University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Face Bearcats In Belk Bowl Saturday
December 28, 2013 | Football
"I'm excited for our team, especially our seniors, who fought through some early season adversity and won five of the last six games to become bowl eligible," said head coach Larry Fedora. "This is a resilient bunch of guys that kept believing in one another throughout the year and I'm glad they were rewarded with a bowl game. We're looking forward to facing a very good Cincinnati team led by an outstanding coach in Tommy Tuberville."
After starting the season 1-5, Carolina ran off five straight wins to finish the season 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the ACC. The Tar Heels will be making their fourth appearance in the Charlotte bowl game, but are seeking their first win. Carolina fell to Boston College in 2004, West Virginia in 2008 and Pittsburgh in 2009. Carolina's last bowl win came in the 2010 Music City Bowl in Nashville.
Carolina is just the sixth team since the regular-season expanded to 12 games in 2006 to start the season 1-5 and make a bowl game. Only one - Rutgers in 2008 - came from a BCS conference. The turnaround is similar to the 2001 season when UNC opened with three losses, but rebounded to win five straight and make a bowl game.
The Bearcats will be making their second appearance in the game after defeating Duke 48-34 last year in Charlotte. Cincinnati finished the regular season with a 9-3 overall record (6-2 AAC, third place). They won six of their last seven games to end the season.
QUICK HITS
• Of Carolina's 50 total touchdowns this season, 42 have been scored by freshmen or sophomores, including the last 26 in a row.
• DE Kareem Martin ranks fourth in the country in tackles for loss and 10th in the nation in sacks. He has posted 20.0 tackles for loss and 11.0 sacks. He is just five shy of Julius Peppers' single-season school record of 24 TFL in 2000.
• QB Marquise Williams has been responsible for 21 touchdowns this year - 14 passing, six rushing and one receiving. Williams tossed a school-record tying five TD passes vs. ODU.
• Ebron set the single-season ACC record for receiving yards by a tight end (895), breaking the previous mark of 871 set by Maryland's Vernon Davis in 2005. Ebron has 55 catches and ranks second on the ACC single-season chart for catches by a tight end.
• Freshman Ryan Switzer has tied the single-season ACC record with four punt return touchdowns. All four came in three games vs. Virginia, Pitt (2) and ODU. The NCAA single-season record is five by Chad Owens of Hawaii in 2004. Switzer also tied the NCAA record for consecutive games with a punt return touchdown at three.
• Carolina is first in the country in punt returns with a 17.1 average. Carolina is the only school in the country with four punt returns for touchdowns.
• Carolina is limiting opponents to 3.2 yards per punt return, which ranks eighth in the country. The Tar Heels have allowed just 54 total punt return yards, 23 of which came on one return by NC State.
• Fifteen different Tar Heels have scored at least one touchdown this season. Ten of those 15 are either freshmen or sophomores (five are true freshmen).
• WR Quinshad Davis has already caught 108 passes in his first two seasons. Only Hakeem Hicks (113) caught more in his first two seasons as a Tar Heel.
CAROLINA'S BOWL HISTORY
• The Belk Bowl is Carolina's 30th postseason bowl game appearance and first since 2011. The Tar Heels are 13-16 all-time in bowl games with the last win coming in 2010 vs. Tennessee in the Music City Bowl. The Tar Heels lost their most recent bowl game in 2011 vs. Missouri in the Independence Bowl. Carolina's 30 bowl games ranks fifth among ACC schools.
• Carolina has played in a bowl game in five of the last six years. Due to NCAA sanctions, the Tar Heels were ineligible to compete in 2012 despite an 8-4 record.
• Carolina has played in 13 different bowl cities. UNC is 5-2 in Jacksonville (Gator), 2-2 in El Paso (Sun), 1-0 in Houston (Bluebonnet), 1-0 in Las Vegas (Las Vegas), 1-0 in Miami (Carquest), 1-0 in Memphis (Liberty), 1-0 in Nashville (Music City), 2-3 in Atlanta (Peach/Chick-fil-A), 0-1 in Dallas (Cotton), 0-1 in Honolulu (Aloha), 0-1 in Shreveport, 0-2 in New Orleans (Sugar) and 0-3 in Charlotte (Continental Tire/Meineke).
BOWL HISTORY IN CHARLOTTE
• Carolina is making its fourth appearance in Charlotte's bowl game, which began in 2002 as the Continental Tire Bowl. The Tar Heels lost each of their last three games in the Queen City, including 2004 vs. Boston College (37-24), 2008 vs. West Virginia (31-30) and 2009 vs. Pitt (19-17). Carolina was the first team from the state of North Carolina to play in the Charlotte bowl game and is the only team to play in the game four times.
• In 2004, Boston College's 21-yard touchdown on a fake field goal highlighted a 16-point fourth quarter as the Eagles defeated Carolina, 37-24. UNC quarterback Darian Durant threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns in his final game as a Tar Heel. The loss to Boston College snapped a five-bowl win streak for the Tar Heels.
• In 2008, West Virginia's Pat White threw for 332 yards, including a 20-yard scoring pass midway through the fourth quarter to give the Mountaineers a 31-30 victory. UNC wide receiver Hakeem Nicks had a spectacular day with eight receptions for 217 yards and three touchdowns. Nicks set Carolina bowl records for receiving yards and touchdowns. His behind-the-back catch was the No. 1 play of the postseason according to ESPN.
• In 2009, Pitt's Dion Lewis rushed for 159 yards and a touchdown, and Dan Hutchins kicked a 33-yard field goal with 52 seconds left to give the 17th-ranked Panthers a 19-17 win over Carolina in the Meineke Bowl. The matchup featured old coaching buddies who won a national championship and Super Bowl together. Pitt's Dave Wannstedt and Carolina's Butch Davis worked on Jimmy Johnson's staffs at Oklahoma State, Miami and the Dallas Cowboys. Their careers then included NFL head coaching jobs before they returned to college. After Carolina took a 17-16 lead late in the third quarter on T.J. Yates' second touchdown pass to Greg Little, the Panthers converted a fourth-and-1 from their own 30 with 6:36 remaining. On the same drive, Pitt later faced fourth-and-2 from the UNC 30 with 1:30 left. Carolina's Cam Thomas jumped offsides, giving Pitt a first down. Lewis got 13 yards on the next play, and his 6-yard run into the middle of the field set it up for Dan Hutchins' game-winning 33-yard field goal.
