A Connecticut-North Carolina matchup usually means national headlines, breathless screaming announcers and expectations of one or both teams making an NCAA championship run. But that only happens during basketball season.
Oddly enough, it was a football game between these storied basketball schools that actually meant something Saturday night. These two rising programs with national aspirations met at Kenan Stadium to determine which one was closer to stepping onto that stage.
The answer: North Carolina. The Tar Heels scored on offense, defense and special teams to hand the Huskies a 38-12 smackdown that will no doubt knock Connecticut out of the national rankings and possibly elevate North Carolina.
Connecticut had arrived at Kenan with a 5-0 record, a No. 24 ranking and the most productive running back in the country in junior Donald Brown. He went into the weekend averaging 181.2 yards rushing per game. Another win and the Huskies would have their best start since 1995.
But Connecticut faced a North Carolina team on the upswing in its second year with the former Miami coach Butch Davis. And the Tar Heels were aiming for their best start since 1997 and the Mack Brown era.
It didn't matter that North Carolina's starting quarterback on Saturday night had opened the season as the third stringer. Cameron Sexton was competent if not flashy in his first start, and avoided the kinds of mistakes that did in Connecticut's starter, Zach Frazer.
Frazer was intercepted three times in his first start replacing injured Tyler Lorenzen. And there was little Donald Brown could do to mitigate the damage. He rushed for 159 yards and one touchdown, surpassing 1,000 yards for the season, but couldn't carry Connecticut in an error-filled game.
North Carolina built a 17-3 lead in the first half but turned the game into a blowout with two quick scores in the third quarter that made it 31-6. Tar Heels running back Shaun Draughn ran 39 yards to make it 24-6 at 6:04 of the third, and defensive tackle Marvin Austin intercepted a disastrous Frazer throw as he was being sacked, returning it 23 yards for another score at 4:09 to put the game away.
The Tar Heels made it 38-6 on a Sexton 12-yard touchdown throw to Hakeem Nicks six seconds into the fourth quarter before Brown scored for Connecticut on a 1-yard run at 9:23 to make it 38-12.
It was special teams that gave North Carolina the momentum and helped the Tar Heels to a 17-3 halftime lead including a team record three blocked punts by linebacker Bruce Carter.
Connecticut had taken a 3-0 lead on an opening drive that featured an impressive start for Frazer, who replaced Lorenzen after he sustained a broken foot against Louisville last week. Included was a 14-yard reception by D.J. Hernandez on third-and-13 that kept the drive alive. Tony Ciaravino hit a 26-yard field goal at 7:01 of the first quarter to cap the drive.
But North Carolina responded quickly, moving 61 yards on nine plays for a 31-yard Casey Barth field goal at 4:17 that tied it.
Frazer was intercepted by North Carolina's Mark Paschal on Connecticut's second drive, his 23-yard return to the Huskies' 15-yard line setting up the Tar Heels' first touchdown. It was one of two interceptions in the opening half for Frazer.
A 1-yard touchdown run by Ryan Houston with 25 seconds left in the first quarter gave the Tar Heels a 10-3 lead.
With the Huskies pinned deep in their own end after taking three consecutive penalties in the second quarter, Carter blocked a Desi Cullen punt in the end zone with Matt Merletti recovering for the touchdown and a 17-3 lead with 5:08 remaining in the half. It was the third blocked punt of the half for Cullen, a school record.
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