NC State
North Carolina
UNC Stops Wolfpack, 17-9
9/29/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept 29, 2001
By Tony Haynes
In praising the North Carolina defense last week, Chuck Amato said, "anytime you play good defense, you have a chance to win." Though he probably didn't know it at the time, the Wolfpack coach's statement would become a self-fulfilling prophecy on Saturday afternoon.
In front a typically vocal gathering of 51,500 fans at Carter-Finley Stadium, the Tar Heels rode the coattails of their stout defensive unit to post a hard-fought 17-9 victory over NC State.
After dropping three straight to start the season, North Carolina has now won two in a row. The loss was the Wolfpack's (2-1) first of the season.
"We were in poor field position for the entire game," Amato said. "We had two turnovers and we got three turnovers. But the first turnover we had, they got seven points off of it. We had some very costly penalties at very costly times. They were all legit. The officials did an outstanding job in a game like this. It was probably the best crew they have. You keep stepping on yourself, but in the end it was almost there."
That, in a nutshell, describes the entire game. While the NC State offense usually started deep in its own territory against one of the best defenses in the ACC, North Carolina enjoyed excellent field position throughout the afternoon.
And while neither offense was particularly effective, the Tar Heels made just enough plays to get enough points on the board and to maintain their field position edge. Freshman quarterback Darian Durant, who alternated with senior Ronald Curry, got the Heels moving on a pair of second half scoring drives that resulted in 10 points.
Leading 7-6 at the break, Carolina padded its lead on a 36-yard field goal by Jeff Reed with 6:20 remaining in the third period. The kick came at the end of a methodical 11-play drive that covered 59 yards and kept the NC State defense on the field for 4:51.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Tar Heels put together the most impressive drive of the day, going 83 yards in 11 plays. The march culminated with Durant hitting a wide-open Kory Bailey from 19 yards out to give UNC a 17-6 advantage.
Of North Carolina's two quarterbacks, Durant was, by far, the most impressive, hitting 10-of-14 passes for 128 yards and one interception. Two of those completions went to Bailey in the end zone. Curry finished 7-of-15 for 58 yards and no touchdowns.
"We were a little bit opportunistic," said first-year Carolina coach John Bunting. "We had good field position. We didn't take advantage of it all the time because they were that good, but we took advantage of it enough to get some points and win a ballgame. Obviously, our defense played well again."
And once the Tar Heels moved ahead by two scores, everyone in the stadium knew NC State was in trouble. The Pack found some life when backup kicker Adam Kiker booted a 31-yard field goal to bring NC State within eight with 10:38 left, but two more desperate drives after that were thwarted.
Kiker was pressed into duty when regular kicker Austin Herbert was unable to handle the placekicking chores because of an ankle sprain he had suffered earlier in the week. Herbert was able to punt, averaging 38.2 yards on eight punts.
"On Thursday he turned his ankle coming to practice," Amato said of Herbert. "He got treatment all of yesterday and we didn't think it was all that bad. Then it swelled up and we had him do a little kicking yesterday. He felt good on the punts, but didn't feel comfortable on the kicking part of it. He came out today and said, `coach, I can handle the punting but the kicking I can't do.' It wasn't on his plant foot, but his kicking foot. When you want to win the kicking game and your kicker isn't there, it's tough."
Herbert's absence was felt in the first half when Kiker pushed an extra-point attempt wide right after freshman Dovonte Edwards got behind the North Carolina secondary to haul in a 23-scoring pass from Rivers. After making the catch, Edwards had a head-on collision with the goal post, but was not hurt. But the missed conversion try left NC State behind 7-6.
The Pack had an excellent opportunity to grab the lead early in the third quarter. Starting from its own 44, State marched deep into North Carolina territory for one of the few times in the game. On first down, tailback Ray Robinson ripped off a 26-yard run from scrimmage. The senior from Hilton Head Island went for seven more on the very next play. Then came two of the most crucial plays in the game. On third and two from the UNC, Rivers missed receiver Jerricho Cotchery on a quick swing pass. On fourth and two, NC State got what it wanted as tight end Willie Wright broke open on a corner route. But as Wright stretched out for all it was worth at the goal line, the ball sailed over his head for an incompletion.
"I think that was the right decision to go for it on fourth down," Rivers said. "That's one play that's eating at me personally is missing that throw to Willie Wright. He was open and I've got to make that play."
As he left the field, Rivers got a quick pat on the cheek by his head coach.
Said Amato: "That play there was one of many in the game. We all have to remember that Philip is only been here one year and three games. Willie was open and very seldom do you see Philip do that. It would have gotten these people into it big time if we could have gone up 13-7 at that point.
Rivers finished 24-of-43 for 306 yards and no interceptions. Many of those yards, however, came in the last two drives when the Pack tried in vein to put itself in a position to tie the game with a touchdown and two-point conversion.
Overall, NC State generated 361 yards of total offense compared to 347 for the Tar Heels. Both teams were hurt by key penalties, especially in the first half. Robinson had a long kickoff return nullified by an illegal block and North Carolina had a touchdown scramble by Curry erased on a holding penalty.
NC State had a total of 10 penalties for 101 yards. UNC was penalized 10 times for 76 yards.
The Tar Heels have now won eight of the last nine in the series.
"It's a tough game over here," said Bunting, who was a standout linebacker at North Carolina from 1969-72. "It was tough over here 30 years ago. They're a good football team, their defense flies around, and we knew that was going to happen. We've been on the road against Oklahoma and Texas, so we've been there. I came in at halftime and told them that. I said let's go play a good second half. We played better in the second half than we did in the first."
