Carolina-Clemson Football Game Notes

October 17, 2001 | Football

By: UNC Athletic Communications

Oct. 17, 2001

UNC-Clemson Game Notes (PDF Format)
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NORTH CAROLINA
at
CLEMSON

Date: Saturday, October 20, 2001
Time: 12:10 p.m.
Site: Memorial Stadium (81,473, grass)
Series Record: Clemson leads, 31-17-1
Last Meeting: Clemson 38, Carolina 24 on October 21, 2000, in Chapel Hill.
TV: ESPN2 (Mark Jones, play-by-play, Chris Spielman, analyst, Holly Rowe, 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 (TarHeelBlue.com), Clemson (clemsontigers.com)
Injuries: SS DeFonte Coleman, dislocated left shoulder (out for the season), QB Ronald Curry, inflamed left achilles' (probable)

CAROLINA SEEKS FIFTH STRAIGHT WIN
Looking to extend its four-game winning streak, North Carolina (4-3, 3-1 ACC) travels to No. 13 Clemson (4-1, 2-1) for an important Atlantic Coast Conference contest on Saturday, October 20. Both the Tar Heels and Tigers have just one loss each in league play and the winner will take firm control of second place in the conference standings.

The game is being televised by ESPN2 at Noon.

Carolina is only the second team in ACC history to win four in a row after starting the season 0-3. Wake Forest started the 1970 season 0-3 before winning four straight en route to the league title. The Deacons lost the following week to Tennessee.

For the Tar Heels to become the only ACC team to ever win five in a row after an 0-3 start, they will have to beat Clemson in Death Valley, a place UNC has won just once since 1980. Carolina is 1-8 in the last nine meetings at Clemson. The only win was a 17-10 victory in 1997.

The Tar Heels are coming off their best offensive performance of the season in a 30-24 victory over Virginia. Carolina had a season-high 477 yards of offense behind a balanced attack of 234 yards rushing and 243 yards passing. It was UNC's second consecutive game with over 400 yards. In four wins, Carolina is averaging 388.0 total yards of offense compared to just 259.0 yards in its three losses.

Clemson is coming off a 45-37 win at NC State in which quarterback Woody Dantzler had 517 total yards of offense. The Tigers only loss was a 26-24 setback at home to Virginia on Sept. 22.

PRODUCTIVE OFFENSE
After a season-low 211 yards of offense in a 44-14 loss at Texas, Carolina's offense has become much more productive in the last four weeks. The Tar Heels have increased their offensive output in each of the four games following the Texas' loss. UNC had 301 yards in a 41-9 win over Florida State, 347 yards in a 17-9 victory at NC State, 412 yards in a 24-21 win vs. ECU and a season-high 477 yards in a 30-24 win vs. Virginia.

Carolina gained at least 400 yards of offense in back-to-back games for the first time since last season against Marshall and Georgia Tech. The last time Carolina had three straight games with at least 400 yards of offense was in 1997 - Maryland (410), vs. Virginia (418) and at TCU (477). The Tar Heels have scored in seven consecutive quarters.

WILLIAMS LEADS TAR HEEL RUSHING GAME
Sophomore tailback Andre' Williams has registered a new career high in rushing in four of the last five games. He rushed for 50 yards at Texas, 53 yards against FSU, 68 yards vs. NC State and a career-high 147 yards last week vs. Virginia. The 147 yards rushing were the most by a Tar Heel since Willie Parker's 158 yards last year vs. Maryland. Williams carried a career-high 28 times vs. Virginia and averaged 5.2 yards per carry.

Williams, who earned his first career start vs. Florida State, has started the last four games.

Williams has rushed 127 times for 402 yards this season. Carolina has not had a running back gain more than 534 yards rushing since Jonathan Linton had 1,004 yards in 1997. Rufus Brown rushed for 534 yards in 1998, Daniel Davis led the team with 303 yards rushing in 1999 and Russell had 508 yards in 2000. Williams is just 106 yards shy of Russell's 2000 total.

WINS OVER BOWL TEAMS CONTINUE
After starting the season with consecutive losses to defending national champion Oklahoma, Maryland and Texas, Carolina has put together a four-game win streak with victories vs. Florida State, at NC State, vs. ECU and vs. Virginia. All four teams Carolina has defeated this year appeared in a bowl game last season. It is the first time Carolina has ever won four consecutive games over schools that appeared in bowl games the previous year.

CAROLINA - CLEMSON SERIES NOTES

Carolina and Clemson will be playing for the 49th time on Saturday. All but five of those meetings have been as members of the ACC. Clemson leads the series, 31-17-1. The Tar Heels won three straight from 1996-1998, but the Tigers have won the last two meetings.

Carolina is 0-12-1 vs. Clemson when the Tigers are ranked in the AP Top 25. The tie was a 13-13 score in 1977 when Clemson was No. 13.

Last year, No. 5 Clemson defeated the Tar Heels, 38-24 in Chapel Hill. Quarterback Ronald Curry was 18 of 34 for 314 yards, but threw two interceptions. Kory Bailey caught seven passes for a career-high 129 yards receiving. The Tar Heels jumped out to an early lead, but Clemson roared back with 31 unanswered points. Heisman trophy candidate Woody Dantzler was unable to put the Tigers on the scoreboard, and the Tar Heels knocked him out of the game in the second quarter with an injury. Dantzler's replacement, redshirt freshman Willie Simmons, led the Clemson comeback as he threw for a school-record-tying four touchdowns and 218 yards. Rod Gardner set a Tiger record with 182 yards receiving and equaled a school mark with three touchdown catches.

In the last meeting in Clemson in 1999, the Tigers beat Carolina, 31-20.

Several Tar Heels are from South Carolina, including quarterback Darian Durant (Florence), center Adam Metts (Pawleys Island), offensive guard Chase Page (Mt. Pleasant), defensive tackle Jonas Seawright (Orangeburg) and defensive tackle Ryan Sims.

Clemson quarterbacks coach Mike O'Cain was Carolina's offensive coordinator last season.

DURANT CONTINUES TO IMPRESS
Redshirt freshman quarterback Darian Durant has already set Carolina freshman records for touchdown passes and completions and is just 124 yards shy of establishing a school record for freshman passing yards at UNC. He is the Tar Heels' top passer, leads the team in total offense and has come off the bench to complete at least 10 passes in five of seven games.

Durant's eight touchdown passes and 67 pass compeletions are Carolina freshman records, breaking the previous marks of six TDs and 66 completitons set by Ronald Curry in 1998.

Last week, Durant completed 10 of 16 passes for a career-high 162 yards and directed three Tar Heel scoring drives in UNC's 30-24 victory over Virginia. He also rushed eight times for 15 yards.

Durant leads Carolina with 968 total yards of offense, including 852 yards passing and 116 yards rushing. He is fifth in the ACC in pass efficiency (133.60) and 33rd in the country.

Against ECU, Durant was 11 of 17 for 151 yards, tossed two touchdown passes and did not throw an interception. He led Carolina on a season-long 89-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter that ended with a 29-yard scoring toss to Chesley Borders. In the fourth quarter, Durant capped a 68-yard drive with a 21-yard scoring strike to Sam Aiken.

CAROLINA MAKES BIG PLAYS IN VIRGINIA VICTORY

Carolina won its fourth consecutive game and snapped Virginia's three-game win streak in the series, with a 30-24 victory last week.

Tailback Andre' Williams rushed 28 times for a career-high 147 yards, the first 100-yard game of his career. Williams's 147 yards were the most by a Tar Heel since Willie Parker ran for 158 yards last year against Maryland. Williams averaged 5.2 yards per carry and scored in the first quarter on a 7-yard run to give Carolina a 7-0 lead.

Carolina entered the game with just one run of more than 30 yards on the season - Willie Parker's 77-yard TD run at Maryland. But against the Cavaliers, Curry had a season-high 39-yard run in the second quarter and Williams had a 38-yard run in the first quarter to help the Tar Heels to their most productive day on the ground this season with 234 yards.

Julius Peppers had two sacks for nine yards and finished the game just four sacks shy of Greg Ellis' career record of 32.5 sacks.

Curry, who did not play in the second half because of an inflamed left achilles', tossed a 66-yard touchdown pass to Sam Aiken in the second quarter. The play was the Tar Heels' longest pass play of the season and Aiken's longest catch of his career.

Free safety Dexter Reid intercepted a pass for the second consecutive game and returned it 67 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. The interception gave Carolina a 30-17 lead and proved to be the winning margin.

Place-kicker Jeff Reed kicked three field goals in a game for the first time in his career and made all three extra point attempts. He connected on field goals of 30, 22 and 38 yards. Reed has now made all 46 extra point attempts in his career.

PERKINS MAKES REMARKABLE COMEBACK
Senior defensive tackle Anthony Perkins, who was thought to be lost for the season after tearing his MCL and PCL in his right knee this spring, saw his first action of the season against Virginia. Perkins played 17 snaps in the 30-24 victory. Head coach John Bunting says Perkins is approximately two months ahead of schedule.

TAR HEEL DEFENSE IN THE ACC RANKINGS
Despite giving up a season-high 405 yards in a 30-24 win over Virginia, Carolina's defense is ranked second in the ACC and 22nd in the country, allowing just over 300 yards (306.9) per game. Carolina is first in opponents' third down conversions, third in pass defense, third in pass efficiency defense and third in sacks.

Carolina held both Florida State and NC State to just nine points in wins earlier this season. It was just the fifth time since 1982 that the Seminoles had been held to less than 10 points.

CAROLINA IN THE RED ZONE
Carolina scored on four of five opportunities in the red zone (inside opponents 20-yard line) in the 30-24 win over Virginia. Jeff Reed booted three field goals and the Tar Heels scored on a rushing touchdown from Andre' Williams. The only missed opportunity came in the first quarter on a fumble by freshman tailback Jacque Lewis. The Tar Heels are 16 of 20 in red zone opportunities this year.

BAILEY MOVES UP THE CHARTS
Senior wide receiver Kory Bailey is sixth all-time at Carolina with 118 receptions. He needs three catches to pass L.C. Stevens (1995-98), who ranks fifth with 120 receptions. Bailey had three catches at Maryland to become just the ninth player at UNC to reach the century mark. Bailey set a UNC freshman record with 38 receptions in 1998 and has made at least one catch in 38 of 39 regular-season games. He needs just four catches to become only the third player in UNC history to record four seasons with at least 25 catches.

ailey ranks sixth at Carolina with 1,675 career receiving yards. Art Weiner (1946-49) is fifth with 1,733 yards. Corey Holliday (1989-93) is the school record-holder with 2,447 yards.

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