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Heels over Devils
UNC makes life tough for Duke offense
AP photo
Jheranie Boyd of the Tar Heels (87) gets past Duke’s Leon Wright (7) and Matt Daniels (40) for a touchdown.
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Published: November 8, 2009
CHAPEL HILL
North Carolina maintained its mastery of old rival Duke yesterday, and moved one step away from clinching bowl eligibility for a second consecutive season.
North Carolina got a hard-fought 19-6 win at Kenan Stadium, its 19th win in the rivalry's past 20 games. The score was tied 6-6 at halftime, but Duke couldn't stop defensive end Robert Quinn or tailback Ryan Houston.
Quinn had three sacks and led a pass rush that gave the Blue Devils' Thaddeus Lewis precious little time to find receivers, which limited the Blue Devils to two field goals. Houston, pressed into fulltime action when Shaun Draughn injured a shoulder on the game's first offensive play, pounded Duke's defense into submission with bullish runs.
Houston rumbled for 164 yards on 37 carries, both career highs, and his legs powered the Tar Heels' only touchdown drive of the game, which produced a 16-6 lead with 6:57 left. Kicker Casey Barth kicked four field goals, a career high.
The Tar Heels led only 9-6 at the end of three quarters, but Houston said he could tell that his team was taking control.
"They weren't hitting nearly as hard in the fourth quarter," Houston said. "I felt like we kind of brought it to them and let them know we weren't going to be pushed over. We weren't going to let them come over here and beat up on us. The most physical team won the game."
UNC improved to 6-3 overall and 2-3 in the ACC. It needs one win in its last three games against Miami, Boston College and N.C. State to qualify for bowl selection.
Duke fell to 5-4 and 3-2, and had a three-game winning streak snapped.
"We didn't play very well," Coach David Cutcliffe of Duke said. "North Carolina played extremely well. Offensively we struggled so much that we couldn't protect the quarterback as well as we hoped. Their rush got to Thad. Thad got hit way too much."
Quinn, lineman Marvin Austin and linebackers Bruce Carter and Quan Sturdivant led a UNC defense that limited Duke to 125 yards. Lewis had averaged 391 yards passing and 70.6 percent accuracy in Duke's winning streak. He had 113 yards against North Carolina, completing 16 of 33 passes.
The Tar Heels played mostly man defense in the secondary because Lewis is adept at picking apart zone coverage. Lewis was in a Shotgun formation for almost every offensive snap, a good 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage, but he seldom had time to progress past his second possible receiver in deciding who might be open.
Quinn said that the Tar Heels had studied game tape extensively to determine what blitzes bothered Lewis the most. In addition to his sacks, which accounted for 26 yards of losses, Quinn had seven tackles, 1.5 tackles for losses of 8 yards, forced a fumble, broke up a pass on fourth down, and was credited with six quarterback pressures.
Quinn laughed when asked if he thought Duke couldn't stop him from getting into the backfield.
"That's my goal," he said. "I've got my mind set on keeping them from stopping me. I just play like no one can block me. If I play like that, it's going to make things that much harder on them."
Duke rushed 19 times for 12 yards. On consecutive plays early in the fourth quarter, Lewis escaped up the middle and rushed for 33 yards. Aside from those plays, Duke rushed 17 times for minus 21 yards.
North Carolina's touchdown drive began early in the fourth quarter, after Quinn's pass breakup stopped Duke at the UNC 35. The Tar Heels drove 65 yards in 12 plays, with Houston carrying on 10. He had 55 yards rushing on the drive, which standing alone would have been the fourth-best rushing game of his college career.
Houston didn't score, but made it possible that receiver Jheranie Boyd could, on a 3-yard run to the right. Houston led the blocking on the sweep and hit safety Matt Daniels, slowing him down enough that he could not get his arms on Boyd until the ball was at the goal line.
Tackle Kyle Jolly said that "workhorse" is the only thing you can call Houston.
"I was telling some people that I had carried the ball as much as Ryan did I would have fallen asleep on the field after the game," Jolly said. "I wouldn't have been able to walk in the locker room. He played his heart out."
The win was especially sweet for receiver Greg Little of North Carolina, who is from Durham.
Duke 3 3 0 0 -- 6
UNC 3 3 3 10 -- 19
First Quarter
UNC--FG Barth 40, 11:25.
Duke--FG Maggio 23, 1:10.
Second Quarter
UNC--FG Barth 29, 9:59.
Duke--FG Maggio 26, :00.
Third Quarter
UNC--FG Barth 41, :00.
Fourth Quarter
UNC--Boyd 3 run (Barth kick), 6:57.
UNC--FG Barth 33, 3:56.
A--59,750.
TEAM STATISTICS
Duke UNC
First downs 11 21
Rushes-yards 19-12 51-192
Passing 113 119
Comp-Att-Int 16-35-2 16-28-1
Return Yards 36 99
Punts-Avg. 6-38.7 4-27.3
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 4-45 11-120
Time of Possession 21:27 38:33
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Duke, Lewis 10-7, Boyette 3-4, Hollingsworth 1-1, D.Scott 5-0. North Carolina, Houston 37-164, Elzy 2-12, Little 4-12, Draughn 1-9, Boyd 2-6, J.White 1-5, Team 2-(minus 4), Yates 2-(minus 12).
PASSING--Duke, Lewis 16-33-1-113, Renfree 0-1-1-0, Team 0-1-0-0. North Carolina, Yates 16-28-1-119.
RECEIVING--Duke, Kelly 4-22, Vernon 3-21, Varner 2-14, D.Scott 2-10, Hollingsworth 2-6, B.King 1-22, Williams 1-12, Bell 1-6. North Carolina, Pianalto 5-42, Little 3-26, Highsmith 3-21, Houston 3-15, D.Jones 2-15.
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