University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Lock Horns with Texas On Saturday
September 11, 2002 | Football
Sept. 11, 2002
In one of the most highly anticipated games in recent UNC history, North Carolina plays No. 2/3 Texas on Saturday, Sept. 14 at Kenan Stadium at 8 p.m. on ABC. The game will be broadcast on a split-national feed. ABC will also telecast Nebraska at Penn State at the same time.
"Texas is huge to me," said UNC guard Jeb Terry, a native of Dallas. "It's my home state. I have been looking forward to this for a long time. It is bigger than it was last year because we get to bring them home, a place I feel at home now. The excitement is building already. It has been building all year. "
The Tar Heels evened their overall record at 1-1 with a come-from-behind 30-22 victory at Syracuse last week, while the Longhorns (1-0) are two weeks removed from their season-opening victory over North Texas. Texas was off last Saturday and has had two weeks to prepare for the Tar Heels.
Texas is coached by Mack Brown, who compiled a 69-46-1 record as the Tar Heels' head coach from 1988-1997. Brown is returning to Chapel Hill for the first time since coaching the Tar Heels to a 50-14 victory over Duke in the 1997 regular-season finale. Brown did not coach in Carolina's 42-3 win over Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl on Jan. 1, 1998. Brown left UNC tied with Bill Dooley as the school's second-winningest coach, three wins behind Dick Crum's 72. Brown led the Tar Heels to consecutive 10-win seasons in 1996 and 1997.
"There are going to be a lot of people talking about Mack Brown," said North Carolina coach John Bunting. "Similar to last year, I will say early on that neither Mack or I will be suiting up. It's Texas versus North Carolina, and I'm not going to let it be a distraction from our football program, that's for sure.
"I really don't think it will be different than any other ballgame," said Brown at his Monday press luncheon. "I thought it would, but there is only one coach on our staff, Greg Davis, who also coached at North Carolina, and administrators Cleve Bryant and Arthur Johnson along with Jeff Madden, our strength coach, worked there too. There is only one coach on the North Carolina staff that I coached with when I was there, and that is Kenny Browning. There are only four players, and only three of which will play in the ballgame, that I have even spoken to."
Only four current UNC players - Chesley Borders, DeFonte Coleman, Eric Davis, Zach Hilton - were recruited to Carolina by Brown. No current Tar Heels ever played for Brown.
Last season, Carolina lost to No. 5 Texas, 44-14 in Austin. The game was tied at 14 in the second quarter, but the Longhorns scored the final 30 points for the victory. Texas is the highest ranked non-conference team to play in Chapel Hill since No. 3 Oklahoma won in Kenan Stadium 13-6 on Sept. 24, 1955. The highest ranked team (AP rankings) Carolina has ever defeated is No. 6 on three occasions. Last year, Carolina defeated No. 6 Florida State, 41-9, giving John Bunting his first victory as UNC's head coach.
