University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC-Texas Football Game Notes
September 4, 2001 | Football
Sept. 4, 2001
UNC-Texas Game Notes (PDF Format)
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TEXAS
Date: Saturday, September 8, 2001
Time: Noon ET
Site: Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium/Jamail Field (80,082, grass)
Series Record: Texas leads, 4-3
TV: ABC Sports (Brad Nessler, play-by-play, Bob Griese, analyst, Lynn Swann, 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), Texas (texassports.com)
Injuries: TBA
CAROLINA TRAVELS TO TEXAS
North Carolina (0-2, 0-1 ACC) closes out a three-game road stretch - which many observers feel is one of the toughest in the nation - at No. 5 Texas on Saturday, Sept. 8 at
Noon EST. The game will televised by ABC Sports. Carolina is reeling from consecutive losses at No. 3 Oklahoma, 41-27, on August 25 in the Hispanic Classic and at
Maryland, 23-7, last week in College Park. This is the second time in the last four years that the Tar Heels have started the season 0-2. In 1998, UNC lost its first three games
of the year before bouncing back to win seven of its last nine, including the 1998 Las Vegas Bowl.
Saturday's game will be the second straight for the Tar Heels against a top five team. Oklahoma was No. 3 when UNC played the Sooners two weeks ago. Carolina has never defeated a team ranked in the top five. The last time Carolina defeated a team ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 was 1997 when the Tar Heels defeated No. 17 Stanford, 28-17, in Chapel Hill.
Texas (1-0) is coming off a 41-7 victory over New Mexico State on Saturday. The Longhorns are coached by Mack Brown, who compiled a 69-46-1 record as the Tar Heels' head coach from 1988-1997. Brown left for Texas following the 1997 regular season and did not coach in Carolina's 42-3 victory over Virginia Tech in the 1998 Gator Bowl. rown is tied with Bill Dooley for second place with 69 career victories at Carolina, three behind Dick Crum's 72 wins.
CAROLINA SCORES EARLY, BUT NOT OFTEN AGAINST MARYLAND
North Carolina jumped out to an early 7-0 lead at Maryland last week when sophomore tailback Willie Parker carried 77 yards for a touchdown on the UNC's first play from
scrimmage. However, that would be the last time Carolina would threaten to score until late in the game when the contest was virtually over.
Despite gaining more yards than its opponent for the second consecutive week, Carolina could not put points on the scoreboard. Much of Carolina's inability to sustain a drive was due to poor field position throughout the game. Five of Carolina's first seven possessions started inside its own 15-yard line, including drives that started at the UNC 1-yard line, 9-yard line and 10-yard line. Maryland punter Brooks Barnard, who averaged 50.4 yards on eight punts, pinned the Tar Heels deep on several occasions.
Carolina had 276 yards of offense compared to 247 for Maryland. Carolina's defense, led by Julius Peppers, who had three sacks to tie Marcus Jones for second on the UNC career sack list, forced five three-and-outs and limited Maryland to just 154 yards through the first three quarters. However, in the fourth quarter, Maryland had two long scoring drives (65 & 54 yards) to put the game out of reach.
Parker finished with 102 rushing yards - the second consecutive time he has rushed for at least 100 yards against Maryland. He had 158 yards rushing in last year's 13-10 victory in Chapel Hill. It was the 20th time a Tar Heel tailback has rushed for over 100 yards against Maryland. His 77-yard touchdown run tied for the 17th longest in school history and it was the longest by a Tar Heel since Curtis Johnson scored on a 90-yard run vs. Maryland in 1993.
TAR HEELS GAIN CONFIDENCE IN LOSS TO SOONERS
Despite UNC's 41-27 setback at Oklahoma, head coach Bunting considered the experience a success because the Tar Heels continued to play hard even after falling behind 31-7
at the end of the first quarter.
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 Sooner 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 LONGHORNS
Carolina and Texas are playing the first of a two-year series. In 2001, Carolina will play host to the Longhorns in Kenan Stadium.
This is the first regular-season meeting between the two schools since 1952. The three most recent meetings were all bowl games. Carolina defeated Texas in the 1980 luebonnet and 1982 Sun Bowls. In the most recent matchup, Texas beat Carolina, 35-31, in the 1994 Sun Bowl. Mack Brown was Carolina's head coach in that game.
TIES TO TEXAS
-- Starting offensive guard Jeb Terry is a native of Dallas, Texas, but played high school football at Culver Military Academy in Bloomington, Ind. Terry came to Carolina as a
defensive lineman and played sparingly in 1999. He fractured his right ankle late in the 1999 season, switched to offensive line and redshirted the 2000 season. He is one of
three sophomore starters on Carolina's offensive line.
-- Texas head coach Mack Brown was the Tar Heels' head coach from 1988-97 and was 69-46-1.
THORNTON CONTINUES TO EXCEL
David Thornton, a former walk-on who was awarded a scholarship prior to the start of the 2001 season, has suddenly become one of the Tar Heels top playmakers on defense.
Through the first two games of the season, Thornton leads the team with 28 total tackles. He entered the 2001 season with just 24 career tackles, including 16 tackles last
season as a special teams player.
In his first career start at Oklahoma, Thornton had 15 tackles (12 solo, 3 assists), including four tackles for loss and one sack for five yards. The following week at Maryland, he made 13 tackles (9 solo, 4 assists).
In addition to his play on the football field, Thornton is one of the Tar Heels' most active players off the gridiron. Among the community service projects he is involved with are: minority student recruitment volunteer at UNC, tutor and mentor for Upward Bound, volunteer reader for local elementary schools, volunteer coach for local intramural girls basketball team, motivational speaker for Hargrave Community Center. He is also a member of UNC's Student Recreational Center Board of Directors and a Senior Marshall. He is majoring in exercise and sports science.
REID COMFORTABLE IN STARTING ROLE
Sophomore free safety Dexter Reid, another first-time starter on defense, is a hard-hitting safety who has been all around the ball through the first two games. Reid had nine
tackles, including a 10-yard sack against Oklahoma and followed that performance with 11 tackles (9 solo, 2 assist) at Maryland. Reid was Carolina's top backup at safety a
year ago and finished the 2000 season fifth in tackles.
UNC SACK RECORD UNDER ATTACK
Junior defensive end Julius Peppers has 24 career sacks and is tied with Marcus Jones (1992-95) for second on the UNC career sack list. Peppers needs nine to break the
Carolina career record of 32.5 held by Greg Ellis (1994-97). NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor is in third place with 21 sacks. Peppers had six sacks as a freshman and 15
as a sophomore.
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