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Getting Noticed: Tar Heels back in AP Top 25 for first time since 2001 season
AP Photo
North Carolina's Shaun Draughn rushed for 109 yards in a 38-12 win over Connecticut.
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Published: October 6, 2008
North Carolina's win against Connecticut Saturday night got the program its first national ranking in almost seven years yesterday.
UNC rose to No. 22 in the AP Top 25 poll after a 38-12 victory that improved its record to 4-1 in its second season under Coach Butch Davis.
Davis said that the ranking is a sign of progress but is nothing to dwell on with a game against Notre Dame at Kenan Stadium on Saturday. Davis has a 24-hour rule for wins -- his players can enjoy them for that amount of time before moving on -- that will apply to rankings, also.
"It truly doesn't matter," Davis said. "The season's not over. We've got a lot of the regular season over and we clearly haven't accomplished the goals that we set out at the beginning of the season.
"Where you're ranked after week five, I don't think they give any trophies for week-five rankings."
UNC last held a national ranking near the end of the 2001 season. UNC rose to No. 22 for one week before losing at Georgia Tech on Nov. 1 and falling out of the next poll. The ranking will add at least a slight new dimension in the game against Notre Dame for UNC, which has won twice without injured quarterback T.J. Yates.
The game will mark the first time in 18 games in the series that UNC, a 7-point favorite, is the ranked team and Notre Dame is not. Davis will emphasize to his team a need to maintain the focus and determination that emerged before a win at Miami two Saturdays ago in the first game without Yates.
"It really, truly doesn't matter how you played last week," Davis said. "Our whole sole mission every single week is that we play to win that game and to play better than we did the week before.
"Sometimes, like this week, we got a little bit better in kickoff coverage. We got a little bit better in the running game. We didn't throw the ball as well as we did against Miami a week ago.
"Once the Miami game was over we put it behind us. Once the Virginia Tech game was over we put it behind us. We'll do the same thing with the Connecticut game and try to fix the mistakes."
UNC trailed once against UConn at 3-0 and was not seriously threatened after taking a 10-3 lead and building it to 17-3 at halftime. UNC's defense and special teams thwarted UConn for most of the game, but offensive inconsistency disappointed Davis.
The running backs are still not producing consistently. Shaun Draughn, the No. 2 tailback, became the first UNC running back to rush for more than 100 yards this season be generating a 109-yard performance and got the majority of playing time.
Draughn carried 19 times. Greg Little, the starting tailback, carried the ball three times for six yards and has not found a comfortable running rhythm all season.
Davis said that Draughn received extra playing time because of his effort in previous games. Draughn entered the game on UNC's second possession. Ryan Houston, the No. 3 tailback, added 39 yards rushing and scored a touchdown.
"It was kind of like the quarterback situation against Miami; he got in and he got hot (against UConn)," Davis said. "He made some (good) runs. We kind of stayed with him.
"I completely believe that we need all three of these guys. We need them to challenge each other and push each other to continue to get better. And as they get better, hopefully our running game will continue to improve."
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
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