University of North Carolina Athletics
Merchant's Moment Of October
October 31, 2002 | Football
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By David Tinson
October's Merchant's Moment of the Month is Carolina's thrilling 38-35 come-from-behind football win over Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz., on October 5.
The Tar Heels traveled across three time zones and logged more than 2,200 miles to face the high-powered ASU offense at Sun Devil Stadium, and behind record-setting performances by Darian Durant and Chesley Borders Carolina pulled off the big upset.
Arizona State entered the game riding a four-game winning streak and racked up 657 total yards of offense, but Durant connected on two big fourth quarter touchdown passes to lead UNC to the victory against a team that enters the month of November ranked 17th in the country and sporting a 7-2 record.
Trailing 28-24 in the fourth, Durant hit Jarwarski Pollock for a 65-yard TD with 7:11 left in regulation for a 31-28 lead. After the Sun Devils pulled ahead 35-31 under four minutes, Durant mounted what was then Carolina's longest drive of the season.
Starting from the Carolina 14 yard-line, Durant completed a nine-yard pass to Pollock, later scrambled for a first down and then hit Borders for the game-winning 74-yard strike. It was the fourth touchdown reception of the game for Borders, marking a new school record. Borders caught nine passes for 192 yards overall, the third most prolific day in UNC history by a receiver.
Meanwhile, Durant was 25 of 40 for 417 yards and five touchdowns. He set or tied several school records in the victory. He established the UNC single-game record for most passing yards (417) and total offense (426) and tied the school record with five TD passes. Durant broke Chris Keldorf's single-game record for passing yards by two yards.
"I thought the timing could be right," head coach John Bunting said after the win. "Things didn't go their way tonight in a lot of different ways. We were able to capitalize on that. I told the crowd that you'd be proud of this team, and I'm very proud of them."
TarHeelBlue.com was there for every step of the emotional journey to the Arizona desert and presented a comprehensive photo essay when the Tar Heels finally arrived back in Chapel Hill Sunday morning after flying through the night.
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