University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Set to Host Arizona State
October 17, 2003 | Football
Oct. 17, 2003
Date: Saturday, October 18, 2003
Time: 1:35 p.m.
TV: none
Site: Chapel Hill, N.C., Kenan Stadium (60,000, grass)
Series Record: Tied, 1-1
Last Meeting: Carolina 38, Arizona State 35 on October 5, 2001, in Tempe, Ariz.
Rankings:Neither team is ranked
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Radio Network, a division of Learfield Communications. Woody Durham (play-by-play) and Mick Mixon (color) 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); Arizona State (thesundevils.com)
Injuries: TBA
CHAPEL HILL - Coming off its first victory of the season, North Carolina completes its 2003 non-conference schedule when it plays host to Pac-10 conference foe Arizona State on Saturday, October 18 at Kenan Stadium. Carolina's homecoming game will not be televised, but will be broadcast by the Tar Heel Sports Network.
The Tar Heels will be looking to end a nine-game losing streak at home and put together back-to-back victories for the first time since winning three straight to close the 2001 season.
This is the second game of a two-year home-and-home series between the Tar Heels and Sun Devils. Last season, Carolina won a wild game, 38-35, in Tempe, Ariz., as quarterback Darian Durant set single-game school records for passing yards (417) and total offense (426). Carolina and Arizona State also met in the 1970 Peach Bowl (a game that featured UNC head coach John Bunting at linebacker), but Saturday's game is the first meeting between the two schools in Chapel Hill.
Carolina (1-5, 0-3 ACC) is coming off a 28-17 road win at East Carolina, while Arizona State (3-3, 1-2 Pac-10) routed Oregon in Tempe last Saturday, 59-14.
The game features two of the top quarterbacks in the country in Carolina's Darian Durant and ASU's Andrew Walter. Last year, the duo waged a statistical battle that saw both have career nights. In addition to the single-game passing yards and total offense yards records, Durant tied the school record with five touchdown passes, while Walter had a then-career best night with 474 passing yards. Arizona State posted 657 yards of total offense, the most ever against a UNC defense.
SCORING FIRST
North Carolina scored first for the fifth consecutive game against East Carolina last week. The only game Carolina did not score first was the season-opening shutout loss to Florida State. Under head coach John Bunting, Carolina has scored first in 21 of 31 games.
