North Carolina Postgame Notes vs. Duke, Nov. 7, 2009

Nov. 7, 2009

• The Tar Heels won for the 19th time in the last 20 meetings with the Blue Devils and extended their current winning streak in the series to six games.

• Carolina earns two points with the win towards the Carlyle Cup, the all-sports competition between the Tar Heels and Blue Devils. Carolina leads the 2009-10 edition by a 5.5 to 2.0 score.

• Carolina, the ACC's top-ranked defensive unit, held Duke to 125 total yards of offense. The Tar Heels limited the Blue Devils to 113 yards passing, more than 212 yards below Duke's season average entering the game (Duke was averaging 325.1 yards passing).

• UNC held Duke to just 43 yards on 26 plays in the second half, 1.7 yards per play. In the first half, the Blue Devils gained minus-four rushing yards.

• The 125 yards are the fewest allowed by Carolina this season (previous was 153 by The Citadel). It's the fewest since Clemson had 91 yards in 1996.

• Duke rushed for 12 yards, the fewest by a UNC opponent this year (previous 30 by The Citadel). It's the fewest since Wake Forest had minus-two yards in 2000.

• Carolina has held seven of nine opponents to 17 points or less this season.

• The teams combined for 25 points, the lowest-scoring Carolina-Duke game since a 16-3 Tar Heel win in 1977.

• The 19 points by Carolina are the fewest by the winning team in the UNC-Duke series since a 17-15 Tar Heel victory in Durham in 1984.

• Junior tailback Ryan Houston rushed for career bests of 164 yards on 37 carries. The Charlotte native rushed for 62 yards in the first half, which nearly matched his season-best 66-yard effort last week at Virginia Tech. He ran for 55 yards on 10 carries on the fourth-quarter drive that culminated in Jheranie Boyd's three-yard TD run. Houston's 55 yards would have ranked as the fourth-most rushing yards alone in any "game" in his career.

• Houston's 164 rushing yards are the most by a Tar Heel this season and the most since Chad Scott rushed for 175 vs. Miami in 2004.

• Houston's previous high for carries in a game was 18 last Thursday against Virginia Tech. His previous career high for rushing yards was 74 against Georgia Tech in 2008.

• Houston had 179 combined rushing and receiving yards. Duke had 125.

• Houston carried the ball on 10 of the 12 plays on the Tar Heels' fourth-quarter touchdown drive (the only TD of the game).

• This was the 35th time a Tar Heel has rushed for 100 yards in a game against Duke (the third in as many years).

• Houston rushed for 102 yards in the second half. He did not have a 100-yard game prior to today.

• Sophomore defensive end Robert Quinn had seven tackles, including three quarterback sacks for 26 yards, another 1.5 tackles for losses for eight more yards, he forced a fumble, broke up a pass (on fourth down) and pressured Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis another six times.

• Quinn now has 15.5 tackles for losses this season for 103 yards, including 10 sacks for 82 yards. He has also forced four fumbles and has 11 quarterback pressures.

• Junior cornerback Charles Brown picked off his third pass of the season and the sixth of his career. He returned the interception 54 yards to set up a Casey Barth field goal in the third quarter. It was Carolina's longest interception return of the season. The return was the second-longest return of any kind this season by a Tar Heel, trailing only Da'Norris Searcy's 77-yard punt return against The Citadel.

• Sophomore placekicker Casey Barth connected on four field goals (40, 29, 41 and 33 yards) for the first time in his career (previous was three against Notre Dame in 2008). He has now made his last nine attempts over a five-game stretch. Barth is 14-for-16 on the season, and his 41-yarder today was his longest of the season and second-longest of his career (42 yards vs. Notre Dame, 2008).

• Freshman Jheranie Boyd scored on a three-yard run in the fourth quarter for the game's first touchdown and his first on the ground in his career. He has now scored in two straight games after catching a 13-yard TD pass last week at Virginia Tech.

• North Carolina had a punt blocked for the first time since 2006 when Duke's Jordan Byas blocked and recovered a Grant Shallock punt in the first quarter. Wake Forest's Alphonso Smith had the last blocked punt against UNC in 2006.

• Freshman offensive tackle Brennan Williams made his first career start for the Tar Heels in place of Mike Ingersoll.

• The six points was the fewest scored by Duke against UNC since 1999 when the Tar Heels shut out the Blue Devils, 38-0.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Charles Brown

Ryan Houston

Chad Scott

Da'Norris Searcy

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