University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Hosts Middle Tennessee In Kenan Opener
September 5, 2013 | Football
This is the first meeting between Carolina and Middle Tennessee. The Blue Raiders are coming off a 45-24 victory last Thursday over Western Carolina.
Saturday's game will be televised by the ACC Network at 12:30 p.m.
AT A GLANCE
Records: North Carolina 0-1, Middle Tennessee 1-0
Rankings: Both teams are unranked.
TV: ACC Network. Steve Martin (play-by-play), Dave Archer (analyst) and Rachel Baribeau (sideline) have the call. A live broadcast is also available online at WatchESPN.com.
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network, a division of Learfield Communications. Jones Angell (play-by-play), Ethan Albright analyst) and Lee Pace (sideline) have the call. A link to the live stream can be found at GoHeels.com.
On The Web: GoHeels.com • Twitter: @TarHeelFootball, @CoachFedora
MIDDLE TENNESSEE NOTES
• This is the first meeting between the two institutions.
• Larry Fedora was the offensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee under Andy McCollum from 1999-2001. The Blue Raiders went 3-8 in 1999, 6-5 in 2000 and 8-3 in 2001. During his stint at MTSU, Fedora's offense averaged 424 yards of total offense, 181 rushing yards and 31 points per game. With Fedora as their offensive coordinator, the Blue Raiders set 43 school records over three seasons. Fedora left Middle Tennessee to coach at Florida.
• Fedora is 0-1 against Middle Tennessee, falling 42-32 in the 2009 New Orleans Bowl when he was in his second season at Southern Miss.
• After Fedora left for Florida, McCollum hired Blake Anderson as his co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach from 2002-04.
• Tight ends coach Walt Bell played for McCollum at Middle Tennessee from 2003-06. Bell earned a criminal justice degree from MTSU in 2005 and a master's in sports management in 2006.
• UNC graduate assistant Luke Paschall is a native of Dickson, Tenn., and was a four-year letterwinner at MTSU from 2003-06.
• UNC linebackers coach Ron West and MTSU head coach Rick Stockstill were on the same coaching staff at Clemson for four seasons (1999-2002). Stockstill has a 9-6 mark against the Tar Heels as an assistant coach. He was 9-5 against UNC as an assistant at Clemson (1989-2002) and 0-1 as an assistant at ECU (2003).
QUICK HITS
• Quarterback Bryn Renner has not thrown an interception in his last 134 attempts dating back to last year's Georgia Tech game. Only two other active quarterbacks in the country have a streak longer than Renner's. He attempted 43 passes, the second-highest total in his career, without an interception last Thursday at South Carolina. The school record for most consecutive pass attempts without an interception is 154 by Oscar Davenport, 1996-97.
• Renner had one TD pass at South Carolina and enters the Middle Tennessee game just three shy of T.J. Yates who is second on the all-time UNC career chart with 58. Darian Durant is the career leader with 68. Renner had 28 touchdown passes in 2012, breaking his own school record of 26 set in 2011. Renner is the only player in UNC history to throw for 20 or more touchdowns in multiple seasons.
• Preseason All-America candidate Tommy Hibbard punted six times for a 40.3-yard average, including a long of 46, against South Carolina.
• Sophomore Romar Morris rushed a career-high 15 times for 69 yards against the Gamecocks. He also caught two passes for 18 yards.
• Ten different Tar Heels caught passes against South Carolina, including Quinshad Davis and T.J. Thorpe with four each.
• Carolina ran 79 plays against South Carolina, the fifth-highest total under Fedora at UNC. However, the Tar Heels had just 293 total yards of offense. That's just the fourth time a Fedora-coached team had less than 300 yards of offense.
• North Carolina has posted five consecutive winning seasons, the most since the 1990s when the Tar Heels had nine straight winning seasons from 1990-98.
• UNC averaged 48.7 points per game at home in 2012, including two games with more than 60 points.
• Carolina averaged 485.6 yards per game in 2012, which was more than 40 yards per game more than the single-season school record of 441.8 in 1983.
