University of North Carolina Athletics
Durant, Borders Enter Record Book
October 7, 2002 | Football
Oct. 7, 2002
The following is an excerpt from Lee Pace's latest edition of Extra Points. To read more about the Arizona State game, click here.
By Lee Pace
SQUIB KICKS -- Ex-Tar Heel QB Chris Keldorf is living in his hometown of Manhattan Beach, Calif., and ventured 400 miles across the mountains and desert to see one of his records broken by Darian Durant. Keldorf held the most passing yards for one game with 415 against TCU in 1997. Durant nipped him by two Saturday with 417. Durant also set the single-game total-offense mark with 426 yards, topping Mark Maye's 420 yards at Georgia Tech in 1987. His five TD passes tied the five of Kevin Anthony notched against Wake Forest in 1985. Chesley Borders became the first Tar Heel to ever have four TD catches in one game.
**Arizona State is having problems drawing crowds to massive Sun Devil Stadium, where each January nearly 75,000 people convene for the Fiesta Bowl. John Bunting inquired about the need for practicing with manufactured crowd noise last week prior to the Tar Heels' trip west and was advised that it probably wasn't necessary, that with the Sun Devils resorting to giving away tickets at $5 pop, the crowd probably wouldn't be much of a factor. It turned out that the crowd of 42,128 made plenty of noise, making it difficult for the Tar Heel offense to hear Durant's signals and prompting a rash of false start penalties. "I will never make that mistake again," Bunting said. "From now on, every road game we practice with crowd noise."
** Kicker Topher Roberts nailed his first five kick-offs into the end zone, guaranteeing the Sun Devils a start at the 20 yard-line. That makes for pretty good kick-off coverage, something the Tar Heels have not done well this season. "Danny Orner's been coming on strong, and last week was the first week we had them competing against each other since camp for that job," Bunting said of the division of duties between Orner with field goals and extra points and Roberts with kick-offs. "Topher earned the right in practice to keep his job. He responded very well."
** The Tar Heels came out of the game relatively injury-free. Defensive end Will Chapman has a sprained toe and cornerback Kevin Knight a sprained ankle. Both are expected to practice Tuesday.
** Three players did not make the trip to Arizona State -- DE Issac Mooring (broken hand), guard Arthur Smith (sprained foot) and tailback Andre Williams (relapse of back injury from last year). The training staff hopes all three will return to action this week.
** Bunting liked the contribution of freshman Wallace Wright on kick-off returns (two for 59 yards). "I've liked him since the day he stepped on the field," Bunting says. "He hits the opening hard."
