Tar Heels say their 2007 loss to Pirates still stings

By: By Bill Cole | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: September 15, 2009

CHAPEL HILL --

North Carolina will be trying to erase a bitter memory on Saturday when its rivalry with East Carolina resumes in Kenan Stadium.

ECU won the last game in the series in 2007, taking a 34-31 win in Greenville in Coach Butch Davis' first season. The winning points came on a field goal in the final seconds.

Deunta Williams, a junior safety, still thinks that UNC's 4-8 season would have been successful had it won that game.

"There's a little bit of payback, and a little bit of vengeance," Williams said. "It's going to be more personal. It's going to be intense. Someone is going to be hurting, and hopefully it won't be us."

The loss was Davis' third in three games as a coach against ECU. Two of the losses came when he was at Miami.

"They're a good football program, going back to the mid '80s when we played East Carolina when I was an assistant coach at Miami," Davis said. "I remember they had an 8-3 team that was one of the best teams in the country.

"They've had a huge tradition over an extended period of time."

Williams is among many UNC players who live in the eastern part of the state. He has an aunt who lives in Greenville, about 2-3 minutes from the ECU campus.

"It's a little personal for me," Williams said. "I want to make sure that I get that message across to everybody else. It's definitely personal. It's one (game) that I'll always remember for the rest of my life.

"That's not to say it's more important than any of the rest of them that we're going to play, but right now this is the only game that matters."

Davis was unsure yesterday if his team will be full strength against ECU.

Davis has not ruled out that Zack Pianalto, the tight end, could play against ECU. Pianalto dislocated his right foot after catching a touchdown pass in last weekend's 12-10 win at Connecticut.

X-rays revealed no break in the foot. Pianalto had an MRI yesterday at UNC Hospitals but the results were not revealed.

"I don't know that he's going to be out," Davis said.

Davis will know later in the week if center Lowell Dyer and guard Jonathan Cooper will be back after missing the UConn game with injuries. Fullback Bobby Rome did not travel to UConn because of swine flu, but has returned to team meetings.

bcole@wsjournal.com.