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Tar Heels Just Peachy
North Carolina's Willie Parker runs for a TD in the Peach Bowl. A little bit of defense and a little bit of Ronald Curry was just what North Carolina needed to knock off Auburn 16-10 in the Peach Bowl. The Tar Heels' tanacious defense flustered the Tigers all night and Curry earned the game's offensive MVP to cap a impressive eight-win season for first-year coach John Bunting.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICAL LEADERS |
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NORTH CAROLINA |
YDS |
AUBURN |
YDS |
Passing |
Darian Durant |
1843 |
Daniel Cobb |
1165 |
Rushing |
Andre' Williams |
525 |
Carnell Williams |
614 |
Receiving |
Sam Aiken |
789 |
Tim Carter |
570 |
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TEAM STATISTICAL COMPARISON |
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Total Offense |
|
337.5 | |
328.9 |
Passing Yards |
| 220.9 | |
190.2 |
Passing completion % |
|
56.5 | |
58.7 |
Completions |
|
205 | |
178 |
Attempts |
|
363 | |
303 |
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Scoring Offense |
|
25.9 | |
21.2 |
Scoring Defense |
|
20.8 | |
23.4 |
Rushing Yards |
|
116.5 | |
138.8 |
Rushing attempts |
|
480 | |
437 |
Key: |
| North Carolina | | Auburn |
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"All Hail John Bunting -- the best coach on the North Carolina campus since Dean Smith."
ACC notebook As the season draws to a close, it's time to look back at the highs and lows as well as salute the best coach and players in the ACC.
SEC notebook As the season draws to a close, it's time to look back at the highs and lows as well as salute the best coach and players in the SEC.
Looking back at the experts' preseason picks Looking back at the experts' preseason picks
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WITH ROD GILMORE
The player who made the biggest difference in the Tar Heels' victory was Ryan Sims. Everybody talks about Julius Peppers, who got a lot of attention along the defensive line. But Sims had three of North Carolina's six sacks. The Tar Heels' defense dominated, and Sims showed why he – like Peppers – is likely to be a first-round pick in the NFL draft. He controlled the line of scrimmage. Auburn is a team that had struggled in the last few weeks of the regular season. The Tigers' offense lacked explosion, and North Carolina was able to capitalize.
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IT WAS OVER WHEN |
After Auburn pulled to within six points, North Carolina's Richard Moore recovered an onside kick with just under a minute left to play to seal the victory. |
GAME BALL GOES TO |
North Carolina coach John Bunting. He turned a QB controvery into an efficient two-QB system, turned the defense into a hard-nosed bunch, overcame an 0-3 start and turned the Tar Heels into an eight-win team. That's worthy of a game ball in our book. |
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| | | NORTH CAROLINA CLUBHOUSE
QB Ronald Curry closed his Tar Heels' football career in grand style on Dec. 31, winning offensive MVP honors in a triumph over Auburn in the Peach Bowl.
AUBURN CLUBHOUSE
Without injured freshman RB Carnell Williams in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, the Tigers' offense was fruitless in a 16-10 loss to North Carolina on Dec. 31.
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NORTH CAROLINA VS. AUBURN
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