush for two touchdowns in a game was Leon Johnson against Ohio in 1993 (Sept. 4).
* Parker added a two-point conversion run against Wake Forest.
UNC Defense Dominates in First Game
* Carolina allowed just 233 total yards of offense, including a 78-yard touchdown pass on which the UNC defender slipped down because of the wet turf. Take away that completion and the Tar
Heels
allowed just 155 total yards.
*Tulsa's touchdown was the first allowed by a Carolina defense in 14 quarters (dating back to the 1999 game vs. Wake Forest).
* The Tar Heels were outstanding against the run, allowing just 19 yards rushing on 27 attempts, an average of just 0.7 per carry. The 19 yards rushing were the fewest allowed by a Carolina
defense
since Louisville gained just one yard on Nov. 9, 1996, a span of 39 games.
* Tulsa completed just 2 of 15 (13 percent) third down conversions and drove the ball into Carolina's side of the field just three times. Safety Billy-Dee Greenwood led Carolina with 14 tackles,
linebacker Brandon Spoon had 11 and Ryan Sims had seven, including a sack and a tackle for loss.
Miscellaneous Notes From the Tulsa Game
* The Tulsa game was delayed for 13 minutes due to lightning in the area.
* Several firsts were recorded in the game. Red-shirt receiver Jamal Jones made his first career catch one to remember with a 55-yard touchdown reception from Ronald Curry. He finished his first
career collegiate contest with three catches for 85 yards.
* Place-kickers Jeff Reed and Chris Bender recorded their first career field goals. Reed connected on attempts from 30 and 39 yards, but missed on a 47-yard attempt. Bender made a 28-yarder in
the
fourth quarter.
* Blake Ferguson's first career punt went for 51 yards.
* The 78-yard touchdown pass from Josh Blankenship to Corey Brown was the longest touchdown pass in Kenan Stadium history.
True Freshmen
* The Tar Heels have played 57 scholarship true freshmen in the 12 years Carl Torbush has been on the coaching staff (beginning in 1988). That is an average of 4.8 per season. Here is a
year-by-year
breakdown of scholarship true freshmen who played in at least one game.
1988 7 WR Eric Blount,QB Todd Burnett, LB Karekin
Cunningham, LB Eric Gash, PK Hamp Greene, PK
Clint Gwaltney, DT Rickie Shaw.
1989 12 TE Ethan Albright, CB Cliff Baskerville, WR Bucky Brooks, QB Chuckie Burnette, WR Randall Felton, WR Corey Holliday, S Rondell Jones, S Cookie Massey, LB Jonathan Perry, WR Julius Reese, CB Thomas Smith, LB Tommy Thigpen
1990 7 LB Bernardo Harris, LB Ray Jacobs, FB Malcolm Marshall, TB Natrone Means, DT Riddick Parker, LB Michael Payne, TB Michael Watkins
1991 4 TE Greg DeLong, QB Jason Stanicek, TE Oscar Sturgis, QB Mike Thomas
1992 2 DT Marcus Jones, WR Marcus Wall
1993 0
1994 3 DT Vonnie Holliday, CB Reggie Love, KR Greg Williams
1995 5 WR Na Brown, TE Ebenezer Ekuban, LB Keith Newman, DE Teto Simpson, CB Robert Wiliams
1996 4 TE Alge Crumpler, FB Deon Dyer, PK Brian Schmitz, LB Brandon Spoon
1997 4 KR Tyrell Godwin, LB Sedrick Hodge, LB Merceda Perry, TB Domonique Williams
1998 4 WR Bosley Allen, QB Ronald Curry, C Adam Metts, DT Ryan Sims
1999 5 WR Sam Aiken, CB Kevin Knight, TB Daniel Davis, DT Jeb Terry, DE Malcolm Stewart
Fourth Time The Charm?
Linebacker Brandon Spoon has been named to the 2000 Butkus Award Watch List for the fourth consecutive season, a feat never before accomplished in the 16-year history of the award.
The Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, Inc. (DACO), the organization which annually presents the prestigious Butkus Award to the nation's best collegiate linebacker, announced its preliminary
list
of 70 candidates for this year's award on August 24.
Spoon, a fifth-year senior, elected to return to school after missing most of the 1999 campaign with a torn biceps muscle. He entered the 2000 season as the No. 3 rated inside linebacker by National Football Scouting, Inc. and is considered a potential first-round NFL Draft pick.
A second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection in 1998, Spoon has 264.5 career tackles, including 19 for losses and 8.5 quarterback sacks. He leads the Tar Heels with 24 tackles.
Hood Earns Thorpe Consideration
Junior cornerback Errol Hood was named to the 2000 Jim Thorpe Preseason Watch List. The Jim Thorpe Award is presented annually (since 1986) to the best defensive back in college football.
Each player on the preseason watch list has been named by at least two publications as candidates for All-America or All-Conference honors. Hood is one of 40 candidates on the preseason list.
In 1999, Hood started all 11 games and was named Carolina's Co-Defensive MVP. He finished the season with 58 tackles, 11 pass breakups and five interceptions. Dre' Bly, a three-time All-America cornerback from 1996-98, was a finalist for the Thorpe Award as a freshman in 1996.
Crumpler a Preseason All-America
* Senior tight end Alge Crumpler has been named a preseason All-America by the Sporting News. A native of Wilmington, N.C., Crumpler earned first-team All-ACC honors in his first year back
after
missing the 1998 season with a knee injury. Last season, he had 20 receptions for 191 yards.
* Crumpler is rated the No. 1 tight end in America by National Football Scouting, Inc.
* Entering today's game, Crumpler has 46 career receptions and four touchdowns. Arnold Franklin, who played for UNC from 1982-85, is the all-time leading receiver for tight ends at Carolina
with
78 catches.
* Crumpler and teammate Dauntae' Finger form one of the best tight end tandems in the country. This year, Crumpler and Finger are writing a season-long diary, posted exclusively on
TarHeelBlue.com.
Leadership Committee
*Head Coach Carl Torbush announced a 15-player Leadership Committee that will serve as captains for the 2000 season. Game captains will be selected from this group for each week's games and
permanent team captains will be selected at the conclusion of the season.
* The 2000 Leadership Committee includes: WR Kory Bailey, DS Jason Beamon, QB Antwon Black, S David Bomar, TE Alge Crumpler, QB Ronald Curry, TE Dauntae' Finger, S Billy-Dee
Greenwood, DS Jason Helton, OT Louis Marchetti, DE Ross McAllister, FB Ronnie Robinson, DT Ryan Sims, LB Brandon Spoon, DE Malcolm Stewart.
Heels Close in on 600
* Carolina's all-time record is 596-420-54. The Tar Heels are just four wins shy of their 600th victory.
Marshall Game Televised Back to West Virginia
* The Marshall game on September 23rd will be televised regionally by ESPN back to West Virginia. Gametime is 6:05 p.m.
* The ACC will announce kickoff times for the Georgia Tech game (September 30th) on Monday, September 18th.
Players Mentioned
