University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-Maryland Football Game Notes
August 28, 2001 | Football
Aug. 28, 2001
UNC-Maryland Game Notes (PDF Format)
Download Free Acrobat Reader
at
MARYLAND
Date: Saturday, September 1, 2001
Site: Byrd Stadium (48,055, grass)
Series Record: North Carolina leads, 35-27-1
TV: ABC Sports (Mike Tirico, play-by-play, David Norrie, analyst)
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: PK Jeff Reed (left ankle sprain), Billy-Dee Greenwood, questionable (left shoulder sprain)
Carolina Opens ACC Season At Maryland
Following last week's 41-27 loss at defending national champion Oklahoma, North Carolina (0-1, 0-0) opens the ACC season at Maryland in College Park on Saturday, September 1 at Noon. The game will be televised by ABC Sports. The game is the season opener for the Terps, who were 5-6 overall and 3-5 in the ACC last year.
Carolina and Maryland are two programs in similar situations. Both schools hired new coaches for the 2001 season and both coaches are at their respective alma maters.
UNC head coach John Bunting, a native of Silver Spring, Md., graduated from Carolina in 1972, while Terrapin top man Ralph Friedgen is a 1969 Maryland graduate. This is the first game between two of the ACC's four first-year coaches. Both coaches also have NFL experience. Bunting coached eight years in the NFL with Kansas City, St. Louis and New Orleans. Friedgen was an assistant coach in San Diego from 1992-96.
Finally, both schools are trying to end a multiple-year bowl drought. After playing seven consecutive bowl games from 1993-98, the Tar Heels have missed out on postseason play in each of the past two seasons, while Maryland hasn't been to a bowl since 1990.
Carolina has not faced Maryland in its ACC opener since 1997 when the Tar Heels posted a 40-14 victory in College Park. Carolina also has faced Maryland in its ACC opener on nine other occasions, including 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1978, 1980, 1993 and 1995. The Tar Heels are 5-4 in those games.
Tar Heels Gain Confidence In Loss To Sooners
Carolina head coach John Bunting said for weeks that one characteristic he wanted to see in the 2001 Tar Heels was a willingness to compete at a high level until the final seconds ticked off the clock. So, despite UNC's 41-27 setback, Bunting considered the experience a success.
"It's absolutely amazing to me to play so poorly and still have an opportunity to win the game at the end and beat Oklahoma in Norman, Okla.," Bunting said. "It's absolutely amazing to me. So it shows me that if we have the ability to move the ball, we must not kill ourselves with penalties, second-and-longs and, more importantly, turnovers." unting saw his squad rally for 20 unanswered points and put a mild scare into 75,000 Sooner fans who thought the game was over at halftime. After committing five turnovers and allowing 31 points in the first quarter, Carolina finally settled down and played well enough to win. The Tar Heel defense allowed just 286 yards - the fewest for Oklahoma dating back prior to last season's national championship run - and the offense rebounded to score 14 fourth-quarter points. When the final snap was made that evening, Carolina was deep in OU territory on the verge of scoring again.
"That was the most courageous defensive performance I've ever seen," said Bunting in the postgame press conference. "With the field position situations they had to deal with, it was a great performance."
Carolina forced Oklahoma to punt on nine consecutive occasions in the second half and no second-half drive was longer than 29 yards.
Offensively, Darian Durant, a redshirt freshman from Florence, S.C., came off the bench in the second half to lead Carolina on two fourth-quarter scoring drives. Durant completed 3 of 4 passes and had a nifty 19-yard run on the first drive. He capped the six-play scoring drive with his first career touchdown pass - a 26-yard dart to wide receiver Chesley Borders with 11:59 remaining. On Carolina's next possession, Durant led the Tar Heels 80 yards in just over two and a half minutes. The biggest play of the drive came on 4th-and-10 from the OU 45-yard line when Durant delivered a strike to Kory Bailey on a crossing route. Bailey turned the corner and raced down the sideline before being pushed out at the Oklahoma 3-yard line. Two plays later, Durant found Brandon Russell in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.
Statistically, Carolina's offense had more total yards (290-286), more first downs (20-12) and ran more plays (76-64) than Oklahoma.
Series Against The Terps
In a series that dates back to 1920, Carolina has a 35-27-1 advantage over Maryland and has won eight of the last 11 meetings (8-3 since 1990), including last year's 13-10 victory in Kenan Stadium. In games at Maryland, the Tar Heels are 13-14. Carolina has lost two of the last three in Byrd Stadium, including a 45-7 loss in 1999 in which Maryland scored its most points and equaled its largest margin of victory in the series.
Last season's 13-10 Carolina victory was the closest margin of victory for either school since 1988. Both squads struggled on offense and Carolina had to rally from a 10-6 fourth-quarter deficit. Quarterback Ronald Curry scored the winning touchdown on a 25-yard run with 7:24 remaining. Tailback Willie Parker rushed for a career-high 158 yards. It was the highest rushing total by a Carolina freshmen since Natrone Means had 256 yards vs. Duke in 1990. It was also the fifth-highest total by a Carolina tailback in the Maryland series.
ACC Opener Key To UNC Performance
Carolina is 22-26 in all-time ACC openers, but has won just one conference opener in the last three years. That victory came last season when the Tar Heels knocked off Wake Forest, 35-14, on Sept. 9.
The importance of getting off to a good start in the ACC can not be overstated. In the 22 seasons in which Carolina has won its conference opener, the Tar Heels have gone on to post a winning season 16 times (73 percent). Only once since 1970 has Carolina won its league opener and then posted a losing record. That came in 1987 when UNC defeated Georgia Tech in the Tar Heels' first ACC game, but then went on to post a 5-6 mark overall.
Of the 26 seasons in which Carolina has opened conference play with a loss, the Tar Heels have gone on to have a losing season 13 times.
Ties To Maryland
*** Head Coach John Bunting is a native of Silver Spring, Md. Bunting was primarily recruited by Maryland and North Carolina after a standout career at Springbrook High School. He was recruited by former Maryland coach Bob Ward, but chose North Carolina instead.
*** Junior tight end Zach Hilton (Silver Spring) and sophomore cornerback Derrick Johnson (Upper Marlboro) are both from Maryland. True freshman Arthur Smith, who is from Memphis, Tenn., played high school football at Georgetown Prep in Rockville, Md.
*** North Carolina defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta coached one year at Maryland as a graduate assistant in 1983.
To access the UNC-Maryland Notes in their entirety, please download them in the convenient PDF Format.Download Free Acrobat Reader
