University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina 38, Arizona State 35
October 5, 2002 | Football
Oct. 5, 2002
Recap| Final Stats| Notes| Photo Gallery
North Carolina Head Coach John Bunting Quotes:
"What we wanted was a win no matter how we won. This feels really good right now. The players are happy right now. They've worked awfully hard and this has been a long hard trip. We met our expectations and we were able to win the football game, somehow, someway. We got a little luck. We got some turnovers. Their field goal kicker missed some plays, but we made some plays too so it's a great win and I'm really happy for the players."
On creating five Arizona State turnovers:
"That was big. That was the difference, and our field goal kicker made his kicks. That's the difference in the game - some big plays. Arizona State's defense is fast, strong and they make a lot of plays and take some chances. Our receivers are some big time players and they made some big plays, obviously Chesley Borders."
"Chesley has the ability to be a big-time receiver because he has speed, size, he can work people off, be physical and catch the ball. Tonight was his night. Obviously, people are going to pay a lot of attention to Sam Aiken and that should help Chesley Borders catch some more footballs."
"It was great that Darian was able to get the ball to (Borders) instead of staring down Aiken, which sometimes can happen when you have a player like Aiken. Darian did a great job distributing the ball to an assortment of receivers, in particular Chesley."
On Carolina rallying three times to overcome Arizona State leads:
"Well, our motto has been to 'Answer the Bell'. And I want to credit my wife for that slogan. It's strapped around their hearts and they kept coming back and coming back and didn't get discouraged. If you get discouraged to the point where you don't play well then you don't have a chance."
"Our players kept playing, they kept staying in the game. Our offense knew we could move the ball and they did a great job. There was a lot of pressure out there, a lot of noise out there, but we were able to somehow, someway block it up and let Darian make some plays with Ches'."
On upsetting Arizona State:
"I thought the timing could be right. A lot of things have gone (Arizona State's) way, but 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."
"We're young, we still make some bonehead plays but I felt these kids kept playing. Hopefully, this will help us get better in the weeks to come because we came from behind several times to win a football game."
