University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-Oklahoma Game Notes
August 22, 2001 | Football
Aug. 22, 2001
UNC-Oklahoma Game Notes (PDF Format)
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OKLAHOMA
Date: Saturday, August 25, 2001
Time: 7:50 p.m. ET
Site: Memorial Stadium/Owen Field (72,765, grass)
Series Record: Oklahoma leads, 6-0
TV: ESPN (Ron Franklin & Mike Gottfried)
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), Oklahoma (soonersports.com)
Injuries: TBA
TAR HEELS OPEN SEASON AGAINST DEFENDING NATIONAL CHAMPION
For the first time in its 111-year football history, North Carolina will open the season against the consensus defending national champion when the Tar Heels face Oklahoma in
the Hispanic College Fund Classic on Aug. 25. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN at 7:45 p.m. (EST). In last year's inaugural Hispanic Classic, Texas Tech
defeated New Mexico, 24-3.
Adding to what was already considered one of Carolina's most difficult schedules in recent history, first-year head coach John Bunting, who was hired on December 11, 2000, was offered the opportunity to face Oklahoma. He immediately agreed after talking to the Tar Heel seniors.
"I think this is important for us to get better faster," said Bunting after announcing the game in early February. "When you get opportunities to play against the best when you are a young program it helps you progress. It helps you grow up faster. These guys have got to find out what it's like to play against No. 1. We asked for that extra game to help us learn how to compete at the highest level."
It is the first time Carolina has added a 12th game to the schedule since 1993, when the Tar Heels beat Southern California, 31-9 in the Disneyland Pigskin Classic. Both Rick Steinbacher and Corey Holliday, current members of UNC's football administrative staff, played in that game.
Carolina's 2001 schedule is considered one of the nation's toughest with three of the first five games against preseason No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 5 Texas and No. 6 Florida State (AP Poll).
Carolina has the longest current winning streak in the ACC at three. Last year, Carolina closed out the season with wins over Pittsburgh, Maryland and Duke en route to a 6-5 record.
The Tar Heels are 75-31-5 in season openers. Last year, Carolina opened the year with a 31-9 victory over Tulsa.
CAROLINA AGAINST DEFENDING NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
Since 1950, Carolina has faced the defending national champion on nine occasions, including a game in 1956 against Oklahoma when the Sooners were coming off a
championship season in 1955. Carolina lost that game, 36-0, in Norman.
SERIES AGAINST THE SOONERS
Carolina and Oklahoma are meeting for the seventh time in history and the first time since OU scored a 28-0 victory over Carolina in 1988 in Chapel Hill. This is the fourth
meeting between the two schools in Norman and the first since 1987.
Carolina and Oklahoma first met in the 1949 Sugar Bowl (1948 season). The game was legendary Soooner coach Bud Wilkinson's first bowl game. Carolina, led by Charlie "Choo-Choo" Justice, never could generate much offense and lost, 14-6.
In the six previous meetings with OU, Carolina has never scored more than a touchdown in any game. The Tar Heels have been shut out in three of the six contests.
TIES TO OKLAHOMA
-- Carolina place-kicker Jeff Reed lived in Moore, Okla., (just outside of Norman) until the age of six, when his parents moved to Charlotte. Reed's parents, Morris and Pam,
had season tickets to Oklahoma games until moving to North Carolina.
-- North Carolina tight ends coach Ken Browning coached current Oklahoma wide receivers coach Steve Spurrier Jr. at Northern Durham High School. Browning was the
head coach and athletic director at the school from 1976-93.
-- North Carolina defensive tackles coach Rod Broadway and Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops served on the same defensive staff at Florida under head coach Steve Spurrier
for three seasons (1996-98). Spurrier was the defensive coordinator and Broadway was the defensive line coach. Broadway was at Florida from 1995-2000.
-- Rick Hart, a North Carolina graduate who worked in the UNC ticket office from 1996-98, is now an Assistant Athletic Director at Oklahoma.
CAROLINA AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
The last time Carolina defeated a team ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll was 1997 when the Tar Heels beat No. 17 Stanford, 28-17. Since that time, Carolina has lost
eight consecutive games to ranked teams. Four of those losses have been to Florida State.
The last time Carlina defeated a team ranked in the AP Top 10 was 1996 when UNC knocked off No. 9 Syracuse in the Carrier Dome, 27-10. Carolina has never defeated a team ranked in the top five.
This year Carolina plays five teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25, which equals the most ranked teams UNC has ever played in a season. The Tar Heels also played five ranked teams in 1993 and 1996. In both seasons, Carolina won 10 games.
OFFENSIVE YOUTH
The team that John Bunting inherited this season is not a senior-laden team. In fact, the Tar Heels had just 16 seniors on its 105-man training camp roster. Carolina has 41
freshmen (including redshirts), 26 sophomore and 22 juniors on the roster. Although 11 of those 16 seniors start, more than half are on defense. Four seniors start on offense
and one of those - tight end Doug Brown - has never started a game in his career. Quarterback Ronald Curry (20 starts), wide receiver Kory Bailey (16) and center Adam
Metts (11) are the only seniors on offense to start a game.
When the Tar Heels open the season on August 25 at Oklahoma, four sophomores will likely start on the offensive line, including tackles Jeb Terry and Greg Woofter and guards Jupiter Wilson and Marcus Wilson.
The Tar Heel offense also features sophomore tailbacks Willie Parker (3 career starts) and Andre' Williams (0) and converted linebacker/quarterback/tight end Richard Moore making his first career start at fullback.
DEFENSIVE DEPTH A CONCERN
Carolina will start seven seniors on defense, not including fourth-year junior Julius Peppers. The remaining three startes consist of two sophomores and one junior. However,
the Tar Heels are lacking any experienced defensive depth. Backup strong safety DeFonte Coleman, who started eight games last season, is the only reserve with any starting
experience. The lack of depth is especially a concern on the defensive line, which includes two redshirt freshmen and one sophomore as backups. Junior defensive tackle Eric
Davis, who has played just over 200 college snaps, is the only reserve with more than two years of playing experience. Davis dislocated his little finger on his left hand in
Carolina's first preseason scrimmage and has seen limited action in fall practice. However, he is expected to play against Oklahoma.
Carolina has two experienced linebackers in seniors Quincy Monk and Merceda Perry, but the other starter, David Thornton, is a former walk-on, who will make his first career start at Oklahoma. Redshirt freshmen Clarence Gaddy and Devllen Bullard and former walk-on Robert Harris are backups at linebacker.
SCHEDULE TESTS TAR HEELS
Carolina opens with three consecutive road games for the first time since 1893 and will open the year against the consensus defending national champion for the first time ever.
In 1893, the Tar Heels opened with a 44-0 rout of Washington & Lee, followed by consecutive losses at VMI and Trinity.
Over 100 years later, 109 to be exact, Carolina faces defending national champion Oklahoma in Norman in the Hispanic College Fund Classic on August 25, a game John unting added to the schedule after he was hired.
The following week, Carolina will open its ACC schedule at Maryland and then travel a week later to Austin to face Texas, coached by former Tar Heel coach Mack Brown. In addition to those first three road games, the Tar Heels also make trips to Clemson and Georgia Tech, both ranked in the preseason Top 25 polls, and archrival NC State. Carolina will not return home to Kenan Stadium until Sept. 15 against SMU. The Tar Heels' home schedule also includes games against Florida State, East Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest and Duke.
This is the first time since 1981 and just the ninth time overall that Carolina has played East Carolina.
Eight of the first 10 Carolina opponents were in bowl games last year, including Oklahoma (Orange), Texas (Holliday), Florida State (Orange), NC State (Micronpc.com), East Carolina (galleryfurniture.com), Virginia (Oahu), Clemson (Gator) and Georgia Tech (Peach). The most bowl teams Carolina has ever faced in a season was seven last year (FSU, Marshall, Georgia Tech, NC State, Clemson, Virginia, Pittsburgh).
Carolina plays more games against teams that were in bowls last season than any other ACC school.
WINNING STREAK
Carolina enters the 2001 season with the ACC's longest winning streak at three games. The Tar Heels closed out the 2000 season with wins over Pittsburgh, Maryland and
Duke. In the 2001 season opener, Carolina faces an Oklahoma squad that has the nation's longest winning streak - 13 games.
BACK IN TAR HEEL HANDS
For the first time since 1956, Carolina will be coached by a former letterwinner. John Bunting, a 1972 North Carolina graduate, was named the Tar Heels' 32nd head coach on
December 11, 2000. He brings nearly 20 years of NFL experience both as a player and an assistant coach to the Tar Heel sideline. In addition to his NFL background,
unting was the head coach at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J., for five years before moving on to the professional ranks. The last Tar Heel letterwinner to be head
football coach was Jim Tatum in 1956.
Carolina was one of 25 Division I-A schools to make a coaching change in the offseason. Four ACC schools, including Wake Forest, Virginia and Maryland hired a new head coach for 2001.
UNC AND FIRST-YEAR HEAD COACHES
John Bunting is only the fifth North Carolina head football coach since 1967. Bill Dooley, Bunting's coach at Carolina, led the Tar Heels from 1967-77, Dick Crum guided the
team from 1978-87, Mack Brown held the top position from 1988-97, and Carl Torbush was head coach from 1998-2000.
The best first-year record for any coach at North Carolina was Carl Snavely's 7-1-1 campaign in 1934. Since Carolina has been a member of the ACC (since 1953), no Carolina coach has won more than seven games in his first year and only one (Carl Torbush) had a winning record. The three winningest coaches in UNC history (Dooley, Crum and Brown) all started with losing seasons. Dooley was 2-8 in 1967, Crum was 5-6 in 1978 and Brown was 1-10 in 1988.
SACK ATTACK - PART II
A year after leading the ACC with 53 sacks, Carolina is poised to repeat as the conference's sack champions. Julius Peppers (15 sacks), Joey Evans (8) and Ryan Sims (6) all
return to anchor the defensive line. Evans will start this season at defensive end after playing a backup role a year ago. Last year's other staring defensive tackle, Anthony
Perkins, suffered a knee injury in spring practice and is expected to miss the entire regular season. Will Chapman, a reserve last year who had 2.5 sacks, will step into the
starting role.
UNC SACK RECORD UNDER ATTACK
Junior defensive end Julius Peppers has 21 career sacks and needs 12 to break the Carolina career record of 32.5 held by Greg Ellis (1994-97). Marcus Jones (1993-96) is
second all-time at Carolina with 24 sacks and Lawrence Taylor is tied with Peppers in third place with 21. Peppers had six sacks as a freshman and 15 as a sophomore.
ASSISTANT COACHES WITH TAR HEEL TIES
Three members of the Tar Heel staff are graduates of the University of North Carolina. In addition to head coach John Bunting (UNC `72), assistant head coach James
Webster (UNC `72) and assistant coach Rod Broadway (UNC `77) also graduated from Carolina. The last time at least three members of the coaching staff were Carolina
graduates was in 1966. That year, Emmett Cheek (UNC `48), Fred Mueller (UNC `52), George Barclay (UNC `34), George Boutselis (UNC `65) and Chris Carpenter (UNC
`52) were all a part of Jim Hickey's staff.
TAR HEELS RETURN TOP PERFORMERS
Carolina returns four of its top five rushers from last season, the three top receivers (and five of the top seven), seven of the top nine tacklers and 10 players who scored all but
24 of UNC's 269 points a year ago.
Six starters return on each side of the ball. On defense, Carolina returns linemen Julius Peppers and Ryan Sims, linebacker Quincy Monk and defensive backs Errol Hood, Michael Waddell and DeFonte Coleman. In addition, Merceda Perry, a starter in 1999, is back after missing the 2000 season with a broken ankle. On offense, Carolina returns quarterback Ronald Curry, tailback Brandon Russell, offensive linemen Adam Metts and Isaac Morford and wide receivers Kory Bailey and Bosley Allen.
BAILEY MOVES UP THE CHARTS
Senior wide receiver Kory Bailey is ninth all-time at Carolina with 95 receptions and needs just five catches to become the eighth player in UNC history to attain 100 career
catches. Bailey set a UNC freshman record with 38 receptions in 1998 and has made at least one catch in 32 of 33 regular-season games. He has a chance to become only the
third player in UNC history to record four seasons with at least 25 catches.
ailey ranks 12th at Carolina with 1,331 career receiving yards. Na Brown is the school record-holder with 2,086 yards.
LOU GROZA JEFF REED
Jeff Reed, a former walk-on, enters the 2001 season as a strong candidate for the Lou Groza Award, which is given annually to the best collegiate kicker. Last season, Reed
led the ACC in field goals (16) and field goal percentage (.800), earned second-team All-ACC honors and was one of 20 semifinalists for the Groza Award. He also made 30
consecutive extra points last season and led the Tar Heels in scoring with 78 points.
Reed has not missed a field goal inside 47 yards and his 48-yarder last season against Marshall equaled the 11th-longest field goal in UNC history.
IN THE PRESEASON RANKINGS
While several Carolina players are deserving of recognition, some have already received notice from many of the preseason football publications. Julius Peppers has been
named a preseason All-America by Playboy, Lindy's, The Sporting News and Athlon. Lindy's ranks Peppers as the country's No. 1 defensive end, while The Sporting News
ranks Peppers No. 2. The Sporting News also ranked Peppers the No. 1 two-sport athlete in the country.
The Sporting News ranks Jeff Reed as the nation's eighth-best place-kicker, Ryan Sims as the 18th-best defensive tackle and Errol Hood as the 19th-best cornerback. Bosley Allen is ranked as the 10th-best all-purpose player by Lindy's.
LOOKING TO CREATE TURNOVERS
After finishing 103rd in turnover margin (-1.09) and causing just 14 turnovers in 11 games (seven fumbles, seven interceptions), the Tar Heels will focus on causing more
turnovers in 2001. Carolina did not intercept at pass last season until the fifth game of the season and had seven INTs overall, the fewest since 1971 when UNC had six.
THE BOZ IS BACK
One of the best punt return men in the country is Bosley Allen, a junior from Bradenton, Fla., who is fortunate just to be playing football after suffering a near career-ending
knee injury in 1998. Allen, who redshirted in 1999 to recover from the injury, finished the 2000 season with a school-record 421 punt return yards and had two punt returns
for touchdowns. He scored on a 78-yard punt return at Wake Forest and on a 63-yard punt return at Duke. The 78-yarder against the Demon Deacons was selected as one of
the "College Plays of the Year." Allen finished the season ranked second in the ACC and 14th in the country, averaging 15.0 yards per return.
Allen also led the Tar Heels in receiving with 40 receptions for 634 yards and three touchdowns.
Players Mentioned
