Duke Football

UNC vs Duke Football Game Notes

 
 

Lance Images

Durham, N.C.
Stadium: Wallace Wade Stadium
Surface: Natural grass
Capacity: 33,941
TV: ESPNU - Pam Ward (Play-by-Play), Danny Kanell (Analyst)
Radio: Blue Devils ISP Sports Network
Internet: GoDuke.com (Live stats)
Tickets: 1-877-375-DUKE
Series: North Carolina, 56-36-4

Victory Bell on the Line

  • Duke and North Carolina will play for the Victory Bell on Saturday, Nov. 27 when the two teams wrap up the regular season at 3:30 p.m. in Wallace Wade Stadium.
  • The Blue Devils are coming off a 30-20 loss on the road at Georgia Tech while the Tar Heels fell to N.C. State at home, 29-25.
  • The game between Duke and North Carolina will be televised on ESPNU with Pam Ward (play-by-play) and Danny Kanell (analyst) calling the action.

Senior Day for Blue Devils

Late Game Rally Falls Short

  • Duke led 13-6 at halftime, but Georgia Tech scored 17 unanswered points in the third quarter and went on to defeat the Blue Devils 30-20 in Atlanta.
  • Redshirt sophomore quarterback Sean Renfree completed 30-of-41 passes for 334 yards and one touchdown on the day for his fifth 300-yard game of the season.
  • True freshman quarterback Brandon Connette set a school record for rushing touchdowns by a freshman with his seventh of the year on a 20-yard run.
  • Senior wide receiver Austin Kelly caught his third touchdown pass of the season on a 37-yard toss from Renfree.
  • Junior safety Matt Daniels caused a fumble and also had a fumble recovery while recording seven tackles.
  • Redshirt senior linebacker Abraham Kromah tallied 13 tackles for his seventh game of the season with 10 or more.
  • Junior kicker Will Snyderwine made two field goals, including a career long of 52, to move into a tie for second on Duke’s career made field goals list (37).

Duke vs. North Carolina

  • Saturday’s game will mark the 97th on the gridiron between the two schools, with North Carolina holding a 56-36-4 all-time series advantage.
  • The first game in the series came on November 27, 1888 with Duke earning a 16-0 victory in Raleigh.
  • The Tar Heels have won six straight and 19 of the past 20 meetings including last year’s 19-6 decision in Chapel Hill.
  • Duke’s last win over North Carolina in Durham came in the form of a 35-29 decision in 1988.

Game Sponsor
TIAA-CREF serves as the game sponsor for this week’s Duke-UNC game.

Battle of the Blues Presented by Continental Tire

  • The Duke-North Carolina rivalry series continues this year with a new name and presenting sponsor.
  • The Battle of the Blues presented by Continental Tire is the year-long rivalry series between the two schools, with points awarded in 23 sports of competition.
  • The winner at season end will receive the Continental Tire Cup.
  • UNC leads the 2010-11 series, 4-2, with this week’s football game worth two points to the winner.

Duke-North Carolina Ties

  • Duke head coach David Cutcliffe and North Carolina head coach Butch Davis both did not coach during the 2005 season. Cutcliffe was on the staff at Notre Dame in the spring of 2005 but resigned due to health reasons before re-joining the Tennessee staff for 2006 while Davis was in between head coaching positions with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns (2001-04) and North Carolina (2007-present).
  • Blue Devil associate head coach Ron Middleton and Tar Heel offensive coordinator John Shoop were on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers staff together in 2004. Shoop was a graduate assistant coach at Vanderbilt from 1992-94 when the Commodores fell three times to Tennessee with Cutcliffe on the Vol coaching staff.
  • UNC aide Art Kaufman served on the Ole Miss staff when Cutcliffe was the head coach of the Rebels.
  • Wes Chesson, who serves as the color analyst for the Duke Radio Network, scored on a 53-yard touchdown pass from Marcell Courtillet on the famed “shoestring play” in Duke’s 17-13 victory in 1969.
  • Anthony Dilweg, the Duke Radio Network’s sideline reporter, completed 29-of-49 passes for 362 yards and three touchdowns in the Blue Devils’ 35-29 win over the Tar Heels in 1988. Dilweg engineered a game-winning 76-yard drive which resulted in Roger Boone’s six-yard scoring run with just 23 seconds left.
  • Duke director of player development Terrell Smith logged seven tackles and forced a fumble in the Blue Devils’ 30-22 victory over North Carolina in 2003. Smith, a captain on the 2003 club, led the Blue Devils in tackles with 140 that season and received All-ACC honors.

The Last Time
North Carolina 19, Duke 6
November 7, 2009 l Chapel Hill, N.C.

  • North Carolina RB Ryan Houston rushed 37 times for 164 yards to help the Tar Heels to a 19-6 win over Duke in the 96th meeting between the two schools as 59,750 fans looked on at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C.
  • The Tar Heels limited Duke to just 125 yards of total offense while securing their 19th win in the last 20 games in the series
  • The teams accounted for two field goals each in the first half before North Carolina K Casey Barth gave the home team the lead for good with a 41-yard effort on the final snap of the third quarter ... North Carolina then scored 10 points over the final seven minutes of the game
  • Duke WR Conner Vernon caught three passes for 21 yards on the day to set a new school single-season record for reception yards by a freshman, breaking the previous standard of 578 yards set by Walter Jones in 1988
  • In the third period, Duke CB Leon Wright posted his fifth interception of the year and the 10th of his career ... Duke S Jordan Byas blocked a Tar Heel punt in the first quarter to set up the Blue Devils’ first field goal

Victory Bell

  • The battle for the Victory Bell began in 1948 with North Carolina earning possession with a 20-0 win in Chapel Hill. Duke head cheerleader Loring Jones and North Carolina head cheerleader Norman Spear decided on the idea of the Victory Bell.
  • Jones designed the model while Spear obtained a bell from an old railroad train. 
  • Red Lewis, Duke’s business manager for athletics, agreed to find money in the budget to pay for the bell.

North Carolina is Duke’s Most Common Foe

  • With 96 total contests played between the two schools, North Carolina ranks as Duke’s most common football opponent.
  • The only schools Duke has played 80 or more football games against are North Carolina, Wake Forest (91) and N.C. State (81).

2010 Marks 89th Straight Season for Duke-Carolina
The Blue Devils and Tar Heels have met every year since 1922.

Notable Games in the Duke-North Carolina Series

  • 1888 — Then Trinity College, Duke wins the first game in the series, 16-0. Stonewall Durham scores the first touchdown in the series.
  • 1935 — Duke’s Jack Alexander rushes for 193 yards as the Blue Devils post a 25-0 victory.
  • 1937 — En route to the Southern Conference title, unranked North Carolina defeats eighth-ranked Duke, 14-6, in Durham.
  • 1939 — In the only meeting when both teams were ranked among the nation’s top 25, No. 13 Duke rallies from a 3-0 halftime deficit to hand No. 7 North Carolina its lone loss of the season. Duke would finish the year 8-1 and win the Southern Conference championship while UNC went 8-1-1.
  • 1949 — The crowd of 57,500, Duke’s largest crowd to date, pours into what is now Wallace Wade Stadium to see Duke lose to North Carolina, 21-20.
  • 1950 — Wallace Wade coaches his final game for Duke and defeats North Carolina, 7-0.
  • 1955 — In its first appearance on television, Duke defeats North Carolina, 6-0, as Oliver Rudy scores on a 35-yard run in the second quarter. The victory clinches the Blue Devils’ third straight ACC title.
  • 1959 — With a national television audience looking on, North Carolina scores on its first three possessions and never looks back, winning 50-0.
  • 1965 — In head coach Bill Murray’s final game, the Blue Devils down North Carolina, 34-7, to give Murray a share of his seventh ACC title. Bob Matheson returns an interception 35 yards for a score while Jay Calabrese contributes three touchdowns.
  • 1970 — Don McCauley rushes 47 times for 279 yards and five TDs as North Carolina wins, 59-34.
  • 1980 — North Carolina’s Amos Lawrence rushes for 143 yards — his fourth 100-yard effort versus Duke — as the No. 15 Tar Heels win in Chapel Hill, 44-21.
  • 1985 — Wide receiver Doug Green catches three second-half touchdown passes — including two in the final two minutes — to guide Duke past North Carolina, 23-21, in Chapel Hill. Green, who finishes with 10 receptions for 152 yards, grabs the game-winning score from Steve Slayden with just 1:10 left in the game as Duke rallies from a 21-3 late third quarter deficit.
  • 1988 — Duke quarterback Anthony Dilweg concluded his outstanding season by throwing for 362 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-29 victory. The league’s player of the year, Dilweg directed the game-winning, 76-yard drive and concluded with Roger Boone’s six-yard touchdown run with 23 seconds left in the game.
  • 1989 — In Chapel Hill, Duke wraps up the ACC title with a 41-0 win over the Tar Heels. The win, Duke’s seventh straight to close the regular season, is highlighted by Dave Brown’s school-record 479 passing yards. The victory marked Duke’s seventh straight of the season after opening the year with a 1-3 ledger.
  • 1994 — With both teams heading to bowl games, North Carolina closed out the regular season with a 41-40 win over Duke on the strength of a late 71-yard TD pass from Mike Thomas to Octavus Barnes. Duke’s Spence Fischer completes 33-of-57 passes for 395 yards and four touchdowns in the contest. Duke’s 60-yard field goal try as time expired fell short.
  • 2002 — Dan Orner boots a 47-yard field goal as time expires to boost North Carolina past Duke, 23-21. The Blue Devils had taken a 21-20 advantage with just over two minutes remaining on Adam Smith’s 33-yard TD pass to Senterrio Landrum.
  • 2003 — Duke darts out to a 23-0 halftime lead and holds on for a 30-22 victory in Chapel Hill, snapping a 13-game Tar Heel winning streak in the series. Duke’s Cedric Dargan and Chris Douglas combine to rush for 171 yards and three touchdowns in the triumph while Matt Zielinski sacked Tar Heel quarterback Darian Durant on North Carolina’s final possession to preserve the win.
  • 2007 — For the first time in the history of the rivalry, the two teams decided the outcome in overtime. Following a missed field goal by Duke, North Carolina won the game with a 25-yard touchdown run for the 20-14 final score