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A Challange: Fighting Irish coming to Kenan
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Shaun Draughn sparked UNC's ground game with 109 yards rushing against UConn.
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Published: October 7, 2008
CHAPEL HILL
Coach Butch Davis of North Carolina claims to live in a bat cave during the season, but even that isolation won't keep him safe from one of college football's legendary programs.
Notre Dame will play UNC at Kenan Stadium on Saturday, making its first appearance in Chapel Hill in 33 years. Notre Dame is on the rebound from some trying seasons, but Davis is aware of what the game can mean to his team and its fan base.
Davis compared Notre Dame's pending arrival to a visit last season by South Carolina, a former ACC opponent that invigorated the crowd with its first appearance at Kenan in 16 years. Davis is banking on games of this magnitude to help build his program, which seems to be taking off.
"Obviously you love playing in big games," Davis said. "There's no secret that kids love to be challenged. They like to play competitive games. You want to measure yourself against good teams.
"And certainly in this game we'll find out a little bit more about ourselves. Every game is revealing in and of itself. You find out your shortcomings and your weaknesses, and you find out some of your strengths. And sometimes you find things that you don't know that you even have."
Notre Dame isn't the dominant program it once was, but Davis still considers it formidable. Notre Dame is 4-1 but unranked and features one of college football's best young quarterbacks, sophomore Jimmy Clausen, and a corps of receivers that Davis considers threatening because of its speed and talent.
Clausen has 1,248 yards passing and 12 touchdown passes in five games. He has completed 60.8 percent of his passes and is averaging 249.6 yards a game.
UNC, 4-1 and ranked No. 22 by The Associated Press, has a two-game winning streak and its first national ranking in almost seven years. With a list of growing demands, Davis has a succinct work order for his team his week.
"It's got to be a blue-collar, hard-hat, lunch-pail week," Davis said. "We've got to go in, and we've got to grind and watch film and prepare and worry about us, not the opponents and not any of the things that you don't have control over."
UNC could have at least one change in the starting lineup Saturday. The depth chart the coaching staff released yesterday reported that Greg Little or Shaun Draughn could start at tailback.
Little has been the unchallenged starter all season but has struggled while Draughn has made progress. Draughn came off the bench Saturday against Connecticut, entering earlier than he had in any other game, and carried the ball 19 times for 109 yards, including a 39-yard touchdown. The 109 yards were the most by a UNC running back this season.
Davis has not lost faith in Little, who has 223 yards rushing in five starts, but will use Draughn and Ryan Houston, the No. 3 tailback, when the Tar Heels need a spark.
"This has to do with every position on this football team. We're going to play the guys who at the time give us the best chance to win," Davis said. "I'll play anybody if it will help us win the game.
"I think our players are receptive to that. We played six different defensive tackles in the game on Saturday, and I don't think one single guy was disappointed in the number of his (plays). They were thrilled to death that we won the game."
Little carried three times for 6 yards against UConn. He pedaled a stationary bicycle on the sideline at least once during the game, but Davis said that Little didn't have a physical problem that needed attention during the game.
"I don't know this to be a fact, but I think a lot of those guys go over there and do that just to kind of keep stretched between positions," Davis said. "I know that he doesn't have an injury."
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
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