TarHeelBlue Game Day 2000 Marshall Preview

Date: Saturday, September 23, 2000, at 6:05 p.m. ET
Site: Kenan Stadium (capacity:60,000, natural grass) in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Series Record vs. Marshall: First meeting
Tickets: Sold out
TV: ESPN (regionally broadcast to West Virginia) Stan Cotten (play-by-play), Sonny Randle (color) and Jason Toy (sideline)
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), Marshall (www.herdzone.com)
Injuries: LB Merceda Perry (out for season) fractured right ankle, Michael Waddell (concussion at FSU) probable, Sam Aiken (concussion at FSU) probable, Sean Williams (left wrist sprain at FSU) probable, Malcolm Stewart (fractured right wrist at FSU) probable

Tar Heels Host Marshall at Kenan Stadium
Carolina looks to rebound from one of its worst losses in school history, a 63-14 defeat at No. 2 Florida State last weekend, when it plays host to Marshall at Kenan Stadium. Kickoff is 6:05 p.m. and the game will be televised regionally on ESPN to the West Virginia area.

oth teams suffered their first losses of the season in their last game and ended winning streaks in the process. Carolina fell to Florida State to end a four-game Tar Heel winning streak, while Michigan State snapped Marshall's 18-game winining streak with a 34-24 victory in East Lansing on Sept. 9. The Thundering Herd did not play last weekend.

While Carolina and Marshall have never met before on the football field, one member of the Tar Heel coaching staff is very familiar with the Thundering Herd. First-year wide receivers coach Gunter Brewer coached at Marshall the last four years prior to joining the UNC staff. Marshall was 50-4 in those four seasons and Brewer oversaw the development of NFL All-Pro Randy Moss.

Four Straight at Home
* The Marshall game is the first of four straight home games for the Tar Heels. After Marshall, Carolina is home against Georgia Tech on September 30, off on October 7, and home against NC State and Clemson on October 14 and 21, respectively.
* This is the first four-game home stretch for Carolina since 1992. Carolina beat Furman and Army, lost to NC State and defeated Navy in a four-game homestand from September 12 to October 3, 1992.

Seminoles Overpower Carolina in Tallahassee
* Florida State's 63 points were the second-most ever surrendered by UNC and the most allowed by Carolina in an ACC contest. Virginia holds the record for the most points ever scored against the Tar Heels with 66. The Cavaliers defeated UNC 66-0 in 1912.
* FSU's 49-point margin of victory was the largest winning margin against a Carolina team since Florida handed the Tar Heels a 52-2 loss on Oct. 18, 1969.
* Carolina committed four turnovers against Florida State, three of them inside its own 20-yard line. Each of those three turnovers resulted in FSU touchdowns.
* After having allowed just 17 yards rushing in its first two games of the season, the best figure in the nation, FSU ran for 194 yards against the Carolina defense. Travis Minor led the way for FSU with 112 yards.

Tar Heels Take Away Some Positives From FSU Loss
* Ronald Curry's 235 passing yards were the third most of his career and it was the fourth time he has passed for more than 200 yards. Curry threw for a career-high 304 yards at Stanford and had 241 yards last year in a win at Indiana.
* Anthony Saunders led the Tar Heel running backs in rushing for the second time this season when he ran eight times for 45 yards and a touchdown against FSU, an average of 5.6 yards per carry. Saunders's 11-yard TD run against the Seminoles cut the FSU lead to 14-7 late in the first quarter.
* Kory Bailey caught five passes for a career-high 82 yards. Bailey's previous career high came last year against the Seminoles when he had 81 yards receiving.
* Sedrick Hodge and Julius Peppers continue to be a menace for opposing quarterbacks. One game after the Tar Heels racked up 10 sacks against Wake Forest, Carolina registered five against FSU. Hodge and Peppers each had two, while Butkus Award candidate Brandon Spoon made one sack. Carolina had 11 tackles for losses overall against the Seminoles.

Curry Putting Up Healthy Numbers in 2000
Curry * Ronald Curry's 235 passing yards against Florida State were the third most of his career. Curry threw for 304 yards at Stanford in 1998 and had 241 at Indiana in a win over the Hoosiers last season.
* Curry completed six passes of 20 yards or more against the No. 2 Seminoles, including a beautiful 43-yard TD pass to Sam Aiken. Curry now has touchdown passes of 60 (to Bosley Allen vs. Wake Forest), 55 (to Jamal Jones vs. Tulsa) and 46 yards (to Sam Aiken vs. Wake Forest) to go along with Saturday's 43-yarder.
* Curry ranks fifth in the ACC with 199.0 yards of offense per game.
* Curry gained 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 19 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.
* A year after having 10 interceptions and just three touchdown passes in his injury-shortened 1999 season, Curry has four touchdown passes and one interception in the first three games this year.
* Curry will be making his 13th career start on Saturday and will be playing in his 20 game overall. He has rushed 174 times for 672 career yards and four touchdowns. He has completed 153 of 322 passes (.475) for 2,227 yards and has 13 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.

Spreading the Wealth
* Ten different Tar Heels have caught at least one pass through three games of the 2000 season, including Ronald Curry, who caught one of his own passes off a batted ball in the FSU game last Saturday.
* Kory Bailey, fresh off a career-high 82 yards receiving vs. Florida State, leads Carolina's receivers with 11 catches for 137 yards. Close behind are Sam Aiken with nine and Bosley Allen with eight.
* Sam Aiken leads Tar Heel receivers in yards (191) and touchdowns (two). Aiken has TD grabs of 46 and 43 yards, while Bosley Allen and Jamal Jones also have TD catches.
* After failing to make a reception in the season-opener against Tulsa, tight ends Alge Crumpler and Dauntae' Finger are beginning to play a larger role in the offense. Crumpler caught his first pass of the season in the win over Wake Forest, while Finger made a 22-yard reception against the Seminoles.

The Sacks Keep Coming for Peppers
* A year after leading the Tar Heels with six sacks as a freshman, sophomore defensive end Julius Peppers is getting to the quarterback again in Peppers 2000. Peppers already has four sacks in just three games, which is tied for the team-high with Sedrick Hodge. Three of Peppers's eight tackles against FSU were for losses, including two sacks.
* Peppers scored his first collegiate touchdown when he scooped up a fumble and raced 12 yards to the end zone against Wake Forest. The touchdown gave Carolina a 17-14 lead, an advantage it would not relinquish in the 35-14 win over the Demon Deacons.
* 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.

Hodge Playing Like an All-Star at Linebacker
Hodge * Senior linebacker Sedrick Hodge is playing at an all-star level as a senior. Hodge is tied for the team lead with four quarterback sacks for losses of 28 yards. Entering the 2000 season, Hodge had 3.5 sacks for his career.
* Hodge registered three tackles for losses against Florida State, including two sacks, as part of his 11 total tackles. He also forced a fumble and was credited with a QB hurry.
* Against Wake Forest, Hodge forced a fumble that was recovered for a touchdown, had a 9-yard sack and had seven total tackles to help lead UNC to the win. He averaged nine tackles the last four games of the 1999 season and had six tackles in the opener against Tulsa.

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 20.0 yards per return.
* Allen is second in the ACC in all-purpose yards with 150.3 yards per game. The ACC leader is NC State's Koren Robinson at 180.3 yards per contest.
* Allen is ninth in the nation in punt return average and 20th in all-purpose yardage.

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 three 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 biggest reason for Carolina's dramatic improvement on punt returns is the return of Bosley Allen to the lineup. Allen, who missed all of the 1999 season rehablitating a devastating knee injury, leads the conference with 240 yards on 12 returns (20.0 per return). NC State's Koren Robinson ranks second in the ACC at 14.2 yards per return.
* The Tar Heels are currently 13th 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, and all of his extra point tries. Reed had not kicked in a competitive game since his high school senior year -- in 1996. Reed is a fourth-year senior who is eligible to play football again in 2001.
* Reed is 27th in the nation with two field goals per game.
* Freshman Blake Ferguson is averaging 40.2 yards per punt on 13 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.

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.

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 276.5 career tackles, including 20 for losses and 9.5 quarterback sacks. He leads the Tar Heels with 36 tackles this year.